Leading Música do Círculo

Since 2013, I have been studying with the creators of Música do Círculo, Zuza Goncalves, Pedro Consorte, and Ronaldo Crispim. These three Brazilian artist educators offer a training program that combines online modules and an in-person module in Sao Roqué, Brazil (the format has changed for the 2025 season). You can check their website: www.musicadocirculo.com

The online modules enable you to discover and practice collective games that incorporate vocal improvisation, body percussion, singing, movement, reflection periods, and the use of non-verbal communication. As future leaders, we submitted videos of our practice and had access to online PDFS that summarized the key concepts and essence of the games. Once the three levels are validated, each participant can participate in the fourth training module (immersion), which takes place in Sao Roqué, near Sao Paulo, in a magnificent space in the heart of a valley.

Taking advantage of my visit to Brazil to finalize my training, I participated in a 7-day retreat open to all, without prerequisites. An experience that I highly recommend to all participants of the three training modules. The retreat allows you to live and experience Música do Círculo, an invitation to collective listening, cooperation, and the joy of creating music without expecting results. It embodies an altruistic vision of the benefits of music with and for the community. The organizing team reserves half of the retreat places for Brazilians and offers four scholarships for social workers in Latin America. This is a real-life experience full of hope that is good for the heart.

I also participated in Fritura Livre, a free Música do Círculo event held monthly in a beautiful park in Sao Paulo. Zuza, Pedro, and Ronaldo have been organizing these special events for over a decade. A magical moment that brings together around a hundred people in the heart of the city.

I was also able to participate in a full day of workshops offered by local female artists, including body percussion, Brazilian percussion, and vocal improvisation. This immersion in traditional Brazilian music did me a world of good, even though I was exhausted.

Immersion allows you to practice, as a facilitator, sequences of games without verbal communication called FLOW. It's a way to create a space for collective musical creation without judgment, in the present moment. This invites you to let yourself be carried along by the group and the facilitators' choices.

Leading Música do Círculo is a highly enriching training experience from an educational, human, and musical perspective. I discovered many new rhythmic patterns and learned traditional Brazilian music songs thanks to the jams that the Brazilian participants improvised almost every day outside of training time. This experience is a hymn to the joy of singing and dancing together. It was a transformative experience, both on a human and professional level. A huge thank you to the entire Música do Círculo team and all the participants for their generosity, energy, and their passion for collective music and nonviolent communication. Little bonus: the mangoes in Brazil are absolutely divine.

GRATITUDE and HOPE.

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