During this last thanksgiving, I had the incredible opportunity to go to Guatemala City. The French Embassy and the French Alliance invited me for a week residency at the Escuela Municipal de Música of Guatemala. During this week in Guatemala, I gave lessons to the students of the school and I had the chance to perform Der Schwanendreher by Hindemith with the Orchesta Sinfonica Juvenil Municipal and play a recital.

This project in Guatemala has been such an inspiring journey. It was my first time traveling in the center of America. I have been surrounded by very kind, warm and generous people during this entire week in Guatemala. Despite the insecurity in the town, as soon as I was at the school I felt immediately very safe. I was amazed by their very warmhearted hospitability. The atmosphere of the school was quite unique. The music school was constantly filled with music coming from every part of the building. The chorus would be rehearsing next to the orchestra room and the marching band would be blasting sound on the top of the building. The students practiced anywhere they could find a spot; outside or in their tiny practice room. I even saw three trombone players trying to rehearse in a room that is the size of a small closet! Despite these conditions that did not seem to bother the students, they all kept the joy of studying music.

The students that I worked with were between 16 and 22 and all of them had a great passion for music and eagerness to learn. When I first listened to them, I was surprised to see they could play so well in orchestra and obtain so many different colors and play a challenging orchestra repertoire. However, after hearing a few students during the lessons, I was quite shocked to see that their individual playing was not as strong as in orchestra. For most of them, they had no notion of rhythm and how to practice. I realized that the only way they could play a piece was by repeating the same thing over and over for weeks until they could play it. If by any chance, they needed to change something, they would need to go through the same process of repetition. I was astounded to know that they had no teacher with the level they succeeded to achieve in these conditions. The viola “teacher” was the person that had the most experience or the most advanced.  What I have been trying to focus on during the lessons was to give them some tips on how to practice to develop their technical and musical skills. I wanted them to have at least some elements that they could keep after my departure. They looked up to me and grasped every bit of information I would give them. Along this week, the students and I developed a relationship that I will always treasure. I was very touched when they insisted on inviting for lunch in their traditional Guatemalan restaurant. It was a great occasion for me to get to know them better and understand their background and aspiration.

From the first rehearsal to the concert, I have been very impressed by the level of the orchestra. The work that Vicente Luna had done with the students was remarkable! Der Schwanendreher by Hindemith was not a repertoire that they used to play or listen to but the students had a lot of fun working on it and gain a lot from playing this piece. It was a challenging piece for the orchestra as well as for me but I was thrilled to be able to work on musical elements on top of balance and tempi issues. It was quite a take to program Hindemith but I am so grateful to Vicente Luna to have allowed me to play it. After the concert, a lot of people and students came to congratulate me for the performance but also thanked me to have introduced them to Hindemith. At the recital, I played a program that was focused mostly on French music in honor of the 150 years of Debussy. I played with a wonderful pianist that is from Guatemala, Hugo Arenas. The student cleaned the room and decided to decorate the room with my name on the wall. I was really moved by it! Once the recital done, I realized the impact that I had in coming in Guatemala. First, I was the first violist who came to the school. They were impressed by the beautiful tone that a viola can have and also about the diverse colors and repertoire that the viola can have. The pride of the viola students took in having me here was very moving.

Born and raised in France, I never fully understood the concept of Thanksgiving. Since I have been here, in the US, of course I have enjoyed having a few days off to be with my close friends and enjoy a wonderful meal but his tradition always felt foreign to me. This thanksgiving was different this time. Being surrounded by people with so much passion and drive to have a better life has been such an inspiration. I feel so grateful for everything that happened to me and the people (including family, teachers, colleague and friends) that influenced and inspired me. I have been so lucky to be part of this fantastic project in Guatemala. It has been such an enriching and eye opening journey. I hope I will be able to go back there and continue to help them as much as I can.