In true improvisational style, composer Jovino Santos Neto created a samba piece Saturday morning that included the roughly half-dozen instruments played by participants in his Brazilian jazz workshop.

“This is like a petting zoo,” he said at the beginning of the workshop, held at the Cascade Community School of Music in Bend. “You get to know a style of music by putting your hands in it and playing with it.”

After choosing some piano chords, Santos Neto added harmonies and a melody line, creating a part for bass guitar, acoustic guitar, alto and baritone sax, flute and fluegelhorn, a brass instrument that resembles a trumpet.

Vocalist Michelle Van Handel, of Bend, said she was impressed that a composer could build a piece, layer by layer, from a variety of instruments. Vocalists shared a part with the fluegelhorn.

“I loved how he built from the bottom up, got everyone playing their part and got all the parts to fit together,” she said.

Van Handel, 35, who has performed in the area for several years, said it was also impressive to see people come together to play.

“There’s a great energy, there’s a fun energy, in being in a group of people all focused on the same thing,” she said.

Van Handel, who also teaches at the Cascade Community School of Music, said she was glad the school provided a variety of ways for people to appreciate Santos Neto’s work.

As part of the “Musicians in Motion” visit, Santos Neto gave a lecture on the history of Brazilian jazz and performed with his quartet Saturday in addition to holding the morning workshop.

“It makes a much bigger impression than if you (only) went to a performance,” Van Handel said.

Her husband, fluegelhorn player Dave Van Handel, 48, said at the end of the workshop that he wished the group had a few more hours to put together another impromptu piece.

“It’s nice to get a bunch of different musicians together,” he said. “It just came together — he was able to create so many different parts in a short amount of time and create a tune.”

Van Handel, whose background is in trombone, said he has played a fair amount of Latin and Brazilian jazz in the past.

Alto saxophonist Cliff Robinson, of Sunriver, said he was a bit surprised by the results of Saturday’s workshop. Robinson, 68, said he enjoys Brazilian music and also simply wanted to play with a group of like-minded musicians.

“It’s not that easy to find people to play with and places to do it, and it’s a lot more enjoyable to play with people than by yourself,” he said.

Robinson said that he is a member of the Cascade Horizon Band, a local group that includes musicians mostly 50 and older. It does not specialize in jazz.

He said Saturday’s workshop attracted many people he had never seen before. Although most of the people who attended the workshop were adults, a handful of teens also attended.

Flute player Helen Eastwood, of Tumalo, said she thought the workshop was a good way to foster connections.

Eastwood, 31, said she was also grateful that the community school of music created a variety of opportunities for people interested in music.

She said it was interesting to execute a piece created on the spot by an accomplished composer.

“It came from Jovino,” she said. “He created it from us.”