Final Week of Music Class!

Makin' instruments in the Children's Library

On Sunday, after a day of rest from our adventure in Juchitán, we joined Edgar Serralde in the Biblioteca Infantil to make a variety of pre-hispanic instruments. We made drums, buzzers, and whirly-doodle noisemakers, but our favorite by far were the clay whistles. The drums were made by stretching animal hide over the rim of a clay pot and lashing it to a wicker ring affixed to the bottom of the pot. The drums were by far the most complex instruments to construct. The buzzers and the whirly-doodle noisemakers, on the other hand, were much simpler to make. The whirly-doodle noisemakers were comprised of a string and a piece of wood, and the buzzers were made using a small sheet of metal and a short length of elastic. Finally, we were provided with two lumps of clay and given the freedom to shape our whistles into any form we desired. The instruments that we made fell into three categories: vibrofonos (noise through vibration, such as the buzzer), membranofonos (noise through membranes, such as the drum), and aerofonos (noise through air, such as the whistle).

Elena demonstrating the whirly-doodle noisemaker

The instruments we made, minus the whistle, which still needs to be fired

The next day, we gathered at a dance studio in CEDART for a jam session using our drums and flutes we made in Juchitán. We learned multiple forms of rhythms, from "va-ma-nos Jua-ni-to" to "chu Jua-ni-to". We took turns playing bass drums, smaller drums with a timbre more reminiscent of a tenor instrument, and turtle shells. Everyone played their hearts out, especially our professor Sergio, who is a master of the flute. This was our last formal music class before our final lunch at Sergio's house.

Comida at Sergio's

On Thursday, we all traveled via taxi to Sergio's marvelous homestead, located in San Felipe del Agua. The taxi ride was hot and sweaty, so our first course of action upon arrival was CANNONBALL! right into the cool, refreshing water of his pool. After a lovely amount of splish-splashing, we were ushered over to the comida table laden with frijoles, tostadas, radishes, lettuce, and queso fresco. Yummo. We were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Victor Robless, a troubadour who was our fantastic guide in Juchitán. Sergio's wife presented us with savory pozole, and we spent many hours jovially conversing and enjoying the company of wonderful friends, family, and pets. After comida, we hung out on the lawn, played games in the pool, and performed acrobatics on the jungle gym. We concluded the afternoon and the music class by presenting Victor and Sergio with cards thanking them for sharing their knowledge of music with us and for making the class a wonderful experience.

Happy Semana Santa!
Reed & Patrick