Cymbal technique for Brazilian styles

It's kind of a thing among Brazilian drummers to be able to play really blazing singles on the cymbal with the right hand, when playing a samba. Drummers in the modern American tradition— or maybe just me?— tend to work around extremely technically demanding things by mixing up the cymbal rhythm. To people like me, the mixed rhythm also sounds “hipper.” But the fast singles in the Brazilian style give a special kind of energy you can't get any other way, and I've been working on developing them.

Here are a few YouTube clips demonstrating versions of the technique. First, Dino Verdade, who has an economical style which I like, giving a lesson to (I think) an Italian student:




There's another video with Verdade that's also good.

Then there's Hugo Soares, whose name I hear a lot these days, with a very unique technique. He's definitely making friends with the upper speed limit of where this idea works musically, to me:




Here's a drummer named Erivelton Silva:




More after the break:




Here's a drummer named Cyro Zuzi, with an interesting technique with a little whipping motion. Much of what he's doing is not the running singles we're after, but it's worth check out his technique nevertheless. I'm always a skeptical of techniques involving any kind of lateral motion, but he can play.




And here's a Paraguayan drummer named Seba Ramirez who has developed a nice technique for the hihat: