Teaching Piano in Guatemala Summer 2013

Synopsis by Debra Hadfield, NCTM

            For Christmas 2012, my husband, Eugene, and I traveled with an archaeologist and his wife to Guatemala to celebrate the New Era of the Mayan Calendar with the indigenous Mayans. On the Sunday prior to Christmas, we attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church. The congregation had one piano player, and she was in the United States, which she visits often, so my husband volunteered for me to play the piano for the church services. During the first speaker’s talk, a woman in the congregation walked up to the piano where I sat and asked in Spanish if I would accompany the children while they sang three songs for the program. It was the first time the children had sung the songs with piano accompaniment.

            I learned from the 16-year old chorister that she took lessons for a year, and the teacher never taught the names of the keys, never used any book or handouts; instead, she demonstrated simple right-hand melodies and had the student mimic. 

            So spontaneously after the meeting, when I tentatively mentioned the idea to my husband that we return in July to teach piano lessons, he said he thought it was a great idea.  So I asked a church leader if I came to Guatemala to teach lessons, would it be a possibility to use the building, and he said absolutely, and encouraged me to come.

            I mentioned the idea to John Mann, who was friends with our traveling hosts, and had graciously invited us to stay at his home during the week of Christmas. When he learned that we would like to return to teach piano, he enthusiastically offered his home to us and to any student teachers for the duration of the program, and to help make arrangements for our teaching experience. He had two strong recommendations: 1. That we teach in Ciudad Vieja at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and 2. That we commit to teach three consecutive summers.

            It never occurred to me this would become the most challenging experience of my life. After all, teaching piano is what I do. In June, I was honored as the 2013 Texas Music Teachers Association Teacher of the Year. I currently serve as president of the Texas Music Teachers Association. I’ve taught private and group piano classes for 40 years. How difficult could it be to teach beginner group classes?

            Besides, several adults assured me that Spanish would not be a challenge since “the children and teenagers all learn English in school.” It’s true that some of them do – for about half-an-hour each week. The reality is I had to teach the students in Spanish; they did not respond to my English, and never spoke English to me.

            One of the most emotional challenges was saying goodbye to my three dogs.

The plan was for Lucky, our Cocker Spaniel, to stay with our son, Evan, in Austin, while Sport and Chip, our Shih Tzus, would go with us to Guatemala. I hoped petting the dogs could be a reward for the students practicing well.

            Though I called the airline and asked for detailed information, no one informed me until just a few days before I left that I needed documents from the Guatemalan Embassy and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and that ten days before my return, I would have to do the same all over again in Guatemala. I learned that just before boarding your plane to return, you may be told that your dogs have new bacteria, and they must be quarantined in Guatemala for 4 to 6 weeks.

            So all three dogs went to stay with Evan. He reported that Neva, his Golden Retriever, and my three dogs all wanted to sleep on his bed, so nighttime was a “bit cuddly.”

            Megan Moncrief, an 11^th grader, was my team teacher for the five weeks. She has been my piano student since kindergarten, so she understands my teaching methods. Megan performed Fur Elise by Beethoven for the students as an example of what they might be able to do if they practice every day for four years.

            My husband went to Guatemala to help us get started, then returned to Texas after the first three weeks.  On Saturday, June 29, Eugene, Megan, and I arrived in Guatemala after 8 p.m.  John Mann, our host, and his house manager, Esperanza, picked us up at the Guatemala City airport and drove us immediately to a Walmart just before closing time for teaching supplies.

            John Mann helped in many ways. He worked with the LDS bishop of Ciudad Vieja and the LDS stake president to register students. He frequently drove us to the church where we taught, and made sure we had a lunch delivered each day.

            John welcomed us to his beautiful home. Esperanza and her three teenage children served meals. Our dinner conversations were never dull as John has traveled the world and had many adventures.

            Before leaving Texas, I was informed that we had 15 to 20 students registered for lessons.  But during the first week of lessons, we had 90 different people take at least a couple of classes. It was a vacation week from school; some came the first week knowing they could not come the remaining four weeks. Others would like to have continued, but could not afford the bus fees. So the last three weeks, we had 50 regularly attending students, and only two of those did not continue to the end.

            We divided the students into six classes, based on ages and when they could attend.  I had expected more children to register, but the adults outnumbered the children. Each class attended daily, Monday through Thursday, for five weeks. The 12 children in the youngest class, ages four to seven years, would have been regular piano students if we had more keyboards and instructors. Instead, they met upstairs during the same time as their parents had class on the main floor, and Megan and my husband taught them using paper keyboards, small dry-erase boards, and rhythm instruments. At their recital, the children sang some songs in English and others in Spanish while their parents performed on the keyboards.

