“I studied music in university and played tuba.”
“Do you want to come teach my students?”
Last Sunday I met the local high school’s band teacher,Chai,our host’s brother, at church. We started talking about university and I mentioned I studied music- voice and tuba specifically. He has been the first person in six months to know what a tuba was. He invited me and one of team mates, Mariah, to come and teach band that week.
The next day, he picked us up and we visited the high school to refresh ourselves with the tuba and flute (for Mariah). We practiced scales, memorized melodies and sight read. It felt so natural and exciting to be playing tuba again.
For the following two days, Mariah and I led the low brass sectionals during first period. As soon as we walked into the music room, we were reminded that band kids are the same everywhere. They were hanging out together before class and were just being goofy. You didn’t have to speak the same language to see this.
Mariah and I worked as a team to listen to the players and pick out what to help fix. We worked on correcting the syllable tongued to get a crisp note instead of a splat. We took the melody of the music apart to hear the two lines that were being played simultaneously. We then worked on crisp accents, exaggerated dynamics, and hearing their part in their head by singing it. We worked on posture to open our lunges and get deeper breaths. My favorite part was dancing the phrases to show when to breath and what to connect.
They spoke Thai and we spoke English.
We used our hands, sang what to do and what not to do, and danced to visualize music. We made mistakes and didn’t always understand each other but we made music and improved.
There is a saying that goes: “music speaks every language”. Yes, cheesy, but true. I loved this month being connected to others through music during band and various times of worship. Music is a connection.
This past month we have been in a primarily Buddhist community and have worked with people from the Hmong Hill Tribe. The high school students whom we had the privilege of teaching English to and hanging out with became our sisters. I loved getting to know them and our host’s family as we were able to see how they share the gospel with so much love. It was so hard saying “good bye” to them, but I have no doubt it is just a “see you later. “
This is a picture of us and the students. They dressed us up in their traditional Hmong Hill Tribe New Years dress.
