Classes & Workshops

As an Educator Gonçalo proposes to be a mediator between the Visual & Performing Arts, Music & Design

Teaching philosophy

Mental and physical balance has always been an important part of my life.
Design & Performing Arts easily founded echo in the Orient with ancient philosophy and martial arts.
I started Judo at the age of 16 and never stopped the search, in the fields of meditation, Tai Chi, Yoga and especially Aikido.
The teachings of the “arts of motion”, have found their way into every single facet of my own teaching strategies – from teaching a student how to hold a bagpipe to breathing, from design thinking to dealing with frustration.
If on one hand Architecture has taught me to look for patterns, to understand underlying order in nature, on the other hand, Design has shifted my attention away from the singularity of Artwork. In the end, “repetition”, “consistency”, “replicability” of actions and intentions, became more important than “singularity”.

Fields of teaching

Gonçalo conducts seminars in the following fields

Music

Events and workshops

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Project & Design

Tools that help you think

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Well-being

Learn to be present

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Not looking for workshops?

For weekly classes & learning directly

Bagpipe Tutor

Music

Lessons & Workshops

Learn how to play Bagpipes, Flutes & Whistles
or join in with your music instrument and learn folk repertoire from Iberia

Bagpipes Beginners workshop

Learning how to play the bagpipe

Bagpipes are amongst the most magical, emotional, and symbolic instruments in the world. Come try them out, and learn why!

Upcoming workshops

Tin Whistle beginners workshop

Learning how to play Irish tin whistle

The tin whistle is a practical and inexpensive little instrument that everyone can afford and carry in one’s pocket.

Its mellow sound is suited for most venues and music genres.

Upcoming workshops

Bagpipes are not big bad bugs

Lecture about bagpipes

With a sense of humour, Gonçalo confronts the audience with their own prejudices on bagpipes, demystifying rooted notions. He interprets different bagpipes of Europe, playing both traditional repertoire and modern pieces that demonstrate the interpretive & aesthetic scope of each instrument.

Project & Design

Tools that help you think

Design process is all about getting something accomplish

Sketch it up…

From idea > to paper > to 3D drafting

Sketchup is a powerful and fun 3D
modelling software, that can be downloaded for free from the internet.

It is extremely versatile and very easy to use by young people. SketchUp allows you to change the model in a “plastic” manner that keeps you engaged as if it was a real object.

Apart from drafting, nowadays 3D printing has become a common outlet for ideas to become reality.

Upcoming workshops

Pipe's great grand father

Building musical instruments – the reed pipes

Learn how to build your own single-reed pipes, the way people have done since antiquity – with simple tools and readily available materials

Upcoming Workshops

Flute’s great grandfather

Building musical instruments – the cane flute

The traverse flute, made of simple cane or bamboo, is a simple & wonderful musical instrument that has been around forever.
Learn how to make it yourself.

Upcoming workshops

Well-being

Learn to be…

From Music to the Visual Arts, from Meditation to Martial arts, it’s all about transcending technique
Thinking > Knowing > Being

Ukemi – The art of falling

Practicing Mindfulness through motion

A specific training of some Japanese martial arts like Judo (“the way of gentleness”) and Aikido (“the way of harmony”) is “Ukemi-Waza”, or soft fall practice.

Not to fear, recover from unbalanced positions, is of great importance to human development – Falling down and getting up again, could be perceived as a metaphor for life.

Upcoming workshop