            Metroplex Piano Warehouse in Dallas donated two full-size keyboards. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated smaller Casio keyboards. So the students could practice at home, we gave them short paper keyboards, made by taping together two 8 ½”  by 11” cardstock pages. When we passed these out, we received hugs and tears of gratitude. Many of the students actually practiced on these every day.

            The church had an old piano. It was terribly out of tune, and though there was talk of getting it tuned, no one tuned it while we were there. Tuning it would be a challenge because the hammers of the keys are held together with small plastic zip ties. We made the best of the situation; If I played the piano loudly, the students playing the keyboards could stay together because it was easy to tell the piano from the keyboards since it was so out of tune.

            We had some beginning piano books donated to us by the Novus Via Music Group, with compositions by Christopher Norton and edited by Dr. Scott McBride Smith. These remained at the church for students to share.

            I made posters to teach other songs. We printed pages from the Spanish edition of the Elementary Course of Music published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is also available at no cost online.

            The first week we worked without headphones.  That will never happen again! During the weekend, we drove the hour-long trip to Guatemala City to buy headphones. Students sharing a keyboard could still hear each other practicing, but the teaching environment improved dramatically!

            During the five weeks, we gave the students the first three levels of the Texas Music Teachers Association Theory Tests. One adult class completed the Level Four Test. This was quite an accomplishment considering that in Texas one level is given per grade level, so Texas students take only one test each year.

            I thought my class of elementary-school students were overly sober for children, and wondered if some of them ever laughed. So I was truly surprised when they were taking a written theory test, and I made a request that I always make of my Texas students: “Keep your eyes on your own papers, please!” Instantly, the students all burst into laughter, and they couldn’t stop. They weren’t being disrespectful; they’d just never received such an instruction before.

            This same class of young students enjoyed playing in the small parking lot beside the church prior to their class, which followed an adult group. The adults didn’t want to quit until the children arrived, and the children didn’t come into the church until they saw the adults leaving. One day the children didn’t get started until halfway through the class time.

            I told them it was very important that they arrive on time, that they should come in and stand behind the adults so the adults would be willing to let the children sit down and begin on time. The children looked at me somberly with wide eyes. Then I looked at their wrists. No one had a watch. Of course, unlike my Texas students, no one had a cell phone, either. The next day the children came straight from school, arriving an hour early. After that, Megan went outside to tell the children when it was time for class.

            It was obvious that only a few students could have paid for lessons, books, or supplies. Several students skipped lunch to help defray the cost of riding buses an hour each way to get to and from the classes.

            Several of the older adult students had not been in a classroom since leaving elementary school. Jorge Garcia Colindres left school after first grade when his mother died. He became the cook and housekeeper for his younger brothers and sisters. The piano class was his first classroom experience since first grade. He never had learned the alphabet, though he taught himself to read. At first, these older students had a challenge just lifting individual fingers, but at the end of the five weeks, all of them performed a hymn in a recital.

            Saul, an intelligent 14-year-old, was one of the students who quit coming to class. He came the morning of July 15, eager to choose the hymn for his recital solo. He also wanted to play an easy version of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer for the recital.

            Saul was the most promising teenage student in all the classes, eager to learn and highly motivated. He spoke only a few words of English. One day I thought he was asking for my email, so I gave him a business card. He looked confused, and went to another student who spoke English. Saul didn’t want my email – he was asking to borrow my hymnal. He wanted to play from the regular hymnal, even though he’d only had two weeks of lessons.

            Saul was the student I thought was the most likely to first fulfill my dream of someone to play for church. He also said he could practice at the church because his dad had keys to get in to clean the building. But after July 15, Saul never came again. I learned Saul’s family sent him to a farm far away to work to earn money for the family. This is not uncommon; feeding a family comes before education. I often wonder what Saul is thinking when he gets up at dawn to work until dark. Does he play the few piano pieces he learned in his mind? I cannot accept that this intelligent, young man will not get any more schooling.

            Adaly Marroquin, a mother of two young children, walked out of the church on the first day of classes because her children were getting into teaching supplies and running around the classroom. She was walking home when John Mann passed her with his van, stopped and asked her is she really wanted to pass up an opportunity that could change her life and the lives of her children.  He brought her back to the church, where her children continued to be active children, yet she never missed a day of class. Sometimes when her daughter became extremely restless, Megan picked Nicole up and dangled her by holding just her feet for a few minutes while the child giggled.

