After the COVID-19 measures were lifted in El Salvador by the government, our students and music teachers have been able to come together and keep learning and practicing music in the music centres. Although the learning process did not stop during the pandemic, students and teachers here are happy to come back and learn together face to face. The team have decided to keep some measures in place when students come into the music centres in order to prevent any possible spread of the virus and keep the communities as safe as possible.
Some of these measures are:
- Teaching the music classes in open spaces or under a tree when the weather allows it.
- Dividing the music classes into small groups and having classes at in different times during the day.
- Cleaning the instruments before and after each lesson.
- Keeping in contact with parents if any student presents any symptoms related with COVID-19.
- Asking the participants to wash their hands regularly when they are in the music centres.
These measures and the vigilance of both teachers and students have been working very well so far. We know that the virus has not disappeared from the communities, so we must continue to be very careful.
Update from the Music Centres:
Eneyda – Amando Lopez community
I am working with students from different communities in this music centre. Some of my students have to walk a couple of kilometres to come to the music centre – I am very glad to have them because they are very committed to learning music and sharing it with their families and community. At the moment we are writing new songs about the history of the community, climate change and other problems such as the emigration that families face during this time.
We can once again meet together and have community activities. All the bands of this music centre have been participating in different activities such as community anniversaries, Mother’s Day, and fund-raising activities. All of my students feel very proud when they go to perform at these activities and this keeps them motivated to always keep learning and thinking about writing new songs.
Pedro – El Zamoran Community
In El Zamoran music centre, I am currently working with children from El Zamoran, Nuevo Amanecer and El Cedro. It has been nice to see all my student face to face again and have fun all together by doing different music activities in the music centre. As a music centre we are focusing on the song writing, during the pandemic we managed to put together a couple of songs – one of them has been very well received by the communities of El Bajo Lempa the name is “Mi Tierra” which talks about the beauty that we have as a rural community. Some of those beauties are the friendly and hardworking people, the nature and how resilient the people of the communities are.
Wilfredo – La Papalota Music Centre
In la Papalota Music centre I am working with children and young people from other communities such as San Marcos Lempa, El Mono, Mata de Pina, La Caseta and La Papalota. During the pandemic I have used different resources such as video tutorials, one-to-one meetings, articles and others to keep my students learning music and discovering their own music skills. Now I am very pleased that we can meet together and make, learn and practice music. It is very nice to see all my students sharing music and having good time in the music centre.
Tony Centeno – Nueva Esperanza Community
In the Nueva Esperanza community centre I am working with two groups at the moment. The first is “Evolucion Musical” – this music group has a little more experience in music, the participants know how to play more than one instrument and they perform very well. With this group we are working on the writing our own songs. We are writing a new song which about the protection of the nature and the group is working very hard to get this song done and perform it to the communities. The group believes that through music we can do our bit for our precious nature and protected against the destruction.
The second is our new beginners group. This is a group made up of children who are starting to learn and gain confidence with instruments. During this stage the students have the opportunity to experiment with playing different instruments. The aim of this is that the students discover by themselves which instruments they would like to learn in the future.
Beginners from El Marillo community
One of our big achievements as a project during this year, despite the pandemic, is starting working in the community of El Marillo. During our many years as a project, we have not been able to work with the children of this community due to the volatile situation with the gangs. Now, we are very pleased with the response of the community to Music for Hope. Tony Centeno is coordinating with Pedro and together they travel to this community to teach music. We are confident that in the future the community will have their own music groups. At the moment, the children are getting familiar and confident with instruments by playing traditional and easy songs.
