Re: "Correct" Keys for Choros
Hi Jim,
Sorry, I didn't see your first post. Choro gigs and company Christmas parties getting in the way of the important stuff!
You'll be relieved to know that there are only a couple of tunes that are played in different keys. You'll find that most of them are only played in one.
Problem is, the ones that are played in more than one key are biggies, including the ones you mentioned, plus
Carinhoso
Rosa
Tico-tico
Brasileirinho
The reason for these generally comes from the instrument that was dominant when the tune became established.
'Brasileirinho,' for example, was written originally for cavaquinho, and Waldyr Azevedo used all sorts of cavaquinho tricks in that key. On the other hand, it's a easier to play for guitar and bandolim in A, so there's a commonly played version in A. It generally gets played in G, so if you have to learn just one, G's the one.
'Odeon' is an interesting case. The original was written in C# minor as a fully-composed piano piece, and C#m is a lousy key for most rodas de choro. So the rodas in Brazil adopted Dm, with Jacob (an Ernesto Nazareth fanatic, btw) leading the way. Solo guitarists transcribed the piece, transposing it into Em, and that's how 'Odeon' travelled to the Northern Hemisphere, with guitarists who were mixing some Nazareth in with their Villa-Lobos. Mike picked up 'Odeon' from a North American guitarist who played it as a solo piece, and he developed his solo mandolin arrangement in Em as a result. He told me a few years back that he was dismayed to find the bandolimistas in Brazil playing 'Odeon' in Dm, because of the rodas, thus diminishing interest in his solo arrangement. If you're learning just one, it should be Dm, which creates a quandry for mandolinists, because Mike's solo arrangement is so tasty.
'Carinhoso' and 'Rosa' are both sung, and singers are, as we all know, the world's #1 reason for transposing. Over the years, after being sung by literally thousands of singers, these two tunes settled into two keys that are far enough apart that, between them, they cover most vocal ranges. Both of them are done in either F or C. Most vocalists can sing in either the one or the other. With intrumentalists, it's generally the F version that gets played.
As for 'Nao me Toques' and 'Tico-tico,' it's a coin toss. Am or Dm. These two are probably worth learning in both keys, as they'll both come up in either in a variety of settings. It's only two tunes and we can all use the transposition practice anyway, right? 'Nao me Toques' was taking hold in Am until it turned up in 'Tocando com Jacob' in Dm. With so many players (rightly) accepting 'Tocando' as modern gospel, 'Nao me Toques' in Dm is becoming more common. And 'Tico-tico' is a sung tune, too, so it can go either way, although I'd venture to guess that Am is more common.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by Doug Hoople; Dec-04-2010 at 5:19pm.
Doug Hoople
Adult-onset Instrumentalist (or was that addled-onset?)
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