A Pebble in Paraguay, Part 2: Sounds of the Earth
By Michelle Stebleton, Associate Professor of Horn, FSU, [email protected]
During my last trip to Paraguay, I was performing with a youth orchestra in Asuncion that was part of the program, Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds of the Earth). The children took the bus from outlying pueblos—some traveled several hours—to study and perform music in the city to supplement their local studies. The day of our concert, one student was over an hour late, which would normally result in expulsion from the program. Given an opportunity to explain his tardiness, he explained that he had been on the bus when the man standing next to him was stabbed in a robbery. With blood on his dress shirt, the boy, about 14 years old, had to return home to change clothes. I was struck by the calm demeanor of the student; he came from a particularly dangerous area, and just took it all in stride. His main focus was to get to his music program, a part of his life that provided deep satisfaction, and a vocational training that would eventually raise him out of his living situation.
Luis Szarán, conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of the City of Asunción, founded Sonidos de la Tierra, the national music program. As he explained to me in 2007, children begin on harp or guitar, instruments indigenous to the national folk music. In order to participate, the parents have to invest fully—they provide the wood to make the instruments. For some, this means chopping the tree and planning the wood before sending it to the volunteer instrument makers.
After a few years of participation in the indigenous music groups, the young students then begin playing an instrument from the classical orchestra. Professionals from the orchestra in Asunción travel weekly from pueblo to pueblo to teach the children in each of the 72 participating villages in the interior. Students in a region rehearse together monthly, all having learned the same music toward a regional concert in a group that, together, contains all of the instruments needed for an orchestra.
An amazing thing happened as this program established its roots in Paraguay. The high school graduation rate increased—within the music student group, graduation is 100%. Many of these students go on to receive a university education. The program has developed to serve 3000 participants, and several generations of students have graduated; the placement rate into area orchestras is currently at 100%, and many former students return to teach in the very program that became an integral part of their lives.
The program itself has grown into something even more diverse. Offerings include themed ensembles in addition to the traditional orchestras: harp choirs (Maestro Szarán organized the harp choir that broke the world record for the largest such group), all-female music groups, and an environmentalist ensemble made up of water-themed instruments, such as jugs, hoses, and funnels. A long way from the dangers of an outlying pueblo, the groups now perform on the international stage, including at the America Music Awards. The effects of the pebbles in Paraguay are rippling out across the entire country and beyond. For more information, please visit http://www.sonidosdelatierra.org.py/
