Leaving

Alex and I have finally come to the end of our stay in Zambia. We managed to pack our last few days with challenges, fun and, naturally, music.

For Friday evening Estelle trustee Deirdre found us a gig at an Art Auction to raise funds and awareness for the Ngoma Dolce Academy and to give the teachers a chance to perform.  The three hour slot was well straddled thanks to the Will’s cruise-piano expertise and Alex’s superb ear for noodling. We made a total of 1429 KWV (or Kwacha), to be put towards resources at the academy. The evening’s musicking was followed up with a visit to Indian Restaurant Dil where, for the first time since our arrival in Zambia, food was served within 25 minutes of ordering. Yum yum.

The weekend featured further culinary highlights including a Braii (that’s an African Barbeque) at home with newlyweds Paul and Violet;  I am told the T-Bone steak was delicious and it was lovely to get to know the staff in a non-professional capacity, serving to make our imminent separation more poignant.

The new week brought with it the new project of providing music workshops for large groups at Lusaka’s Mulele Mwana school. For this task we were reunited with Peter Lewski, our Peace Corps friend from Boston/ “The Bush”, who was invaluable as a persuasive force in the staff-room, Bemba-speaker and connoisseur of local Wifi hotspots.  A two hour workshop was prepared for Monday morning and afternoon dedicated to singing, clapping and instrument demonstrations. Despite rumours that Zambian children would fall naturally into harmony, it became apparent that many of the children had very little exposure to singing. A few children stood out as confident and enthusiastic singers, but our collaborative efforts helped to engage all in varied activities which spawned, at times, raucous excitement.

The second day of workshops saw increased attendance.  Also great was the enthusiasm the children brought, but maintaining control and interest in a classroom of 45 aged between eight and eighteen was knackering. Still, hilarity ensued following Merce Cunningham-inspired warm-ups and we were able to teach the basics of reading music.  Following the afternoon break two groups of girls came forwards asking if they could perform to the class; the first sang an endearing rendition of “When Jesus Say Yes (Nobody Can Say No)”, and the second a song wishing us farewell as we said our goodbyes.

That night we came together with the Academy teachers in Lebanese restaurant Mezza (in Pete’s words “unmissable”) for a last supper. I struggle to recall much about our interactions since I was having trouble taking my mind off the copious amounts of garlic and olive oil to be consumed, but I’m pretty sure the conversation was good and that a good time was had.  A bar trip followed, during which we got to know better the Academy administrator Dee’s extra-musical interests and aspirations; football, travel and politics featuring prominently.  Her parting words “I’ll see you again sometime.  In Zambia, or the UK… or the next life,” were tongue in cheek, but highlighted the real possibility of never returning to Lusaka if we don’t make a concerted effort. I seriously hope we get to go back and pursue the cause and our friendships further, but for now I’m happy to offer what advice I can over the web.

And then there were two…

Alex writing here, and for Steven and I the last few days have been quite something. Anna and Max’s departure last Thursday was always inevitable, but it was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to them. We’ve become a close group over this intense, relatively short period of time.

However, our spirits have not dried up – far from it! An opportunity to promote the Academy in a performance arose, and we had just two days to prepare for it. Taking place at an art exhibition (at the Zambia National Farmers’ Union of all places), we provided musical entertainment for three hours, raising money and awareness for and about the Academy as we did so. I should explain who ‘we’ refers to – Steven and I have been joined in Lusaka by William Ham, who represents the Estelle Trust (which has provided a substantial part of the funding for our programme here). We’ve had a great time with Will, and his experience playing piano on cruise ships and the like was invaluable on an occasion such as this! The three of us were very keen that teachers should also be involved in this performance, and Obrien, Lulu and Catherine joined us to play violin and sing. It was great fun to form duets and ensembles with the teachers for this, and I know they got a lot out of it too. The variety was fantastic: personally, my evening ranged from playing entire Bach and Vivaldi suites with Obrien to playing Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ for everyone to sing along to. So, the evening was a great experience, but it was also a resounding success: we raised over 1400 kwacha (almost £150) for the Academy – not bad going for a few hours at someone else’s event!

