Pandeiros

Pandeiros in the USA (Brazilian tambourines for samba and choro music):

If you play or listen to traditional Brazilian music, then you’ve heard the pandeiro. It’s similar to a tambourine, but there are some important differences. Both are hand frame drums, but the tension of the head on the pandeiro can be tuned, so that the pandeirista can play high and low notes. Also, the metal jingles, or platinelas, are concave. This gives them a crisper, drier and less sustained tone than the sound of the tambourine. It allows pandeiro players to play with more clarity when they play the fast, complex samba and choro rhythms.

When you are buying a pandeiro, it’s important to choose one that’s right for the genre you play. If you are a sambista, then you’ll want to get a pandeiro with a synthetic head, like this one. But if you mainly play Brazilian choro, then you’ll want to get a pandeiro with a leather head, like this one. This pandeiro will serve you well for choro.

All of the pandeiros I’ve mentioned are 10″ in diameter. This is the standard size for Brazilian music. Happy drumming!

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