This is the first volume of the 11-volume Practical Guide (Guia Prático), composed for educational purposes when he was appointed Director of Music Education in Brazil in 1932. Although each volume is believed to have contained at least 100 pieces, only a small portion is currently available. These are harmonizations of folk songs and children's songs collected in the Brazilian hinterlands around 1905, and the title is also translated as Guide to Poetry (Guia para a Poesia). The syncopated rhythms, characteristic of Brazilian music, create an indescribably relaxed atmosphere. The "viola" in the fifth piece, On the Strings of the Viola (Nas Cordas da Viola), likely refers to the violão, a guitar-like instrument (played by plucking six strings with the fingers).