 

I’m writing this on Sunday evening, and Steven and I have just returned from a lovely ‘braai’ (barbecue) at Paul’s house (the director of the Academy). As well as some truly exceptional steak and wine, we discussed future ways to capitalise on the Academy’s outreach potential, and it seems there are some very worthwhile and exciting ways in which the Academy may be able to extend its programme and scope in this way. Building on the unforgettable experience we had last week at the incredibly remote school, Steven, Will and I are about to spend two days working at a community school in Lusaka. We have two 8-hour teaching days ahead of us, and we’re currently diligently planning! I feel really propelled by our experiences last week, and certainly it was an immense confidence-boost. If we can engage primary-age children living more than 40 minutes’ drive from the nearest tarmac road, many of whom don’t speak any English, then we should be able to do something really meaningful with more time in this next school.

It’s not even 9pm (or 21 hours, as we’ve been getting used to referring to it here) yet, but by this time the long Zambian nights have well and truly drawn in, and we’re finding ourselves once again remarkably ready for sleep. I think we’re going to need it…!

The end – for Anna and Max

Hi. Max here, writing from Addis Ababa airport.

We left this morning from Lusaka having had a hearty breakfast with the academy teachers, followed by a brief farewell before rushing to catch our flight home. I don’t think that I have been away long enough to be able to see our trip in a rounded sense – we both still feel as if we may be in transit to Zambia, ready to start our work there! – but this is probably a good opportunity to relate my immediate impressions of the trip as a whole.

The purpose of our venture was to provide support to music teachers, bolster the teaching provision for current students, and to expand the outreach programmes. The Muze Trust’s primary focus in Zambia is through the academy, providing musical tuition for people in Lusaka, while the Estelle Trust currently has a much broader scheme of social development in Zambia, aimed at supporting communities in a more general sense. The collaboration of these two charities results in a wide-reaching programme using music to help support impoverished communities, particularly through outreach projects with school children, and working to nurture a society that values music as a creative art form.

To that end, our programme in Zambia realised its purpose in the last few days with the introduction of William Ham to our group. He was brought on board by the Estelle Trust and with his presence, the collaboration between the work of the two charities started. It is likely that in the coming days, Steven, Alex, and William will have a far more varied programme than we have had until now; many interesting outreach projects and concerts have been proposed. That is not to say that our work at the academy was fruitless, or monotonous – quite the contrary. It is already clear that our time has been spent well at the academy. The teachers have started using some of the useful aspects of our teaching that they noticed during observations, and we have been able to play with, and for, the teachers and also helped to teach them, preparing them for exams and upcoming concerts. The children have also benefitted from our presence at the academy, as was exemplified by a sweet letter written to Anna by one of the children she taught. But it is probably a good time to start to expand our presence beyond the academy and collaborate closely with the Estelle trust and the projects that they have in the area. The intention is that in the coming week Steven, Alex, and William will work with schools in Lusaka, and perform in various events.

I think that the collaborative work of the Muze and Estelle Trusts provides a fantastic opportunity to encourage musical development in its broadest sense in Zambia and, perhaps more significantly, promote social development within the country.

 

 

And now to a rather sleepy Anna! 

The last couple of days have proved a real highlight of the trip for me. At about 10 o’clock on Tuesday morning, we received some exciting news; we were to go out to stay in a rural village for the evening and following day, in order to teach at the local village school. We were all extremely excited, and set off shortly after lunch. About 2 hours out of Lusaka, we left the main road, embarking down a dirt track in the direction of the village. The further from the road we got, the more remote the scenery, the only accommodation being mud huts. What was particularly notable was the sparse distribution of huts; spread out over about 10km, there were small clusters of huts every now and then, but no area of increased concentration as you would expect in a village. As we learnt the following morning, children walk as far as 6 km to get to school ready for a 7:15 start, often barefoot. 

