A quiet Monday. I was going to go to the National Library to do research, but my landlord Roberto said that this would be the last good beach day for awhile so I changed my plans and went to Ipanema instead. Because Roberto is never wrong about the weather, and I haven’t been to the beach once this trip. Tomorrow will be fine for the library.
I wrote last on Wednesday, and Thursday was my lesson w/ Joel. I was a bit hasty in assuming last week that he had finished correcting my technique. There’s a particular pick 
technique that he uses for fast runs and ornaments that he wanted me to learn, and he was also working on my right hand to get more volume out of the instrument. And we did some work on chords. In fact, chords became a theme for my week, as Pedro also worked on them in both bandolim classes Saturday @ EPM (choro school, who’s actual name is ‘Escola Portatil de Musica,’ – portable music school.)
Friday was Luiz’s concert, so I had planned to just chill out during the day, but I got a surprise call from my friend Sergio @ 11:00, and an hour later found myself on the bus to Leblon to meet him for lunch He’d changed jobs just after I saw him in May so I wasn’t able to let him know I was coming back, but somehow my message to his dead cellphone was saved so I didn’t lose contact. It was good to spend a couple of hours in his cheerful company. He was leaving right after work to go to Sao Paulo, where he is very involved with the choro scene, so this was our only chance to get together.
Back home I had an hour to get ready & TaxiPaulo picked me up to go to Cecilia Mirelles Hall. I had to be there @ 5:00 for soundcheck, even though the concert didn’t begin until 9:00, so I had lots of time there to work on the choro I had to memorize for rep class @ EPM. After soundcheck & rehearsal Luiz & I went out to get a bite to eat with his manager and his cousin’s son, who is the Brasilian website manager for the Dave Matthews Band, and was filming & recording the concert for Luiz. The concert was fabulous – Luiz played really well, and he had set the concert up to engage the audience, singing some Gershwin lyrics in portugues, talking about the music. Our piece was super too. It was “Meu 
Bandolim,” the piece he wrote for me, and the audience really dug it.
After I played, his manager & I went out to sit in the hall for the rest of the concert, and just before the encore I saw Romulo & surprised him by slipping into the seat next to his. He was my only friend who actually showed up – problems w/ working late, forgetting, falling asleep– but we decided to go out for a drink anyway, and wound up at Democratica – a great old dance hall in Lapa where Ronaldo had told me he was playing. Sure enough Ronaldo was there, along w/ his brother, 
7-cordista Rogerio Sousa, and Celsinho, and others. The ever-energetic Ronaldo grabbed my bandolim (his was on stage, we apparently arrived right at break) and launched into a half-hour of non-stop classical mandolin – Chopin, opera arias, Radames’ Retratos – that I strained to hear over the background of recorded samba. It was a very Charles-Ivesian experience. When he finished he pronounce my bandolim good, kissed me on the top of the head as if I was 6, and they went back to play & Romulo & I drank beer and talked to some friends from EPM until way too late.
Saturday morning arrived with little sleep & I had to get to EPM early to buy a pandeiro from Celsinho for my friend Ellen. Gave one of my new NEME CDs to Marcilio, chatted w/ Marcia, went to rep class, worked on chords in bandolim class. At Bandao practice we played an unscheduled piece from a previous semester’s rep book, there was a great round of applause & a pale man stood up & waved in response. It was Altimira Carrilho, the beloved Brazilian flautist, and composer of the piece, who was just up and about after heart surgery. He watched 
rehearsal for awhile sitting next to his brother Alvaro, as people came over to greet him with smiles and hugs.
We had a short lunch and a shortened rehearsal w/ Agua because there was an all-school roda @ 3:00 run by the teachers. I was so tired, but stayed to listen & decided to work on Pedro’s idea of just playing 2-note chords that sounded good to accompany the choro, without reading the chart or even caring what the actual official chords were. It proved to be fun & interesting. Pablo, Marcus & Raphael, from Agua, were also working on chords, 
Carlos was in the group of pandeiros, and Romulo jumped right in and solo-ed on the tunes he had memorized. Later I chatted w/ Marcia some more. The new CD by her band w/ Igor (the 7-cordista who I played w/ in March) is nearly finished. Didn’t get home until after 6:00 & then went to the internet caf to download the new proofs of my method from Mel Bay.
Sunday was the roda in Laranjaris again, and this time I jumped right in and soloed a lot. 
It was really cool! One of the bandolim hotshot students from EPM was there & we had fun trading sections or just playing together. This is an informal roda, so reading is OK, but I did play a couple of tunes by ear, with most of their notes intact. I sat next to a really nice guitarist, and between us we had most of the music for the tunes being played. So I even soloed on a couple of tunes that I was sight-reading, when it turned out that only one soloist really knew the tune. Afterwards, when I was talking to my bandolim friend, a woman came up to congratulate me on my performance w/ Luiz on Friday. What a funny coincidence that she should be at both events!
When I got home I walked over to Canacao to buy tickets for the Brasileirinho show on Wednesday, & got a couple of CDs at the Biscoito Fino stand in the Rio Sul Shopping center. Then I edited the method proofs, and last night emailed the OK in to Mel Bay for the 3rd set of proofs. So I have officially signed off on the method. I heard back from them today, and now their editor will look it all over again, and if everything is OK it goes to “blue line”. Then I’ll get to look at the final copy before it goes to press. Wow. It’s been 3 years, but this thing is finally going to happen.
Tomorrow is the final Trapiche of my stay, as I have reached my last week here. But rather than being sad to leave, I’m still just thrilled to be back. Rio is a really important pat of my world now- and how cool is that!
bjs.
m
