¡Hola! I wanted to share some of my experiences volunteering at SiNEM (El Sistema Nacional de Educación Musical), a children’s music center in the Desemparados neighborhood of San José. My role at SiNEM is to assist the students and professors in their music classes. From Monday through Thursday, I attend different classes and my role varies a bit; I might play the piano, help teach a lesson, engage in activities, or simply observe. I collaborate with the same professors (profes) and each class builds upon the previous week’s lesson. In the evenings, sometimes I observe an orchestra rehearsal. Here is what today’s schedule consisted of:
- 1:30pm: Arrive at SiNEM and get settled in. Warm up my voice and look over any notes from the previous day or week.
- 2:00pm: Attend my first class, “Primera Infancia”, with Profe Esteban. This is an introductory music course for younger kids (around ages 4-6) and their parents accompany them. Today, we focused on singing scales (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do) up and down. The kids are doing great! Profe Esteban asked me to share an exercise for tuning the voice, and I instructed the class to sing silly glissandos (think of an ambulance’s noise) and to listen intently to middle-C when I played it on the piano. My goal was to have the kids warm up their voices and to start to hear the difference between high- and low-pitched sounds. The kids were pretty funny as they made all sorts of noises. I’m not sure if the exercise or my explanation (in Spanish) helped, but luckily Profe Esteban stepped in to provide some guidance and structure. Later, we practiced basic rhythms (whole note, half note, quarter note) using “ta” syllables. It’s been helpful to learn music theory terms in Spanish, and it’s exciting to watch little kids learn how to read music. There’s always a lot of laughter involved!
- 3:00pm: Attend my second class, “Iniciación Musical”, which is a music appreciation class designed for late elementary-school students (maybe ages 10-12) and taught by the fabulous Profe Fabiola. There are about six students in the class, and each week we’ve been learning about different instruments: the flute, oboe, violin, viola, clarinet, saxophone, contrabass, and bassoon. Fabiola is a professional clarinetist and saxophonist, and today she played us a few songs on her clarinet, which the students loved. Later, some of the kids shared a few music tracks they’ve been listening to. I like this course because Fabiola introduces us to a variety of musical instruments and genres, and encourages the kids to explore their interests.
- 3:55pm: Snack break! I headed to the staff lounge and chatted a few professors, including Guiselle, who is my supervisor. I also saw Aaron, who is a guitar instructor and we had an interesting conversation about pura vida (“pura life”); he told me that pura vida is a greeting, or how someone might answer to “¿Cómo está?” or “How are you?” (Aaron had replied “¡Pura vida!” when I asked, ¿Cómo está usted?”) Pura vida usually means more than just “I’m fine”; it means that someone is doing very well, and it always has a positive connotation. You can also use pura vida to say goodbye, yes, sounds good, etc. Pura vida is a Costa Rican phrase and mindset, as it signifies a relaxed, joyful existence, where people appreciate each other and their natural environment.
- 4:00pm: Attend my third class, “Iniciación Musical”, which is a music theory class for high-school students, and taught by Profe William. We’ve been studying time signatures (métricas), and I’ve assisted quite a bit with writing exercises on the whiteboard, providing instruction and one-on-one feedback to students. Today, I wrote time signatures (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4) along with four measures for each one. The students had to invent a series of rhythms for each time signature. I noticed that some students were picking it up right away, and others needed a bit more guidance. So I circled around the room, answered questions, and provided the best feedback that I could. Explaining music theory in Spanish can sometimes be challenging, but it’s excellent practice! Teaching music in a second language is definitely rewarding when the lightbulb turns on in a student’s head.
- 5:00pm: Observe an orchestra rehearsal in the auditorium. The intermediate-level string orchestra is led by Guiselle, and I had the opportunity to watch them rehearse one of their pieces. Although everything is conducted in Spanish, I think that a musician who speaks another language could probably follow along due to the context. For example, by listening to the solfège syllables that the students were reciting, and following the conductor’s cues – strong beats and dynamics – and hearing each person “ta” (enunciate) or clap the rhythms, a musician-observer could recognize and appreciate the orchestra rehearsal. It all felt like a familiar environment for me, being a musician with experience in ensemble performance. In this specific case, knowing Spanish certainly allows you to pick up on every little detail, but the universality of music-ed culture may transcend linguistic boundaries.
- 6:00pm: (Unexpectedly) attend the class “Lenguaje Musical”, which is a music theory / aural skills class for teens and young adults. I don’t usually go to the evening classes, but I needed to make-up some hours so I came to this class. I met a group of ticos that were around my age, and they were welcoming and friendly. We reviewed key signatures (armaduras) and how to write them in three clefs: G-clef (la clave de sol), F-clef (la clave de fa), and C-clef (la clave de do). Interestingly, musicians in the Spanish-speaking world refer to the notes by their solfège syllable and use a fixed do-system. So rather than saying “C major”, they refer to the key as “Do mayor” (literally “do major”). This was something I had to get used to from day one! Also, we practiced simple sight-singing and clapping rhythms (right hand, left hand, or both hands).
- 7:00pm: Depart for home after a long day! I took the bus.
Sometimes I find there are more similarities rather than differences between the music education in Costa Rica and the music education in the U.S. However, I acknowledge that the music education at SiNEM is just one representation or example of how and what students are learning in Costa Rica. I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to even visit SiNEM, as well as collaborate with the students and professors. With less than two weeks left, I hope to continue building my relationships with others and being a supportive helper and ally.
*Sorry for the lack of photos. It would be unethical to take pictures of others, especially children and families, and post them without their permission, so I am refraining from that. Thanks for understanding.