As soon as we arrived, we were instantly aware that we were going to be working in a very different Zambia to the one we were used to. We were met by Pete, an ex Peace-Corp volunteer who has been in Zambia for several years and works closely with the school. He very kindly invited us to stay in his house; possibly the biggest wake up call of all, the house forced us to adjust to no electricity extremely quickly, and attempt not to count the number of huge spiders crawling around! We soon settled in though, and cooked a delicious meal over the camp fire, before heading to bed. 

In the morning, we were up extremely early; compared to the 9/9:30 starts at the Academy, arriving at the school at 7 proved to be a bit of a shock to the system! At the school, there were approximately 100 students assembled of various ages, from preschool up to about 16. Whereas normally the young students would come in for 4 hours in the morning and the older ones for 4 in the afternoon, on the day we were there they all came in at the same time to work with us. In assembly, they sang us several of their traditional songs. The natural sense of rhythm and harmony that they possess is incredible; some of the songs were in 5 part harmony, and despite the early hour, they were keen to show us what they could do. We followed this with whole group warm ups, before splitting off to do separate workshops on different things, such as rhythm, body percussion and singing. We ended the day by singing them William Byrd’s ‘Ave Verum Corpus’, which felt surprisingly restricted and stiff in comparison to the music that they had performed for us. However, they all seemed to really enjoy the day; the majority of the children spend their entire lives in the village, and so they were fascinated to catch a glimpse into a different culture. 

The other highlight of the trip arrived unexpectedly this morning. As we were saying goodbye to the teachers, Catherine gave me a note and a small package, which she said was from the girl I had been having some trouble with earlier in the stay (see the blogpost ‘Challenges and Rewards in the Classroom’). Reading the note brought me close to tears, as it made me realise just how much of an impact we could actually have on these children. This girl had gone from walking out of the room several times in my class and refusing to play, to making me 3 bracelets and a necklace, and saying how much she would miss me. To me, that one letter meant more than any other experience from the entire trip.

Livingstone and Victoria Falls

We were given a long weekend free to explore Zambia. Our choice of destination was Livingstone. Home to Victoria Falls, it took a seven hour bus journey and a short taxi ride to reach our home for three nights.

 

Our first activity was to see the falls. Nothing can prepare you for the sensation of getting close to them. The sound of cascading water plummeting 100m into an abyss of vapour, churning water, and jagged rocks, the feel of that vapour flying up into the air, drawing a cool breeze behind it and leaving a trail of fine spray on the ground and all who venture too close to the edge. We were there in the dry season, when the falls are ‘a trickle’, and yet it seemed an impossibility that such a vast quantity of water could exist in the upper Zambezi river above to feed the hungry falls and Devil’s Pool below.

                Our path then took us to the cliff edge of the falls from the side of the upper Zambezi. A very peaceful expanse of water greeted our eyes as we fumbled through the bush to the water’s edge. It was remarkable that such peacefully flowing water would, in seconds, become part of the chaos of the falls.

 

The following day Steven and I went white-water rafting. An adrenaline filled morning later we returned to the hostel to await the return of Anna and Alex who had gone on an elephant safari, and lion encounter. I would like to describe in far more detail the feeling of travelling down the massive rapids, but am very pushed for time; our last few days in Zambia have taken an unexpected turn. Instead of spending our last two days teaching at the academy, we have been given the opportunity to travel to a small village some 3 hours north of Lusaka, in order to do some outreach work. We hope to produce a blog post once we return to Lusaka giving our impressions of music in this isolated, rural place.

Leaving Lusaka and Looking Past Mistakes

 

We’re coach-bound to Livingstone, 3 hours in and setting off from a services break where the sun is setting over the Golden Pillow Lodge. Although our visit ends on a romantic note, the majority of it was spent waiting in line for my turn to use a urinal, apparently being sterilised by the UV bulbs chosen to light the toilets. Putting this loo visit aside, our journey has been spectacular so far.  The bush extends to the horizon on all sides where it meet the dusty sky.  In the foreground we encounter livestock, bush fires and parched Baobab waiting for the rains to restore the proud, fat silhouettes for which they are famed.

