It is said in Mexico that ‘the wealth lies within the walls’, this is very true in Zihuatanejo although the wealth isn’t necessarily in monetary terms but in our future and the children who will make it.
If you walk through the old market area of town, there is a school hidden behind a wall covered in a colourful mural. Most people don’t even realise it is there but if you listen, you will hear children’s voices and sometimes you will hear singing.
A few months ago, I was asked to photograph a new kitchen, paid for in part by Sailfest donations. It was at the end of a morning photographing various other Sailfest sponsored projects and by the time we arrived, the children had gone home. I agreed to return another day and to cut a long story short, I ended up sitting in on a music class. In another life, I taught class musicianship in preschool and primary schools. Towards the end of that time, I taught non music specialist class teachers to teach music. To put it bluntly, these were teachers who had never picked up an instrument, had been told as children that they couldn’t sing and didn’t know where to begin. I used a programme based on the teachings of Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly and the Voices Foundation. To this I added games, dance, art, drama and challenging FUN. It was an incredibly exciting project with spectacular results. Teachers who had dreaded ‘music time’ were empowered to integrate quality music teaching into the daily timetable. The results were staggering; the children loved it, behaviour in general improved and there were clear knock effects in all areas of the curriculum. ‘Can’t do’ class teachers became ‘can do’ effective music teachers.
Back to Zihuatanejo and this music class. The teacher informed me that she really didn’t know how to teach it – how could she? She wasn’t a musician – nor in that case was I! So, in my madness I offered to help. One small detail needed to be overcome – that of language. All the songs and games I was familiar with were in English and so I enlisted my neighbour’s daughter to help sing the songs as I went about translating teaching material into Spanish ….and it all worked out ok!
Tuesday mornings will find me sitting on the floor in a circle of four, five and six year old children, singing songs, playing games and having fun whilst at the same time enriching lives and sharing skills with enthusiastic and dedicated teachers. I no longer lead the whole class, my assistant as well as the teachers are now confidently developing music skills and I can watch on. This is not just a foundation to learning to play the guitar or piano for the fortunate few but education for life – for everyone. Listening and language skills, maths, turn taking, thinking skills and attention span are just a few of the many areas that benefit.
Attending school for me is not without dangers, I have been nearly rugby tackled to the ground as an entire class wanted to show their appreciation in a group ‘knee’ hug and now I refer to the school as ‘my school’ and when I see one of the children in town, I will say ‘oh that is one of mine’!
I want to leave a legacy beyond the educational one, that of a box of props and instruments for a school that has nothing at all. This is already coming along very well thanks to some DIY, repurposing, a little thrifty shopping in the Mercado and some kind donations.
It would be nice to have a percussion instrument for every child in the class to explore and enjoy but it is amazing how much fun you can have with garrafon lids thanks to the Bay View Grand, Ixtapa who collected enough for a whole class! One way to help and at the same time support the local Artisan Market is to shop amongst the beautiful stalls for an instrument to donate to this very worthwhile project. Less than a 100 pesos will put a smile on your face and that of one of ‘my’ ninos! Please get in touch if you can help.
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