Her place in the ceremony
The puxadora sits at the front of the women's section, in the row closest to the central table around which a work is organized. From that position, she is the one who opens each hymn, and observers describe her as expected to know, from memory, the words, melody, and tone of every hymn that may be sung across a lengthy work, a demand that can run to thousands of hymns across a church's repertoire.
Setting the pace for others
Because she leads, the musicians tune their playing to her voice rather than the reverse, and the wider congregation follows her lead in turn. Accounts of works at Céu do Mapiá describe a puxadora correcting musicians who fall out of step with a hymn, exercising clear authority over the pace and tone of the ceremony while it is underway.
A distinctive role for women in the community
Observers of the Céu do Mapiá community have noted that the role of puxadora is one of relatively few paths through which a woman there has been able to travel widely, including as part of the touring group, or comitiva, that sometimes accompanies senior church leaders, though accounts differ on whether the role is a paid one.