The miracle in Mexico

American Music Teacher, August-Sept, 2006 by Leslie Spotz

In March 2004, Munoz joined with Fernandez to teach piano students between Delk's visits. With further volunteer efforts of Socorro Sanchez, one of the mothers, there are now three regular piano teachers who work with students. All passionately dedicated to the musical education of these children, Delk trains Munoz and Fernandez. In turn, Munoz is training Sanchez, who had never learned piano before, to work with the beginners.

Fernandez prepares the music theory curriculum and administers the musical instruments. (5) In addition, she raises public awareness through public relations and the media. A recent video describing the school is being shown throughout Mexico and the United States. She is also writing a complete description of the work in El Castillo Azul, for the Imagina website, with the goal of sharing the information as a model for other communities to begin similar undertakings.

Students from low economic backgrounds are not supposed to thrive and excel or so goes the established educational rhetoric. During my visit to El Castillo Azul, I saw that assumption refuted. These students, who, on June 4, 2005, demonstrated the work they had completed during the previous month, were all ready to perform!

Most had far too many songs learned for the time allowed. Several had completed 20 songs in the month's period, with others having finished six to seven. Most of the students I heard were beginners; none had studied more than one year. There were some who had completed several months' instruction and others who had studied at Imagina one to two months. Twelve-year-old Arturo, a brilliant child, understood the concept of musical transposition within minutes.

Imaginas youngest student is Tanya, a charming, personable five-year-old, with a determined spirit. Noticing, as the morning progressed, that she had been sitting quietly in the comer with her mother for at least three hours, I asked why she had not played for me yet. "There is only time for you to hear those who have taken the class a minimum of one month," was the teacher's honest reply. With perhaps three or four more of the beginners waiting to play, I made the executive decision to stop everything and brought little Tanya over to the piano. This eager five-year-old played her piece, with eyes all aglow. She was as beautifully prepared as the other students and performed her piece with confidence and joy. Tanya and her mother thought nothing of waiting all day, if needed, to have her 15 minutes with the teacher from the north. They were a shining light of this day.

Miguel Espinoza Chavez, 15, talented, quiet and well-mannered, is Imaginas most advanced piano student. October 2003 was his first month at Imagina. When I heard him play on this searingly hot day in June 2005, it was the Chopin B-flat Minor Scherzo. In exchange for his monthly lessons with Delk, he assists with the younger students. Thanks to the MusicLink Foundation and Executive Director Joanne Haroutounian, Chavez performed on July 16, 2005, at the MusicLink National Summit on the campus at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia. MusicLink provided funding for Chavez to study at a music camp at Sam Houston State University and then to perform at the Summit. (6)