João Paulo Amaral

“Bliss, that is what I felt when listening to this wonderful work of João Paulo Amaral. It is awesome to appreciate this talented Brazilian ten string guitar player (locally called "violeiro") and composer. Above all we have to recognize his dedication to instrumental music. Despite its Portuguese origin the Brazilian ten string guitar (locally called “viola caipira”, "viola brasileira" or just "viola") is the musical instrument which better represents countryside Brazil, its forests, rivers, waterfalls, birds and all the other natural beauties of our country. In this record “Viola Brasileira”, besides the very well defined regional colors and nuances, we have discovered a future Brazilian ten string guitar, utterly harmonized with the jazz related bass and drums, those instruments that compound the traditional jazz trio together with the piano, whereas here with the “viola”, they bespeak new musical roads and deeply enrich the Brazilian music. Congratulations João Paulo, long live your album!” Paulo Bellinati

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“Bliss, that is what I felt when listening to this wonderful work of João Paulo Amaral. It is awesome to appreciate this talented Brazilian ten string guitar player (locally called "violeiro") and composer. Above all we have to recognize his dedication to instrumental music. Despite its Portuguese origin the Brazilian ten string guitar (locally called “viola caipira”, "viola brasileira" or just "viola") is the musical instrument which better represents countryside Brazil, its forests, rivers, waterfalls, birds and all the other natural beauties of our country. In this record “Viola Brasileira”, besides the very well defined regional colors and nuances, we have discovered a future Brazilian ten string guitar, utterly harmonized with the jazz related bass and drums, those instruments that compound the traditional jazz trio together with the piano, whereas here with the “viola”, they bespeak new musical roads and deeply enrich the Brazilian music. Congratulations João Paulo, long live your album!” Paulo Bellinati

“João Paulo Amaral is a top example of the Brazilian ten string guitar players (“violeiros”) new generation. He is an extraordinary instrumentalist and arranger and for several years mentors Brazilian ten string guitar (“viola caipira”) at Tom Jobim - São Paulo State Music School (EMESP). Noting a lack of text books and/or teatching literature on the subject he authored this fine and precious book with traditional Brazilian tunes arrangements (…) Every one of them dealt with finesse, careful voice mingling and harmonic daring ��" which is a João Paulo characteristic (…) All covered by a blameless final touch that is also an attribute of the master which he is (…) Thank you, João Paulo. Just for your performing artistry you already left your name printed on the viola caipira history. Thank you very much for this music course.” Ivan Vilela (Musician and São Paulo State University viola caipira professor)

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Primary Instrument

Guitar, acoustic

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

State University of Campinas (Unicamp) graduated and post- graduated in Music. He studied guitar under Ulisses Rocha. João Paulo is a Pioneer researcher. His music Master was a very first original thesis in the country related to the viola caipira. He is a viola caipira professor at Tom Jobim - São Paulo State Music School (EMESP). He is also the professor who inaugurated the advanced viola caipira course at Cantareira Faculty (São Paulo City). He also authored “Viola Caipira – arranjos instrumentais de músicas tradicionais” book/CD which obtained from the São Paulo Music Cooperative the Ney Mesquita Award.

Clinic/Workshop Information

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Primary Instrument

Guitar, acoustic

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

State University of Campinas (Unicamp) graduated and post- graduated in Music. He studied guitar under Ulisses Rocha. João Paulo is a Pioneer researcher. His music Master was a very first original thesis in the country related to the viola caipira. He is a viola caipira professor at Tom Jobim - São Paulo State Music School (EMESP). He is also the professor who inaugurated the advanced viola caipira course at Cantareira Faculty (São Paulo City). He also authored “Viola Caipira – arranjos instrumentais de músicas tradicionais” book/CD which obtained from the São Paulo Music Cooperative the Ney Mesquita Award.

Clinic/Workshop Information

Book “Viola Caipira – Arranjos instrumentais de músicas tradicionais” / Brazilian ten string guitar - Instrumental arrangements for traditional tunes, by João Paulo Amaral. “João Paulo Amaral is a top example of the Brazilian ten string guitar players (“violeiros”) new generation. He is an extraordinary instrumentalist and arranger and for several years mentors Brazilian ten string guitar (“viola caipira”) at Tom Jobim - São Paulo State Music School (EMESP). Noting a lack of text books and/or teatching literature on the subject he authored this fine and precious book with traditional Brazilian tunes arrangements (…) Every one of them dealt with finesse, careful voice mingling and harmonic daring – which is a João Paulo characteristic (…) All covered by a blameless final touch that is also an attribute of the master which he is (…) Thank you, João Paulo. Just for your performing artistry you already left your name printed on the viola caipira history. Thank you very much for this music course.” Ivan Vilela (Musician and São Paulo State University viola caipira professor) The work was launched in 2009 and obtained from the São Paulo Music Cooperative the Ney Mesquita Award. It presents a collection of musical scores for viola caipira solo, duo and trio. The arrangements are organized progressively and written in musical score and musical tablature. It shows the main Brazilian countryside genre and rhythm such as: “cururu”, “cateretê”, “pagode caipira”, and others. The publication is aimed to beginners and advanced Brazilian ten string guitar players. The repertoire is formed in its majority of public domain tunes therefore you may notice tradicional Brazilian popular songs such as “Peixe Vivo”, “Beira-mar” and “Cuitelinho” besides a very popular standard: Ernesto Nazareth’s Brazilian tango “Brejeiro”. The book contains a chapter on graphical symbologies and the viola caipira tuning used. All the tunes are recorded on the CD. Songs Peixinhos do mar marujada / cururu Peixe-vivo catira / moda-de-viola Beira-mar contradança / cateretê Moreninha se eu te pedisse modinha Cana verde cana-verde Pagode do véio pagode caipira Garça branca siriri / polca mato-grossense Cuitelinho toada / folia Brejeiro tango brasileiro / maxixe About the author João Paulo Amaral is a musician, professor and researcher. Campinas (São Paulo) State University Music Master he developed a pioneer research which subject was the viola caipira based on Tião Carreiro instrumental work. As a viola caipira professor he teaches at the Cantareira Faculty and Tom Jobim – São Paulo State Music School (EMESP). He also mentors violas groups and orchestras countrywide. In the last years he is standing out as an instrumentalist and composer within the viola caipira scenario through his solo performances and ensembles like Trio Carapiá, Coversa Ribeira and Orquestra Filarmônica de Violas (Viola Philharmonic Orchestra), performing in the country and abroad.

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