Getting out of Lusaka is a welcome break.  While the working days are long,  and our chances to get around in spare time are limited by the early dusk and the perils of driving the 1950s Land Rover affectionately called “the Beast”.  There’s no way of knowing when the fuel tank is empty, and today we found ourselves out of luck.  Fortunately we were not far from home, and with the help of some locals were able to push it along the last stretch of road to the Gossner Mission.

Despite these challenges, it’s true to say that I’m settling in. Mornings are relaxed and expansive, featuring yoga, jogs (now met with greater enthusiasm), and in my case two breakfasts of yoghurt and granola. There’ve also been some really rewarding lessons I’ve been party to at the Academy.  Yesterday I met with their only clarinet student, who had been preparing the 1^st movement of Mozart’s clarinet quintet. He’d done an impressive job, with accurate finger-work and sure musical intentions, though he lacked the technique and self-assurance to put it across. My recommended solution- as it so often is- involved discussion of legato and an “it doesn’t matter” attitude towards mistakes.

Encountering so many students makes clear the trends of malpractice which contribute to the difficult relationship any musician forms with the music they study. Perusing their books, I have seen annotations like “no dynamics”, “too slow” or simply “wrong”. When playing through recorder music for fun, teacher O’Brian insists “No, again,” after slip-ups. The Academy is a place where music has been introduced to add value to young people’s lives, away from any pressure to carve out a career, and yet music still becomes something we beat ourselves up over. I used to be confused when music teachers would ignore my mistakes in lessons, but I see now how important it is to let it go, remind students to practise slowly and focus instead on being confident, experimenting and putting music in its place as a means of expression and something to enjoy.

Challenges and Rewards in the Classroom

Anna here..

The past couple of days have been packed full of teaching, and have held, for me, one of the most rewarding personal experiences of the trip so far. Several days ago, Catherine (one of the piano teachers) had a rather difficult pupil, who decided she was not in the mood for a piano lesson, and was generally playing up. Catherine asked if I could come and help, so I went in and started trying to teach her. I was met with a rudeness that I hadn’t seen since we arrived in Zambia, and is apparently very rare in the children. She had done no practise, and physically walked out of the lesson several times. Having discussed the best approach with Catherine whilst the girl was out the room, when she returned, I was much stricter than I’ve had to be as a teacher in the past. By the end of the lesson, I had the distinct impression that this student hated me with a passion.

“Music For Fun” with Lulu

Yesterday, however, I had a surprise. Catherine called me out of another lesson I was observing to say that the same girl was back, and was asking if I could teach her again. Slightly surprised, I started teaching her, and found that she had worked extremely hard, and actually taken in all my suggestions from the previous lesson. We had a great lesson, at the end of which she gave a genuinely heartfelt apology for her ‘behaviour and rudeness’ in the previous lesson, explaining how she played up for attention and felt very bad about it afterwards. Her apology was entirely sincere, and completely unprompted, and we preceded to have a great chat about what she wanted to do and how she could continue with her music. The memory of those two lessons will certainly remain with me for quite a while.

Day 6 – Breaking in.

Hi all! A message from Steven…

It’s been hard getting my head around being in Africa. As a child I used to pour over atlases, comparing the sizes and populations of the countries and trying to imagine what these places were really like. The political boundaries imposed onto the vast plan of the continent seemed to have been drawn out using a ruler and compass. The Sahara doesn’t heed politics, but when its indiscriminate sprawling is cut geometrically into shapes each one takes on an abstract identity.  When the plane descends it’s like zooming in on a global map, as big and as detailed as the real thing.  The filigree network of roads begins to throb with traffic, and soon tarmac is racing beneath.

I began my first full day in Zambia with an inaugural jog. It’s typically a great way to get your bearings and is often made beautiful by the low morning sun.  However at 6.30am in suburban Lusaka the streets were already bustling with people. People who had things to do and hard days’ work ahead.  Jogging is a symptom of having more food than you need and not enough work to occupy your body with in the day, so I couldn’t help but feel I was making a statement about my privilege by running around the city for no good reason.  My recollection of the experience centres on the man who shouted “Where are you going?” It was evinced not long after when I turned back on myself that I had no idea.

