Special Needs Department in Merida

 
The Special Needs department in Merida is not as big and well-resourced as the one in Barquisimeto, nor is there the same reputation and hype around it, but it was incredibly impressive nonetheless. The students gave us a showcase of their ensembles and their best performances, including recorders, percussion band, hand-bells and violins!

The teachers boasted that “in Barquisimeto the students don’t play the melody but they do here!” The violin work was particularly inspiring. A combined violin, percussion and hand-bell ensemble played a medley of Christmas carols interspersed with a narrative. In order to support the violinists, they had coloured in each note on the scores and used coloured bells to help students play the correct notes. They even moved the bells in the correct bow movements to keep the student on the right note. There was also a young blind boy who was very proficient on the hand-bells. They had built a table so that the bells were fixed in an arc around him.

The advanced percussion ensemble has been playing together for five years. The teacher began working with special needs students so that he could interact more with his son, and he remarked on how rewarding it is to be able to play alongside him. He mentioned that students only need to count to four to participate, and other more capable students can work on fitting rhythms in. There is a focus on improving their ability to concentrate, starting and stopping playing together. Two students are also training to be teachers themselves, and they focus on supporting one child.

Merida has its own White Hands Choir too, although it does not have as many members. The director is training a deaf girl to conduct, and parents are more strongly involved in the choir than in Barquisimeto. Indeed, this nucleo seemed to have stronger relationships with parents than we had seen elsewhere. There is a parent’s choir and a parent’s association - some pay 100 Bolivares a month to contribute, but 80% don’t pay anything to participate and El Sistema even pays for their bus tickets to the nucleo.

Other highlights of our Merida trip included a performance of a Pink Floyd and Beatles medley by the Percussion ensemble, and a trip to hear the Brass ensemble perform at the newly opened cable

car.