The order of sound in a work
A work is opened with the ringing of a bell near the church entrance. From there, observers of Santo Daime ceremonies describe a consistent sequence: the puxadora, the lead female singer seated at the front of the women's side, begins each hymn; the musicians follow her lead on their instruments; and the rest of the congregation joins in singing. Instrumentation commonly includes one or more guitars and some percussion, with the maracá present throughout the congregation and used to keep the beat, a role observers note as especially important during the deeper states some participants experience later in a work.
Movement alongside the singing
Where the physical space allows, singing is accompanied by a bailado, a set of simple, repeated dance steps taken in place as the hymns are sung, so that movement and music are treated as a single practice rather than separate elements of the ceremony.
An observer's account
The description above draws on the account of one outside observer of works at Céu do Mapiá, who came away describing the community's musical life as central to the experience of the ceremony itself. That is one person's reading of what they saw and heard, offered here as context rather than as official doctrine.