Practicing Pandeiro

After my gig on May 20, one of the musicians complimented me on my percussion playing. I was so pleased, the next day I went to Best Music in Oakland and bought myself a pandeiro. It's a 10- or 12-inch wooden one, RMV, made in Brazil. I've been practicing for a year or so on a lightweight wooden tambourine, so this is the first time I've had a real pandeiro. It'll take a lot of work to get good, but I was inspired by this article from Modern Drummer Magazine written by the magnificent John Santos (who plays on my album):

"Brazil is well known for its myriad percussive instruments. The pandeiro stands out among them all as one of the most interesting and challenging. It is used in all types of musical contexts, both traditional and contemporary, due to its tremendous versatility. In the hands of an experienced player, the pandeiro can sound like a caixa (snare drum), a ganza (shaker), and an atabaque (conga-like drum), all roIled into one. I also find it remarkable that the pandeiro is essentially played with one hand (while the other hand holds the instrument)."

I also found some excellent notation and sound samples here: http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/easy/731/pandeiro2.htm

and here:
http://proliberty.com/music/pandeiro/

I'm going to look for this video by Airto that I read about at that link. Anyway, the cool thing is how many sounds, including funk and rock, you can get out of the pandeiro.