"Every Tuesday at 1:30 in the Manna schoolhouse (called "El Farito"), Program Directors Scott and Andie lead
music class. They go equipped
with tambores, maracas, una guitarra, instrumentos de percusión, and
plenty of patience.
"The kids come to class excited and antsy
after being in school all morning; talking, laughing, playing around,
practicing karate kicks, trying to mess with Scott's hat (which is SO
not allowed), arguing over which instrument they want, hugging Andie
(over and over and over), etc. The kids are so wound-up, that the first
few minutes of class could be spent trying to get them to calm down -
but instead, Scott and Andie give the kids 5 seconds to make as much
noise as they want. The kids jump up and down, yell and scream and
flail their arms about frantically, and when Scott shoots his hand up,
they're suddenly silent (pure genius, I know).
"Then Scott
starts playing music on his speakers - sometimes it's jazz, sometimes
blues, sometimes something Nicaraguan. He asks the kids what feelings
they have when they listen to the music, and what adjectives they'd use
to describe it. The kids may say something like "aburrido" (boring) or
"necio" (annoying) and then start whispering to their friends, but more
often you can see them tapping their foot to Miles Davis, or listening
calmly to Beethoven, or using words like "desorganizado" (disorganized)
to describe a complicated jazz piece. And then occasionally, Scott
plays a classic rock piece (think Led Zepplin), and the little boys
stand up and start jamming out on their air guitars.
"The class
has been meeting for 8 months now. I go as often as I can, and the
progress the kids have made in music class is truly remarkable. The
(sometimes crazy) kids have learned how to identify time signatures,
rhythms, they can read music (seriously), they've performed in a
holiday concert and are currently learning songs for another concert in
July. These kids, who before MPI had never had a music class in their
life, now understand more music theory than the majority of North
Americans. They not only know the difference between a half rest and a
whole rest, but they also know how to write and identify them in a
piece of music. Plus, they're learning to love a wide variety of music.
I asked 9-year-old Daniel (famous for his air guitar impression)
what his favorite song was, and he said "Money by Pink Floyd." When I
asked why, he said, "porque tiene siete tiempos" (because it's in 7/8
time). And then he ran off and proceeded to practice more karate kicks
with his friends, while Scott and Andie cleaned up after another
successful music class."
-taken from the blog of current Program Director
Abbie Foust, managuadiaries.blogspot.com.
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