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Retrospective: The Treasure Chest of Music of New Mexico

Willva Delgado
Garfield Middle School

Students were somewhat hesitant at first to bring in items for the actual Treasure Chest which we had in class. After I had put in some items that were my treasures, the students began bringing in things that they cherished. The idea was that we have many treasures

that we don't always recognize: not "gold and silver, but things that are dear to us especially our families, our heritage and the symbols of our culture such as our music and art. Several students brought photos of their families, or baby pictures of themselves or someone they love. One student brought her grandmother's locket; another brought a rain stick. A collection of baseball cards was added by a boy, and a girl brought a brochure and postcards from the grand opening of the Hispanic Culture Center. When we received photos of the class, they were definitely included. This helped to involve the students, and they started to share a sense of being part of something special to them.

It was a special occasion when the professor for my seminar, Dr. Enrique Lamadrid, came to visit the class as Capitan Rafael Chacon. This character of New Mexico history who lived from 1883-1925, came to life as Enrique dressed in a Union Civil War uniform, told about this man and the culture of the time. He sang songs of the period; "La Rana" (The Frog) especially amused the students. Two other ATI teachers from Garfield, Mary Deaguero and Beth Rivera, brought their students to this class to learn also from the professor.

A successful lesson involved lullabies. After listening to lullabies from the Discography, in particular, "Senora Santa Ana" "Comanche Lullaby" and Brahms "Lullaby", students asked their mothers and grandmothers about lullabies that they had sung to them. This proved to be a very heart-warming experience and much more multi-cultural than I would have predicted. One student shared with us lullabies sung by her grandmother of French and Australian background, which included "Frere Jacques" which we all sang. Another student discovered a tape of her Dutch grandmother's favorite music, which turned out to be a true treasure to her family. Another student sang Spanish lullabies from Mexico. All the students related to this lesson.

Students wrote in Journals at the end of the class on Treasure Chest days, and these Journals were kept in the chest. Having students do this was something that I would never have done in an Orchestra class, if I had not been involved in this seminar project. It has given me a different perspective and insight to these students, who I have had in class for two or three years This was also very helpful to knowing how students were truly reacting to the project. Middle school students can be adept at having poker faces, which can be hard to read. In the Journals though, students wrote about what was meaningful to them what moved them, and what surprised them This was invaluable to me in evaluating what they were learning, as well as what they were interested in.

The most disappointing part of the project as I envisioned it has been the lack of participation I have been able to generate from students' family members and friends in sharing the culture with us requested other members of the community to join in to through the school newsletter. I want to work on getting the word out to more people, and as our school is having a 5oth anniversary celebration this month hope that will have an opportunity to ask guests if they might share their heritage with our class at a future time. A former student, now in high school, has returned to our class and treated us to some Hispanic songs that he sang and played on guitar.

The major concern that I had before starting this project was, "Would I have enough time to do justice to both the 'Treasure Chest' plans, and also teach the traditional curriculum and prepare for performances?" planned that the Garfield Orchestra which did this project would be the "experimental" group to see if we could successfully do both the innovative and the expected. Since I also teach Advanced Orchestra at Taft M.S., it served as the "control" group, and those students did not take part in the project, prepared them as usual for performances and festival. The test came when the two schools' orchestras performed the same music together at Orchestra Festival and at the Valley Cluster Concert. The two groups had learned the same music, to the same level of expertise, and were able to perform as one group. It had worked!

The project is not yet finished, as it has been necessary to set it aside temporarily, because of performances, Terra Nova testing, and competitions. The major portion which is left, will be to put together a short musical play about a child's life in the 1800's in this territory, long before it became the state of New Mexico. We will be inviting family and friends along with classes of the other ATI participants in this school. It promises to be a fun way to conclude this year-long adventure.

Having a special project this year, has added dimension and interest to the Orchestra class that I teach. I sincerely believe that my students would agree, and I hope that their family members who have been involved would agree. The class has received very kind publicity, both through the APS Perspective newsletter, and in the Albuquerque Journal (Westside). This had a very unexpected benefit, because it affirmed that something a little different and quite positive was going on at our school.