            When it was time to choose pieces for the recitals, Adaly wanted to play Divina Luz from the regular hymnal. I encouraged her to choose a hymn from the beginning course. When she insisted she could learn from the hymnal, I let her practice, thinking she’d be discouraged quickly and would choose an easier hymn.

            The next day she showed up with her pocket-size hymnal with each note of Divina Luz labeled by letter. The small hymnal would not stay open, so holding it open with her left hand, her toddler son in her left arm, and her three-year-old standing on the back of her chair, she practiced with her right hand. I still didn’t think she’d continue, but the following day she had practiced on her paper keyboard at home and had memorized most of the melody line of the hymn. I finally gave her my full-sized Spanish hymnal so she could practice with both hands.

            Though she doesn’t speak any English, Adaly helped me plan how the keyboards could be distributed to homes so every student would have access to a keyboard for practicing. She is now visiting the homes of all the students in Ciudad Vieja once each week - walking, because she has no vehicle – to answer questions the students may have in finishing their beginning hymn course books.

            During the third week, each student chose a hymn to play in a recital at the end of the five weeks. Some of them played the melody with one or two hands. Others played a simple accompaniment along with the right-hand melody. Each recital began with the students performing some songs as a group, followed by each student performing a hymn first as a solo, and then accompanying the audience singing the verses of the hymn. Since there were so many students, we divided them into four recitals.

            Every student showed up to perform in the recitals except one girl who had to finish some homework at school. However, none of the recitals started on time. The recital for eight children ages 8 to 12 years was scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m., but no one showed up except several adults who had performed in an earlier recital and stayed to be audience members.

            It started raining. Knowing all the children had walked to their class each day, I wondered if the rain would stop them. Finally, at 5:15, I went outside in the rain to see if they were coming. I looked up the hill, and here came the three Sanchez children, dressed in their Sunday clothes, and clutching their piano books close to keep them dry in the rain. Delwin Sanchez wore a white pair of cotton gloves to keep his hands warm before the performance. He said he wanted to be like Mozart.

            By 5:30 p.m., the performers had arrived, but not their parents. The children said their parents were working, but would try to make it. So we played our program, and by the time we finished we had an audience, so we performed the entire program again.

            While in Ciudad Vieja, I played the piano on Sundays. On the last Sunday, while I played the prelude, two young boys stood on tiptoes to peer into the old piano to watch the hammers hit the strings. I had grown more confident about opening the hymnal to the posted page and starting to play, not at all certain if the hymn was one I’d ever played before. Some hymns in the Spanish hymnal are not in the English hymnal.

            I realized the opening hymn was Divina luz, the same hymn Adaly Marroquin performed in a recital the day before. I motioned to her to look at the posted hymn number, and then waved my hand in an invitation for her to come play the piano for the opening song. She smiled, stood up, and walked across the front of the room towards me with her two children following behind her, just as the bishop was announcing I would be playing the piano. I shook my head and pointed at Adaly. He looked surprised, smiled broadly, and announced that Adaly would play.

            She played the introduction and all four verses boldly and right on the beat. A couple of times she omitted a few notes, but came right back in again. I was thrilled! I never imagined that in just five weeks someone who had never played a piano before could play so well in church for congregational singing! Sitting there, watching and hearing Adaly play was one of the greatest thrills of my life! And to think all she had to practice on at home was a paper keyboard!

            If anyone wants to join us in Guatemala next summer, I have three guarantees: 1.  Teaching piano in Guatemala will be extremely challenging. It’s the most challenging project I’ve done in my life, 2.  You will love the people. It is impossible not to love them, and 3. You will learn about your own strengths and weaknesses. Fourth, it isn’t a guarantee, but I’m guessing once you come you’ll want to return.

            Have I mentioned that Flores, Guatemala, which is close to the national park, Tikal, has a group of teenagers who are praying someone will teach there? Flores is a beautiful island on a lake with restaurants, shops, hotels with swimming pools and lakeside views . . .

            A non-profit corporation, Musica Amigos, Inc., will accept donations to help provide music books, keyboards, teaching supplies, and help sponsor teachers.  Our hope is to be able to send teachers to other areas of Guatemala and neighboring countries, and to establish a teachers association in Central America.