May 15, 2024
Dear friends,
It is such a pleasure to share this conversation
with Zuza Gonçalves.
I met Zuza at the Bobby McFerrin Circlesongs School,
and was so moved by his presence, his kindness, the way he moved
around the room, and how he led us in movement, song and
body-percussion. It felt to me like original human music.
Zuza has been exploring alternative ways to
collective music making for more than 20 years, integrating vocal
improvisation, body percussion, movement, dialogue, cooperative
practices and collaborative methodologies to promote
experiences where music and human connection are interconnected and
feed off each other.
Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Zuza has a
bachelor’s degree in Music (composing and conducting) and a
graduate degree in the Pedagogy of Cooperation. He is the
co-creator of Música do Círculo, part of the faculty at Bobby
McFerrin's Circlesongs School, at IBMF (Ghana edition) and travels
internationally for festivals and workshops on Música do
Circulo.
In our conversation, we speak about vocal
improvisation as ancestral practice, and how we are all musical by
nature. We speak about the challenges that arise when we outsource
our musicality to a small number of perfomers, and don't experience
ourselves as being a part of music being made in daily life.
We also explore the value of play and improvisation,
an how essential these qualities are for learning, and meeting
challenging times, and how rarely modern adults get to experience
play and improvisation.
Zuza also guides us all in a wonderful improv
practice to sing and play along with.
To find our more about Música do Círculo and the
upcoming retreats and trainings you can visit https://www.musicadocirculo.com
To find out more about the Circlesongs School you
can visit https://circlesongs.com
Also Zuza mentions The Well, a global vocal
improvisation network https://thewellvocal.com
And here are links to other circlesongs/ vocal
improv resources:
https://vocaltoning.net