WaterBear — Falmouth University
Why I am applying.
After twenty-five years of practice, I am not looking for a beginning. I am looking for the framework that lets the next twenty-five years be more useful than the last.
Motivation
Practice meeting study.
Almost everything I know was learned by doing — in Salvador's rehearsal yards, on carnival routes, in school halls and on festival stages. That knowledge is real, but it is largely undocumented, and I am aware of how much of it lives only in my hands.
WaterBear appeals to me precisely because it takes contemporary practice seriously. An environment built around working musicians, industry context and creative enterprise is where my experience can be examined properly rather than politely admired.
I also expect to be a useful presence in the room. I bring a tradition, a professional network and two and a half decades of leading ensembles — and I intend to contribute that as generously as I receive.
Future vision
Goals
Formalise the practice
Place twenty-five years of intuitive, tradition-based knowledge inside a contemporary academic framework, and gain the vocabulary to teach it at a higher level.
Deepen creative direction
Develop composition, arrangement and production skills so that my work moves beyond live direction into recorded and commissioned output.
Build sustainable programmes
Strengthen Tribo CIC's education offer with research-informed practice, evaluation and partnerships that outlive any single funding cycle.
Teach the next generation
Move towards higher-education teaching and mentoring, so that Afro-Brazilian musical practice is passed on with the rigour it deserves.
“I want to leave behind more than performances. I want to leave behind musicians, teachers and communities who can carry this music without me.”
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