By Francisco Guevara | Co-Executive Director
This year has started off with a loud bang at Arquetopia (in the music room)! In February, an intimate recital was staged in Puebla in which students performed a wide variety of orchestral miniatures specially arranged for the group to feature students of various levels and their director/instructor, Christopher Davis.
The students in our programs have been working hard on various concepts of music including theory, history, solfege, and, of course, performance. Each student was assigned an in-depth research project that involved analysis of several cornerstone works in the repertoire prior to choosing the pieces that student would be practicing and performing this year in concert. For some of the students, the emphasis is on performing solos with orchestra, while for others, it is on learning how to perform in small chamber ensembles. An integral part of this curriculum is the study of opera and the human voice, and how singing concepts dramatically affect a wind-instrument musician’s abilities and instincts regarding sound production.
Another facet of the students’ spring studies was a series of museum trips to learn about the invention and development of historic musical instruments in pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico.
Arquetopia continues its additional focus on the sponsorship of one particular young student, Ángel Montellano of Oaxaca, Mexico, who made his public debut as a soloist last year as part of Ensemble Arquetopia’s summer concert series. This year, Ángel is working on an especially challenging curriculum of varied repertoire from which he will be choosing in order to expand his presence as an up-and-coming artist in different regions of the country.
From generous donations from our Global Giving project supporters, Arquetopia was able to obtain more critically needed equipment for students such as mouthpieces, reeds, instrument repair and maintenance kits, and orchestral music stands. Numerous educational resources were also recently purchased for the program including method books, sheet music and scores for the music library, music notation books, and music learning software for the students’ use. Currently we are having several instruments professionally refurbished and are always accepting donations of additional instruments (new and used) to build our programs. As well as the permanent building we are hoping to obtain this year, we hope to eventually purchase a digital piano for the classroom, to be used both for teaching complicated theory and harmony concepts and for performances.
As we push through the windy spring and head into southern Mexico’s seven-month monsoon season, we thank all of you for your generosity and continued support. Arquetopia’s music programs will continue to provide quality music education –and valuable life lessons– to marginalized but talented youth in the vibrant kaleidoscope that is this developing nation.
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By Francisco Guevara | Co-Executive Director
By Francisco Guevara | Co-Executive Director
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