This week the kids left with extraordinary calm and quietness slightly bewildered by the day’s session. Some parents, who had joined us on the stairs to either relax a moment from their daily jobs or just passing by, also expressed how “ that lady had an incredible voice”...Out of a Botticelli painting with a voice that transcends the skies, this woman is Bernarda. She has headed up for numerous years now Fe y Alegría’s Children’s Choir (Coro Infantil), initially funded by the Andean Development Bank and which developed throughout Latin America. The formative value of this choir has been significant for the participating children in strengthening their self-esteem made visible through enhanced personal confidence, improved academic results and family relationships, etc.
At the heart of the coro’s success lies Bernarda’s fundamen
tal belief that everyone, if given the opportunity, has the potential for creativity, and in this instance a voice, that, with self-trust, patience, work and time, can be developed into something life-changingly powerful for self-growth. So over the past couple of months, we have been in chats with Bernarda to see how we could provide such a opportunity for our kids. We looked at what sort of approach we could resort to and settled on the fact that a little open-air session with a few of her choir children would be a wonderful space for our kids to connect with music, en vivo, through little kids just like themselves.
At the heart of the coro’s success lies Bernarda’s fundamen
tal belief that everyone, if given the opportunity, has the potential for creativity, and in this instance a voice, that, with self-trust, patience, work and time, can be developed into something life-changingly powerful for self-growth. So over the past couple of months, we have been in chats with Bernarda to see how we could provide such a opportunity for our kids. We looked at what sort of approach we could resort to and settled on the fact that a little open-air session with a few of her choir children would be a wonderful space for our kids to connect with music, en vivo, through little kids just like themselves. So, in the presence of Rob & Antonia from the Mobile School (Special exciting feature: la Escuelita Movil) we cracked into the session with a couple of ice breakers lead by Santi and a couple of our CEFISTA girls. (Henry, post having been elected 
CEFISTA Logistics Leader this weekend, close to gave us no-show that day!) The little kids in red uniforms you see in the pictures are part of Bernarda’ s band- as you may not know, in this part of the world, most state schools have uniforms (schooling fees are free except for uniforms and basic stationeries). Lorena, our pedagogue, before introducing Bernarda, rapidly took the kids through last week session where we (finally! For more on that check, Play time) watched a film, Ratatouille.
Lorena invited the kids to tell her a little more about it- “So, it’s the story about 2 bears arguing right?” “No, no! Didn't you get the film at all? ” shouted back the kids, “It’s about a rat” ; as she could not seem to get it right, one of our kids got up to help explain the story of this little rat who had a special gift and passion for cooking and despite not quite being “made” for it, persisted until he became the reputed chef he deserved to be. This little introductory session gave way to a few giggles and set the tone nicely for what was to come, namely exploring new sensations and our creativity.
After she stepped in and introduced herself as “ Hi, my name is Bernarda” and asked who those little kids were
sitting opposite her under the tent, Bernarda broke into a few sound and breathing exercises, immediately captivating the kids by the sheer number of facial expressions, sounds and movements she was making herself. It was quite amazing to see how some of those we know well and generally have an attention span of half a second or love to appear “blasé” were smacked with bemused faces, and so swiftly game to mimicking Bernarda. So, on they all went unanimously, with the little red crowd part of the singing exercise but never quite introduced as “The Choir”, to maintain momentum and avoid setting barriers between “ those who know how” and “those who don’t”.
CEFISTA Logistics Leader this weekend, close to gave us no-show that day!) The little kids in red uniforms you see in the pictures are part of Bernarda’ s band- as you may not know, in this part of the world, most state schools have uniforms (schooling fees are free except for uniforms and basic stationeries). Lorena, our pedagogue, before introducing Bernarda, rapidly took the kids through last week session where we (finally! For more on that check, Play time) watched a film, Ratatouille.
Lorena invited the kids to tell her a little more about it- “So, it’s the story about 2 bears arguing right?” “No, no! Didn't you get the film at all? ” shouted back the kids, “It’s about a rat” ; as she could not seem to get it right, one of our kids got up to help explain the story of this little rat who had a special gift and passion for cooking and despite not quite being “made” for it, persisted until he became the reputed chef he deserved to be. This little introductory session gave way to a few giggles and set the tone nicely for what was to come, namely exploring new sensations and our creativity.
After she stepped in and introduced herself as “ Hi, my name is Bernarda” and asked who those little kids were
sitting opposite her under the tent, Bernarda broke into a few sound and breathing exercises, immediately captivating the kids by the sheer number of facial expressions, sounds and movements she was making herself. It was quite amazing to see how some of those we know well and generally have an attention span of half a second or love to appear “blasé” were smacked with bemused faces, and so swiftly game to mimicking Bernarda. So, on they all went unanimously, with the little red crowd part of the singing exercise but never quite introduced as “The Choir”, to maintain momentum and avoid setting barriers between “ those who know how” and “those who don’t”.
Bernarda then divvied up the group and got us to make different sounds and beats with our hands, feet, mouths, until we had a solid rhythm going and she could wrap her melodious voice to it. And there it was- the first Coro de la Plaza San Francisco!! After a few different tunes, where she then invited some of the kids (choir & non) to accompany her singing, she then asked t
he group if they wanted to listen to a little song by the Coro (this was as official as the presentation was going to get!) to then sing along. Instantly all the kids were up, the choir kids gathered together and a verse sung to the rest responded, all under Bernarda’s energetic orchestrated beats .
Once we reached the end of this organically dynamic session, we invited the kids to tell us whether it would be a good idea to invite Bernarda back to the Plaza... there was an immediate chorused “Siiiiiiiiiiiiii”! Bernarda then took the kids aside, thanked them for their hard work and attention, and as she was handing out a honey sweet to each informed that she had given Cuéntamelo Todo’s Biblioteca Ambulante a CD of the Coro Infantil, “this means you can take turns when you want in borrowing it, like the books!”, she said, “and in the meantime, the Biblioteca will look after it!”. All the kids agreed this was a sensible decision and thanked her for the present. Bernarda will be back with us in 2 weeks to explore new sounds and movements, and provide our kids again with a sensational space for them to feel comfortably creative, with themselves and others, in the sound of music.