We got into the Academy at 8.30. The day’s teaching had already begun and I started by sitting in on piano lesson for a total beginner, aged 8.  Katherine, the teacher moved through the basic principles of notated rhythms and pitches with slow, confident strokes, and Leilani caught on well. At the moment she is limited by her experience of piano playing, but in the next few years her playing will improve to match her capacity for teaching, and I’d love to see where her musical journey takes her

Apart from that my encounter with drummer “Chacks” stands out prominently.  Because he was free I asked if he could demonstrate some drumming.  This led to a geo-historical tour of drumming styles around Africa and the world at large. Phenomenally impressive and incredibly loud, Chacks’ musical personality was out of place in the quiet and modest surroundings of the Academy. Nevertheless, he relishes the chance to impart knowledge anybody happy to receive it, and the Academy is fortunate to count him among its many excellent musicians.

Day 5

Hi, Alex writing here, on mine and Steven’s first night in Zambia! At the end of such a colossal journey, it was great to be picked up by Max and Anna in ‘the beast’, the vehicle truly living up to its name. This exhilarating (and bouncy) journey capped off the quite overwhelming experience of being in Africa for the first time ever, something which altogether is hard to put into words.

There’s a real beauty and vitality about the areas we drove through. Though they are essentially slums, there’s nothing depressing about them. They are filled with colour and life, the people busy exchanging goods and smiles in equal measure. We were clearly an object of mild fascination to those nearest the road as we drove past; people were calling out excitedly as we four markedly incongruous Westerners made our way through Lusaka. Two people even danced on the bonnet and roof of our car!

With such a positive introduction to this country, it was no surprise that the people at the Ngoma Dolce Academy, which we popped into briefly to have a look around, were so warm and welcoming. I had no expectations as to how the Academy itself would look, and it’s miraculous: a series of self-contained, detached rooms arranged in a circle around a big, central thatched building. We circled the Academy once, and each time we passed a room got a little glimpse of teaching, a snatch of music. The whole thing was rather beautiful.

We all went out for dinner very close to our accommodation (which is wonderfully peaceful and full of flowers), and as I write it’s only 9pm but we’re all heading bed-wards. An early start in the morning!

Day 3

I’m already being told what to write on what should be my blog and I haven’t even written a sentence…

 Today we were up for a 9 o’clock start. A twenty-five minute walk from our accommodation to the academy woke us up and by the time we arrived we were raring to go. We spent the morning doing some teaching and talking to the teachers about classical music in Zambia. The Academy’s work is very much intended to promote classical music-making in the community. There is a good culture of pop and various other styles of music in Zambia, but classical music is seen as difficult and unnecessary. The teachers recognise that in order to progress in playing an instrument takes much practice and time – these things don’t happen overnight – and a lot of the difficulty is in showing both students and parents that this is alright, and that the benefits of playing an instrument far outweigh the costs associated with learning it. So the academy hopes to change the apathetic attitude towards classical music by offering cheap tuition and starting to create a culture where children can play in ensembles, and develop a love for music-making. Our part in this vision is to provide inspiration for students and teachers alike, as well as to offer musical teaching at a level that most of the teachers don’t have. Most of the teachers have only played their instrument for four or five years, but already show a remarkable degree of progress reaching grade seven or eight in multiple instruments. There is definitely a very strong sense of musicality in the Zambian people. The challenge that the academy faces is in helping to give classical music a place in Zambia. Why should classical music have a place in Zambia? Because the children that learn at the academy get so much out of producing music of their own from instruments. Far more than I think I did as a child. In fact, I think that it is such a pity that this country, where people are so eager to learn when they are opened up to music-making, has so few resources and such little culture to promote it.

