You know what’s funny. I’ve been training for so long that I totally forgot how hard it is to sing and clap at the same time when you first start out. Especially when you’re singing in another language. And I quickly realized it when I taught your first song. But it brought back some good memories. I remember that I couldn’t do it at first and told another capoeirista how hard it is to do both things at the same time. And he says to me, “Try playing an instrument and sing.” Haha, he’s right, that’s harder.

There really is no trick to accomplishing this task. It’s quite simple really. It’s practice. Now the clapping is quite easy. I’m sure you can master it in only a few claps and repetitions. It’s adding the singing that makes it quite difficult. So my tip, simply put, learn the song. Learn it so that you can sing it effortlessly. Sing it in the shower. Sing it in the drive to work. Eventually you will learn how the song and rhythm match. And once you get the rhythm of the song, you’ll understand the beats. And to further help understand the beats, you’ll use clapping. And by combining singing and clapping together, already you’ve improved your coordination and improved your rhythm of your game with the music.

Imagine that. Singing AND clapping. Two minor things (from a fitness point of view) that help majorly in capoeira. See? Capoeira isn’t all about the cool flips and kicks.