CAMAGÜEY.- Despite the rain at dawn last Thursday in the city, students and teachers were more ready and eager than usual to arrive at the Luis Casas Romero Vocational Art School (EVA) to say goodbye to their festival.
Yaneisys de Zayas Aguilar, clarinet teacher and head of the Wind Chair, tells us that they resumed the initiative last year: “As a result of the pandemic, the children hardly studied. That energy had been lost at school.”
She also worries the faculty about dependency on mobile devices: “Children are very attached to cell phones. I thought, if they already have it, let's use it, and what better way than with a background there and on a track to play, and that way they also study."
As it turned out, from a two-day event, this year they tried extending it to three, and due to the response to the call they are already planning to increase the duration: “The children liked it a lot,” she said.
Every day, the school yard served as a stage, except today, due to the downpour; however, they transformed the dining room and there they closed with a flourish the party essentially of music and with dancing guests.
“They have to know how to play alone, with groups, in an orchestra, in all types of formats. The festival helps place them in a situation, in front of an audience, and among colleagues, as a preview of the professional environment,” explained De Zayas Aguilar.
The farewell program combined soloists and various formats, as an exercise in representing specialties and achievements in ensemble practices. In some cases teachers accompanied them.
“Everyone plays complementary piano, but each child in the festival applies technical knowledge to defend the instrument of their specialty. In fact, they are afraid of him. Artists, no matter how old we are, get nervous, but at school we help them with emotional control.”
319 students, from 10 to 15 years of age, study at the EVA of Camagüey. As Professor Yaneisys emphasizes: “The best thing is that everyone is happy. They enjoyed their festival, not for nothing it is named Chasing a Dream.”
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez
