The House of Light on the Hill, affiliated to the Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Federation, has offered to the poor children of the Bom Retiro neighborhood, of Carmo da Cachoeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the opportunity of having contact with classical music. For this, it gathered at its headquarters 40 children in the “Meeting with Harmony”, which included playful activities with sound, visual arts and an introductory piano class.
The event had the special collaboration of Francis Vilela, a piano teacher of the Music Conservatory of Varginha, Minas Gerais. Making use of works of Beethoven, Mozart and other classical composers, the professional managed to awaken the admiration and the interest of several participants. During the meeting, the children learnt and talked about classical music, got to know the piano and did exercises of musical perception.
The introductory part began at 10 a.m. “To initiate the students in the piano class, we first perfected their inner harmony. We used sound and rhythm techniques, and opened the possibility that each participant might put an attribute, a sound of the heart, to form a rainbow, in this way expressing the love of each one”, told sister Maria Imaculada, a nun of the Grace Mercy Order and the coordinator of the services that the House of Light on the Hill conducts for the children.
After lunch, the children participated in a mandala session, and then in a piano class, when they had the opportunity of feeling a little like artists, sitting and accompanying the teacher at the keyboard, playing some musical notes. Despite the interest shown in several moments of the meeting, the children seemed absent-minded. “As a first experience, the activity contribute to plant a seed in these little hearts and to awaken the inner beauty that everyone has”, explained sister Maria Imaculada.
“The children are gifted with a lot of intelligence, a lot of sensitivity, and they deserve to have continuity in this study of music; to me, it seems important for the formation of the human being”, said the teacher Francis Vilela.
The children that experienced the “Meeting with Harmony” have been accompanied by the House of Light on the Hill for three years, with playful meetings that take place at its headquarters three times a week.
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