There Are Even Violins in Colombia

I have been delighted these last two weeks to find that there are indeed violins in Colombia. What a relief! My host sister Mayra plays in a community orchestra, and on Monday I went with her to practice. The teacher´s name is Mauricio and he´s a really nice guy. It was a little difficult to understand what he was saying...music language in Spanish is a whole other ballgame. (For you musicians out there, a half note is a blanca, a quarter note is a negra, and an eighth note is a corchea.)The teacher kept asking me to play this song or that song, none of which I had played before. It was a little scary! Sometimes he asked me questions, which wouldn´t be a big deal normally, but in Spanish I had no idea what he was asking! Is far as I can understand they were all about rhythm, time signatures, and accents. Plus they play a lot of Colombian songs that have difficult salsa and bolero rhythms.

At one point Mauricio asked me to play something, so I played my little ditty that I wrote in history class last year (yes, I was bored!) Afterwards he asked me if it was written down and whether I could have it written for vioin I, II, viola, cello, and piano for two days later! AH! Luckily I have Spanish class that same time Wednesday so I don´t have to have it ready quite so soon. I´m not sure I have the capabilities to write for viola, cello, and piano. I´ll have to experiment with the music software my host family has and see if I can turn my little history ditty into a string orchestra piece!