Welcome

The Tonic - a place to learn about music. The scope includes repertoire, theory and technique. We seek to include whatever can help us to learn more — both readers and writers.

Please share in the comments any suggestions for new posts, or enhancements to current posts - like more songs or rhythms to add to the chart. We are open to guest contributions.

People

David A. Tanzer is a Brazilian percussion devotee, computer scientist and creator of this site. He studies percussion in the Manhattan Samba bateria, Capoeira Angola music at Angola Brooklyn, and Brazilian music overall with Fabiano Salek. He created a computer science site called the Signal Beat Lab, and has written popular style articles on applied math for the environmentally oriented Azimuth blog.

Fabiano Salek collaborates on Brazilian music themes and percussion. He is a singer, percussionist, drummer, arranger and composer with a master’s degree in Music Practices Teaching from the University of Rio De Janeiro. He is a founder of the samba and choro group Sururu na Roda, which won the Brazilian Music Award in 2014, and belongs to the Ordinarius vocal group, whose album Notável was nominated for the Brazilian Music Award in 2018. He has performed alongside Zeca Pagodinho, Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Elza Soares, Moraes Moreira, Zé Renato, Eduardo Dussek, Arlindo Cruz, Marcos Valle, Baby do Brasil, Eliane Salek, Nei Lopes, Walter Alfaiate, Nelson Sargento, Wilson das Neves, Carlos Malta and Pife Muderno, Tim Rescalla, Casuarina, Mulheres de Hollanda, Ed Krieger, Marcelo Caldi, Nicolas Krassik and Quarteto Maogani, among others.