Category: Philippines

Channel News Asia was coming from Singapore to Laguna to film our Goducate music students, so the day before the film crew arrived was the last chance to practise, practise, practise. What’s more, Channel News Asia was bringing two expert musicians to watch our students play, which increased the tensions for the students. They were at the location chosen for the next day’s welcome ceremony. All were busy, the junior recorder players, the winds, the strings, all the way to the orchestra. They were rehearsing, focusing, helping one another, looking for a place to practise. And, as part of the discipline process, they also had to jog —well, it’s good for the breathing too.

The programme, Once Upon A Village, will be aired in Singapore on Channel News Asia on Mar 12. The two experts, classical violinist Min Lee, who has played with well-known orchestras around the world, and Wang Ya Hui, director of the orchestra of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, were in Laguna to assess how best their skills can be transferred to the people in the music programme in Laguna. Essentially it is by selecting candidates for training or work attachment.

A sequel is planned, for about a year’s time, to show the impact of the skills transfer on the Laguna programme.

How much do you appreciate the art of music? Can you play an instrument? Can you even read sheet music? Did you ever think about how much impact music can have on someone’s life? As I visited Goducate centers in Laguna, I began to understand how important it is to get out of the cycle of poverty. How can people exit when their role models don’t know how to get out? Did you ever imagine that a recorder can give a child hope for a future?

The Goducate music program is only 10 months old—I got to see the impact it is beginning to have on lives in Laguna. Children proudly carried around their simple recorders, playing the songs they have memorized over and over. The children learn the basics of music with a recorder and after graduating from the recorder –knowing how to read music—they move on to more complex instruments like the flute or violin. Through various means, these children receive an instrument and learn to play it to the best of their ability.

A girl that I met, Lizel, is 20 years old– well on her way to becoming a successful young woman. Having nearly completed 3 years of college, I learned how she managed to even get into college. Her violin was her gateway to freedom. She earned a full ride to a local university by knowing how to play this instrument and participating in the school orchestra. She did not learn how to play the violin through Goducate but this is an example of the effect that music can have on a life. I met her family, I saw her home, I know that there is no way her parents could have supported her to go to university. In addition to studying she earns P400 an hour to teach others violin.

The dream for the Goducate music program is to see more children have a successful exit plan from the cycle of poverty. If they can become proficient with their instrument they can earn scholarships through this. The strategy is to have those who learn for free, go on to teach others for free. I saw young teens teaching younger children how to play recorders and violins. I watched as a girl who has been playing her flute for only 10 months, teach others how to play. A young boy from a very poor village was proudly learning how to play his violin from his mentors. Another boy played his cello as if he’s been learning all his life–even though he’d only been playing for 6 months. It was precious to watch these dear people help their own people gain skills, to begin to achieve dreams for a brighter future.