A different school lesson with “Musica”

Within the context of the Semana Clásica a so called Didáctica took place as well. „Música en los Barrios“ visited the Colegio Aleman (German School) in Managua to give a lesson of quite a different nature. A bunch of 6 to 10-year-olds came to the gym and sat down on the gymnastics mats. But the kids could not settle back because „Tallerist“ Israel Saenz set them in motion. Together with the children he began to sing a song about a cowboy and his horse. Taking place in the wild veld, a smart Indian sneaks up to the horse’s stable to pilfer it. Pedro, the cowboy, calmly drinks a cup of tea and only watches horse and horseman galloping away.

Imitating the Indio, the kids vaulted into the saddle or stirred calmly the tea like the cowboy. After this amusing active game, the little audience got introduced to the family of the treble recorder in form of a small play. Corcheita, a little girl, gets enchanted from the sound of a recorder in her dreams. Following those lovely sounds she encounters the soprano who introduces her to her recorder family. Granpa bass mumbles in his beard, father tenor arrives good-humored, mother contralto calls her daughter the soprano with her smooth voice. In the end the sopranino attracts attention to herself cheeping that she wants to come too on the big journey. They are all together now and enter the enchanted woods of the recorder’s sounds. There they meet the great masters with disheveled white hair for instance Bach, Mozart and Grieg.

The performance was accompanied by the orchestra which for instance presented the composers by playing progressions of their opus.

A real highlight for the children was to conduct the orchestra. Wilmer, the conductor, won a helping hand. Now there was a little fellow standing in front of the musicians and giving them the starting note to Mozarts Marcha alla Turca. Spinning around wildly the conducting stick one could see the joy written on his face.

The Didactica in the Colegio Aleman was a complete success. Not only the members of „Música en los Barrios“ formed the morning, the young audience as well by participating that much. Seeing how fast the children learned and enjoyed Pedro and the smart Indian or conducting the orquesta, it reconfirms the idea of Música en los Barrios that an early musical education is of great importance to the development of children.