About | Música do Círculo

Music and Human Connection

Música do Círculo is an inclusive musical practice that promotes well-being and human development, stimulating creativity, expression, affection, listening and cooperation.

The Música do Círculo Institute is the entity that promotes this practice and trains new conductors around the world.

Creators

Música do Círculo was developed by Pedro Consorte, Ronaldo Crispim and Zuza Gonçalves - the current directors of the Música do Cïrculo Institute - over several years, mainly in São Paulo.

Founder and Facilitator

Pedro Consorte

Teaching artist of hybrid formation (music and dance), has been a part of the group STOMP for 2 years, is part of the faculty at the International Body Music Festival and has dedicated himself increasingly to processes of learning and human development.

Founder and Facilitator

Ronaldo Crispim

Teaching artist and songwriter, has dedicated himself professionally to body percussion since 2007. He was a part of Fernando Barba's study group (creator of Barbatuques) and for 7 years was responsible for the Fritos body music group. He has a degree in Pedagogy of Cooperation and in the Gaia Education program of regenerative culture.

Founder and Facilitator

Zuza Gonçalves

Musician and teaching artist focusing particularly on vocal music and body percussion, Zuza has explored alternative ways in collective music making for the last 20 years. He is a part of the faculty at Bobby McFerrin's Circlesongs School and travels internationally for festivals and workshops on Música do Circulo

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History

The seed of the Música do Círculo (MdC) project emerged within the São Paulo body music community, fertile ground nurtured by the work of masters such as Fernando Barba, Stênio Mendes, and the Barbatuques group over more than a decade. The meeting of Ronaldo Crispim, Pedro Consorte, and Zuza Gonçalves in the Fritos group (a remnant of a study group created by Fernando Barba in 2003) established, from 2009 onwards, the friendship and partnership between the three main project facilitators, a relationship that continues to this day.

Out of the desire the community had to grow and reach more people, Fritura Livre emerged in 2013– a monthly open improvised gathering held in squares, parks, and public spaces, open to everyone, regardless of prior experience. Fritura Livre, through which thousands of people have passed, was (and continues to be) the laboratory where the essential elements of the Música do Círculo practice were born, developed, and established, always in an improvisational, experiential, and relational manner.

The first edition of the Música do Círculo Brasil Retreat, a week-long immersion in the universe of musical and relational practices, took place in January 2015 and has since expanded, reaching its 17th edition and completing 10 years in 2025. Over these years, it has included hundreds of people from more than 20 countries and 6 continents, creating an incredible global community linked by authentic and lasting emotional bonds.

Over these years, MdC has also entered the corporate environment, with proposals developed specifically for the needs of dozens of organizations of diverse profiles throughout the country. It uses music and relationships as pathways for developing cooperation, deepening listening, raising awareness of interdependence, integrating collaborators and teams, celebrating achieved goals, and accessing many other potentials this work can unlock.

In the world we live in, the demand for an inclusive, collaborative, transformative, and creative approach like MdC is immense; where there are people, there is space for it. Therefore, in 2020, we opened the first classes of the Leading Música do Círculo Training, a two year process aimed at deepening the study of MdC practice, developing participants' skills, ownership, and confidence to act professionally in their communities and thus expand the “circle,” bringing this practice and its values to an ever-increasing number of people.

The training that started online during the pandemic became an in-person program in 2022 in Brasil and in 2024 internationally, having three programs running in parallel, with one group in Latin America, one in North America and one in Europe, reaching hundreds of people all around the world.