 

At about eleven o’clock we had a break and so went next door to the local adventist church where a large group of children from different schools and different ages were practicing songs and dance moves they had learnt for an offering of food on the Sabbath. This was yet another example of the joy that children everywhere seem to have for music and music-making, but the extreme difficulty that Zambia has with giving children the chance to do so. We danced and sung with them and then joined in their break – making icing for cupcakes, playing football, taking lots of photos (hopefully some to come once we have permission) and doing the splits! The children are hopefully going to come to the academy at some point next week, where we will be able to show them some instruments, get them to sing some songs, and further extend their understanding of music beyond what they have been able to experience up until now.

 

In the late afternoon both Anna and I had the incredible opportunity to sight-read a violin trio with one of the better violin students. He was an exceptionally capable sigh-reader, given his overall standard on the violin, and so we were able to give him a sense of what ensemble playing can feel like. He relished the experience and, like my voice students this morning, did not want to leave, but unfortunately the academy was ready to close for the night as all the teachers went home, and so we had to too.

 

Our first outing with ‘the beast’ was an overall success, excepting some awkward gear changes and a slight loss of direction due to Anna’s inept map reading! We ended our evening with a delicious pasta meal where neither Anna nor I could help but let out a few faces that we had kept hidden away from the camera…

Day 2

Day 2, and the real work began!

 

Having had a relatively relaxed start yesterday, and not too many pupils due to the fact that all the local schools had just ‘opened’, as the locals say, today was a stark contrast. Starting at 9 in the morning, both Max and I were teaching up until about 6, which proved more tiring than we were expecting. Due to the increased number of pupils today, we also ended up working individually in almost every lesson, so were both doing very different things throughout  he day. Having arrived early, however, we both had the opportunity to fit in some more much needed recorder practise.

 

The first lesson that I took was with a 16 year old girl, who was preparing for her grade 6 piano. The pupils here have a determination to learn that is not found to the same extent in England, and was very refreshing to see. The next pupil was extremely different; it was her first ever singing lesson, and although very shy at the beginning, after singing a song she was familiar with, we found that in fact she had a strong jazz voice that was really lovely to listen to. Recording to follow! By this point, we had reached lunchtime; despite the offer of a repeat of yesterday’s lunch menu, we decided to explore the area around the academy, Kabulonga. Having walked for 20 minutes after being told that there was a restaurant ‘somewhere up Sable road’ (possibly one of the longest roads we have ever seen), we were just losing hope when at last we saw a sign for Miki’s Grill. Here, we experienced possibly the best burgers that we have ever had, ever. No exaggerations. And yes, that may not qualify as traditional Zambian cuisine, but it tasted amazing. When we got

back to the academy, there was a gap in the lesson schedule, so we took the opportunity to do some string ensemble playing with the string teacher, O’brian.

 

This was extremely fun, if slightly tricky for several reasons. Number 1, was the fact that neither Max nor I had touched a violin for several years (let alone the 3/4 size that Max was playing). Number 2, arranging at sight a piece intended for flute and piano, for 2 violins and cello, can cause some problems. Number 3, as often happens we had all somehow lost the ability to count to three, so frequently interrupted the music with fits of laughter. However, it was a great way to get to know the teacher, and try and gain back what little violin skills we could remember. Following this, I taught possibly my most challenging lesson of the day; a 6 year old boy called Luca, who was extremely shy, and took about 5 minutes walking around the room before he would either talk or touch the violin. However, the progress made in the lesson made it worthwhile.

 

This was followed by one last violin lesson, with a 15 year old girl preparing for her grade 3. Her standard of sight-reading was incredible; she sightread the first grade 3 piece immediately, and just needed advice on small matters of phrasing. Despite our day technically ending at 5, O’brian and I took the opportunity after this lesson to play some violin duets until long after dark. He is an extremely talented player, able to play violin, viola, cello, and double bass to a pretty high standard. Having mentioned that I loved the Bach Double concerto for two violins, he found the music in his collection, and we played it through. The most moving moment of the trip so far was playing the slow movement, with the sunset outside, and the girl from the previous lesson  listening in at the door. A wonderful end to a long, but fulfilling day.