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Lesson 1 of 4
  • Year 9

Polyrhythm in batucada

I can create samba polyrhythms.

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Lesson 1 of 4
New
New
  • Year 9

Polyrhythm in batucada

I can create samba polyrhythms.

Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and

Copyrights help

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Samba is a type of Brazilian dance and music which comes in many forms, one of which is batucada.
  2. Batucada is often played at celebrations and carnival, and is performed by a percussion ensemble called a bateria.
  3. The instruments include surdo, caixa, agogo bells, repinique, tamborim and ganzá.
  4. These instruments all play different rhythms, which combine to create a polyrhythm.

Keywords

  • Polyrhythm - when many different rhythms play at the same time they create a polyrhythm

  • Samba - samba is a style of energetic Brazilian dance, or the music that accompanies it

  • Batucada - batucada is a type of fast-paced samba music performed by a percussion ensemble (bateria)

  • Surdo - a surdo is a type of bass drum used in batucada

  • Caixa - a caixa is a type of snare drum used in a batucada

Common misconception

All of the parts are necessary to make the project work.

Ideally pupils will record in all of the parts of the batucada, but the project will still work successfully with the core ensemble of surdo, caixa and repinique.


To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: Polyrhythm in batucada, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

File needed for this lesson

  • Brazil template.band 278.58 KB (ZIP)

Download this file to use in the lesson.

For the more complex rhythms, consider practising clapping them as a class together before recording. The improvised rhythm is an opportunity for students to be creative and build in their own rhythms. Encourage them to experiment with percussion sounds, ensuring they blend well with the ensemble.
Teacher tip

Equipment

A DAW or other suitable compositional tool or instrument

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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