Aubrie's update
March 30, 2004
Friends of San Miguel Tzinacapan Concert Band
The colors of San Miguel grow brighter as the rains come pouring
down, the smiles widen as the music flows through the town. The
band finished their fourth week of lessons with instruments this
past Friday and can successfully play their first five notes in
various folksong arrangements from the Standard of Excellence method
book. The structure of our week contains three days of private lessons
or two students at a time on like instruments for half and hour
and two days with the full band meeting for one hour. On full band
days there is one small ensemble that meets in the morning which
we hope will turn into small classical chamber groups or a jazz
band as time progresses. The afternoon band contains forty students.
The majority ranging in ages from twelve to eighteen with a few
eight to ten year olds and others in their forties or fifties, but
no matter what the age of the student the excitement level seems
to be the same, sky high. When they come together to play and I
see the ambition in their eyes, any problems we had lifting the
program off the ground seem distant and I only regret the time that
was lost in waiting one month for the instruments to arrive so we
could begin making music together.
We are currently planning a concert for the Cinco de Mayo celebration
in San Miguel. Luckily our boxes of donated music contain an arrangement
of seven folk songs our students learned in their beginning lessons.
Rachel, Reid and I arranged the three Mexican folk songs in Standard
of Excellence for a second piece of music and we hope the people
in the village appreciate this and are able to recognize the music
as Mexican because of the simplified versions of the songs. The
band committee of San Miguel and others in the community have expressed
interest in the band playing more traditional Mexican songs, "Música
Méxicana," as they say, so we are working to make this
possible. Since we don't have the music in written form we will
need to transcribe some of the pieces they would like us to play
and also hope to find some sheet music in Mexico City this weekend
when we go to renew our visas. We just received a generous donation
from Mark McCrady's band program in Montana which will make buying
new music possible as well as a bass drum, yarn mallets for the
suspended symbol, more reeds and other things the band needs. I
am very excited for this because once the band finishes the first
Standard of Excellence method book they need more beginning band
and middle school level music before they will be able to play the
high school level music that was donated. If you know of any middle
school band directors who would like to get rid of some old music
and donate it to the San Miguel band please contact us. We may be
able to arrange a way for David Brye or another person traveling
to San Miguel from the United States to bring a couple of boxes
with them to avoid expensive postage or more hassles with customs.
I am always looking to the future of this band because I don't
want it to end up like one of the many half finished and abandoned
houses we see while walking around the village because of insufficient
resources. Right now this is a danger for the San Miguel Band because
of the lack of resources the community has to find and pay for another
person to continue directing who knows how to read music, something
about playing each instrument and repairing them when something
goes wrong. Reid, Rachel and I are currently preparing some of our
older students and more rapid learners to keep the program going
after we leave if other volunteers are unable to come. We are also
on the lookout for people who may be interested in volunteering
like us in the future. This experience is incredibly rewarding and
I learn something new about myself, the community, the Spanish language,
working with people and directing and organizing a band program
every day. Living in San Miguel where most people survive without
the comforts of hot running water, flushing toilets, shoes or ovens
has helped me appreciate the gifts of life. I find smiles more beautiful,
the taste of an orange sweeter and conversations more satisfying.
More than ever I am glad to be part of the long chain of people
who made the grand gift of a band possible for this community. I
think about all those who donated their time, money, music, instruments,
stands and support and realize the San Miguel Band would be impossible
without them. I hope that more people in the future will want to
continue to provide support for this community.
Please forward this news letter on to other people interested in
our program and let us know who they are so we can contact them
directly in the future.
Sincerely,
Aubrie Vikturek
Rachel Widen
Reid Wixson
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