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MUSIC WORKSHOP AT 10,000 FT
IN THE QUICHUA COMMUNITY "YANAHURCO"
As a result of the seminary class in Riobamba, one of the
students invited me to give a music workshop in his
community where he is the pastor. I asked him where his
community was, and when he said, "From Pujilí, one hour into
the mountains," I knew he was talking about one of the
Quichua communities way up in the mountains. I hadn't
visited one of these communities for almost twenty years,
but I still remember what I was getting into: cold winds, no
clean bathrooms, and cooked guinea pigs!
This is view looking back from where we came, once we
arrived at the community. The Pan American highway lies in
the far valley.
Looking the other way, you can see that it's a farming
community with scattered houses. Their main transportation
is donkeys and llamas. I saw children ride the llamas as
easy as bicycles.
We arrived at 9am Saturday, and of course, they welcomed us
with a breakfast of cooked guinea pig, rice, and cheese!
They have a cheese factory there, which is one of their main
sources of income.
The main plan was a two-day workshop on music and worship.
We met on the second floor of a small, concrete building. In
the photo, the church is on the right and our meeting room
on the left. Yes, my 1981 pickup truck can still travel to
these mountain communities!
I entered the classroom and admired before me twenty Quichua
Indians, men, women, and boys, in three rows of chairs with
notebooks and pencils ready. I was not planning to dictate
classes. This is music! My first step was to ask them to sit
in a circle and not in rows. Then we played a game so I
could learn all their names. Next I asked them to play some
music for me. At first it seemed like nobody could play an
instrument, but it was just shyness. Once I got them playing
their music, and they are very good at it, I couldn't get
them to stop! I filmed them, and then showed them the videos
so they could see and hear themselves. They were thinking
that I was the expert and they didn't know anything, but
once I gained their confidence, I began telling them that
they had many good things the whites have lost: the main
point being the idea of community. Also their music is
precious, even though they think it's primitive.
Of course they wanted to learn "new music." We tried some
new songs, but it's not their style. So we began to talk
about what the "new music" implied: different rhythm,
different chord progressions, different instruments, and
different melodies. That led to a class on music theory. I
went slow, going over the notes on the piano and how to make
chords. Then we discussed chord theory: I, IV, V, which is
the basic for most Western, popular music including
Christian songs. It very interesting to note that the
Quichua music does not follow a I, IV, V chord progression,
but rather uses I, VI, IV, VII. Fascinating!
That night they held a church service, and I got to see
exactly how they play and sing. (I would have liked to have
had that information before the first day of the workshop.)
The keyboard is their main instrument for the service
because you can connect it to the amplification system. But
since our workshop involved all acoustic instruments:
guitars, charrangos, and drums, they also tried using them.
The congregation wasn't that large, about thirty, and the
congregational singing wasn't that impressive, which is
unusual for a Quichua community, probably because we were
trying some new things.
The beauty of a Quichua service is that everyone
participates. First the men played and sang a few special
numbers, then the women. I noticed that the two groups don't
mix. The women sang a couple of numbers accompanied by the
men on the instruments. Then it was the children's turn.
Finally, the invited guest had to give the message. I
decided not to do a traditional sermon. Instead, I got two
children to act out with me the story of the prodigal son,
which is really not about the prodigal son, but about the
other son who never repented. That was the point of the
drama. We communicated well, and I illustrated a different
way of giving a sermon.
I have to add that I took with me almost every instrument I
have: guitar, charrango, piano, and accordion. Plus three
other instruments I have acquired here in Ecuador: a kena
(wooden flute), a drum made from the root of the "penko"
plant, and a large, acoustic bass guitar. The last one made
a hit with the Quichua folk. They wouldn't put it down! All
I had to do was to indicate the notes for each string, give
a short demonstration, and they did the rest. My idea behind
buying this instrument is to encourage churches to use only
acoustic instruments. In my opinion, the amplification
system is really unnecessary for most churches. The
accordion was also a popular instrument. In fact, Saturday
night after the service, I left the instruments in the
church, trusting that they would be in good hands. Early
Sunday morning I checked for the instruments and found
several missing! When the workshop began the instruments
showed up with the students! They had taken them home that
night to practice.
Sunday morning we had a real good talk about the difference
between performing special music, and accompanying the
congregational singing. I started with a Bible study on 1
Corinthians 14, using tongues and prophecy to talk about the
difference between music that edifies the musicians and that
which edifies the congregation. I worked with them to find
the best words to communicate my ideas: they were
"participation" which refers to "special music," and
"direction" which refers to leading the worship. They hadn't
distinguished between the two, but began to understand the
importance of doing so. In fact, for congregational singing,
the musicians really don't have to be up front, just one
person to lead. The musicians can be behind or among the
congregation. The plan is to return in June for a follow
up workshop. Now that I know them better, I have a better
idea of how to help them.
Upon leaving, a few people asked me if I could take them out
to town. "No problem," I answered, but when the time came to
leave, I found my pickup loaded with adults and children. Of
course, this is a community. Everybody works together. I
have the truck. I am leaving. And I take everyone who needs
a ride. I love it!
On the way out, up the steep road, at one point, I had to
ask everyone to get out, because the truck couldn't make it
up the road. I said, "See you at the top!" Once everybody
got there, we loaded up again and continued out to town.
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