The Signal Beat – Where Math and Music Meet

The Signal Beat™ covers themes in math and music, with an eye toward their overlap.

Team

David Tanzer

David Tanzer is a math-oriented software engineer with an academic background in computer science and an active interest in music creation and education. He is Chief Research Officer at Exploratory Sciences Inc., which offers a novel platform for data scientists. Previously, he was a managing director at Blackstone. He has a math B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a computer science Ph.D. from the NYU Courant Institute. He has written on applied math for the Azimuth Blog, which advances a research agenda in ‘green math.’ He has studied percussion, guitar and voice with a variety of teachers, including Simon Chardiet, Philip Galinsky of Samba New York!, Fabiano Salek and Shelley Thomas, with an orientation towards samba, bossa nova, jazz and early rock.

Fabiano Salek

Fabiano Salek partners as advisor and editor for topics in Brazilian music. He is a singer, percussionist, drummer, arranger and composer with a master’s degree in Musical Practices Teaching from the University of Rio De Janeiro. He is one of the founders of Sururu na Roda, a samba and choro band, with a career over twenty years, including seven albums and two DVDs. Sururu won the Brazilian Music Award in 2014. He belongs to the Ordinarius vocal group, whose album Notável was nominated for the Brazilian Music Award in 2018.

Fabiano has performed in concerts and recordings 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.

He has taught in elementary and high schools in Rio de Janeiro, and created the project “Oficina Roda de Samba” at the school of drums and percussion Maracatu Brasil. There he developed his own methodology for teaching percussion played in samba street. He belongs to the Post Graduate faculty in Choral Conducting at the Brazilian Conservatory of Music, and to Post Graduate Choir Regency for the 21st Century of the Academia Cultura. He is currently in charge of the “Batucada de Roda” project at Fundição Progresso, which continues the work of Oficina Roda de Samba.

  • Sururu na Roda sample YouTube clip, Fabiano Salek main vocals and pandeiro.