Today was a very special day and I wanted to share it with you. It was the First day that the musicians from the colonia Marques de Leon had ever played in front of their classmates at the grade school. All of the Moms were invited and there was punch, soda & jello. It was a pretty big deal.
We borrowed an electronic keyboard from the Music School that took 6 "D" batteries and worked real well. Susan was able to accompany the kids and it made quite a difference.
Leo our deaf mute drummer was not able to make it to the performance today but is still taking his lessons twice a week from Manuel at the School of Music. Getting pretty good too.
Gabriel the young man in the red shirt has recently been issued a cornet, he has had only three lessons and today performed 5 notes of a C scale, Pan Caliente (hot cross buns), and Twinkle. I think he is going to be pretty good.
In the one photo showing the class, you can see the enthusiasm in the eyes of the kids. Pedro is helping by holding a piece of sheet music as the windows were open and there was a nice breeze blowing through the room.
As a result of the performance, we recruited another violinist and she will start tomorrow.
I still sort of like the name "Marques de Leon Symphonic Ensemble", what do you think of it?
It's getting late and I just finished printing out 8 copies of the enclosed collage "on photographic grade paper" so that each of the musicians can have a copy to remember the day. I used the best paper because I want them to make sure they realize that they are the best, and therefore deserve the very best.
Teaching the music, the notes and the right buttons to push is really only part of the big picture, as you may remember this is a real poor area and working on these kids' self images have made some big changes in the way they look at life and themselves.
Tomorrow is another day.
Thanks for all of your support,
Tom Ireton, "La Casita"