User:Arteparacrecer

ARTE PARA CRECER - Lima, Perú since 1990
Music as part of the cultural image of Peru

Peruvian music is characterized by a high diversity and a very special quality resulting from the historical contribution of different ethnic and social groups. Through musical manifestations Peruvians construct their identity. Music is a direct and sensible mechanism through which the image of Peru is built with its different expressions and styles, enriched by the different races, cultures and creeds that have been crossbreeding along history.

The music of Peru is not only made of different traditions that come from a variety of regional cultural practices, but it also has created very original instruments of its own that need to be known as a contribution of Peru to universal culture.

The music as expression of children
ARTE PARA CRECER is a group of children interpreting Peruvian music in a very original way. This group of girls and boys between the ages of 4 and 16 playing music adds a special value and sensitivity to the diffusion of Peruvian music. Their interpretation of music with typical and traditional instruments, as well as with informal instruments built by the interpreters themselves adds a very special value to the interpretation of Peruvian music. These percussion and melodic instruments are used to play some of the pieces in didactic concerts for children. Some of these informal instruments are for example the "botellófono" (a xylophone made with bottles), the "plumpoña" (sheperd´s pipes made with used markers), the "latarra" (a guitar made with a cookie tin) and the "manguerófono" (a trumpet made with a hose).

A special methodology to teach music to children has been developed in Peru

In the complex educational system of Peru there is an insufficient musical formation. The holistic approach in ARTE PARA CRECER recognizes the importance of art in the formation of students, that it should not be exclusive nor selective, that everyone need to have access to it. To educate in music is very important, it is necessary to explore and appreciate it as an important kind of human language.

ARTE PARA CRECER has been able to develop, in its ten years of experience teaching music to children, a methodological approach that provide children, between the ages of 4 and 15, with a solid formation in musical expression. Its proposal can be summarized as follows:

"the heart, with its first beat initiates us in life, and so too, music is born"

The need to achieve dreams and utopia leads us to our daily confrontation with challenges that make us turn dreams in reality. Life is an open school for those who want to learn.

The principles that guide the work and direct the daily actions of ARTE PARA CRECER are:

1)	Respect for the physical and mental integrity of the child is vital for adult-child relationships.

2)	Each child is a natural source of knowledge in life. We only need to help him/her to recognize his/her own abilities and those of people around him/her.

3)	In the educational process, it is as important to LET THE CHILD LEARN as it is to TEACH

4)	Our concern for a better quality in music learning is not directed at obtaining final achievements, as much as to strengthen the learning processes themselves.

5)	A basic musical education has priority over an instrumental formation.

6)	We consider play as the natural language of children, this is why the methodology of ARTE PARA CRECER adjusts to its rules.

7)	We value competition as a healthy attitude in which individuals confront their challenges, and not as a confrontation between individuals. The act of learning a piece of music confronts us with our limitations and obliges us to overcome them.

8)	We belief that true apprenticeship can only occur when it is related to a life experience. Nothing which is not related to our emotions or affections will remain with us to be reproduced.

9)	The first actions to which ARTE PARA CRECER is oriented are those related to the discovery of life, in music, to the sound experience, to the joy of playing with sounds, to discover that to MAKE MUSIC is something that gives pleasure, is enjoyable, is exciting…even if it is only to clap our hands, which are our first elements to execute rhythms at will.

10)	We think that the far-reaching nature of art is a quality that cannot be attained if there is no emotion, feeling and passion in the author and the interpreter. The act of creating is closely related to the feelings and emotions. We are able to create when we can actually feel the music we are interpreting.

After an experience of 18 years teaching music to children, ARTE PARA CRECER needs to spread the word and let people know the results of its educational experience. In order to do this, it has started to get in touch with other experiences in the educational and musical sector in Peru. It has organized some workshops on methodology in musical education for teachers of kindergarten and primary school of public and private schools.