“Good morning! Buenos dias!” Armando greets the children of Rucker Elementary School as they fill the auditorium.
“My instrument is the flute, or “flauta” in Spanish,” musician Diane tells the children as she shows them how her fingers move over the keys. The kids move their fingers in the same motions as they play their air flutes.
Kyle is next. “I play the oboe, or “oboe” in Spanish,” he says, pronouncing the “e” at the end of the Spanish “oboe.”
“My instrument is a bassoon, or “fagot” in Spanish,” Beverly says, as she holds her long, skinny instrument up for the children to see. “I get to lay down the bass line. Let’s all snap our fingers.” More than 200 little fingers begin snapping.
Leslie begins to play next. “My instrument, the clarinet, or “clarinete,” has a smooth and silky sound.” All the children make motions as if touching something smooth and silky.
The musicians leading this peppy program are known as “Quinteto Latino.”
They play together as a quintet focusing on classical music from Latin America. They were in Gilroy Tuesday morning to bring a little festivity and a lot of musical joy to the students of Rucker. Their hope is that students will learn to appreciate music they haven’t heard before and will be inspired to give the woodwinds a try.
“Sounds can paint pictures,” group founder Armando explains to students. “Each piece of music tells a story.”
“There are two ways to do it. You can sing with an instrument. Or dance with an instrument,” Diane says as she does a little dance, to the children’s delight.
“Carmen Melendez Romero has arranged a lot of songs from Mexico. In this song, people are having a festival, a party,” Armando says. “Bien Venidos! Help us out here. The food is arriving.” The children all put their arms in the air to help carry the heavy trays. “Pretend to eat.” The children throw their imaginations into voraciously devouring all the invisible yummy treats at the festival.
One of the kids’ favorite parts of the program comes when the quintet demonstrates Paquito D’ Rivera’s composition “Aires Tropicales,” inspired by the jungles of the rain forest. The children enthusiastically imitate the birds in the trees.
“Play your instruments with us. Now you are monkeys swinging from the branches,” Leslie instructs the kids to make movements to the music. “Quiet monkeys,” she adds.
Diane shows the children how to play the flute by blowing across the holes in the flute rather than directly into them.
When Armando holds up the mouthpiece for his French horn (or “corno Frances”) and blows into it, making a sound like a kazoo, the children laugh out loud.
Leslie on clarinet shows them her reed. “It’s like a popsicle stick,” she explains, blowing into the mouthpiece and making a funny high sound. Then she puts her mouthpiece on the instrument and blows, showing them what a difference that makes and how beautiful the sound becomes. The children begin clapping enthusiastically.
During the question time afterwards, the children eagerly raise their hands, “Where did you get your instruments?” “How did you meet each other?” “Where did you get that skirt?” “How long have you been playing your instruments?”
Quinteto Latino brings fun and interactive music to schools and events all over the Bay Area. They recently completed an educational program of playing music from Mexico, Cuba, and Argentina in every public elementary school in San Francisco.
“My hope is to make this music accessible to as many people as possible and to bring it to as wide an audience as possible,” says Armando.
For more information, or to hire Quinteto Latino, contact Armando Castellano at (650) 365-2983 or log onto www.quintetolatino.org
