Over 700 Groups and 30,000 Students to Participate in Choir Festival

Over 700 Groups and 30,000 Students to Participate in Choir Festival
Santo Domingo, República Dominicana 10/08/2012

The Art Education Area of the Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish) will hold 18 Regional Choir Festivals with the participation of 793 choirs comprised of 30,000 children from public and private schools around the country. The Choir Festival will take place from October 16-23 as part of the planned activities scheduled for School Song Month.

Of the 793 school choirs participating in the regional festivals, 40 belong to the Barahona area, 26 from San Juan de la Maguana, 14 from the 03 district of Azua, 24 from 04 of San Cristobal, as well as San Pedro de Macorís which has 42 groups at the festival and San Francisco with 82.

The festivals will begin on October 16 in one of the regional school districts of Santo Domingo and San Cristobal, and will continue on the 17th in Puerto Plata and Azua. On October 18, it will take place in the regional schools of Nagua, Barahona, Santiago and Bahoruco. Finally on the 19th the festival will be held in Santo Domingo (Regional 15), San Pedro de Macorís, San Juan de la Maguana, and San Francisco de Macorís. In this year’s festival, each student choir will raise their song for sports, culture and their schools.

Of the 793 school choirs participating in the regional festivals, 40 belong to the Barahona area, 26 from San Juan de la Maguana, 14 from the 03 district of Azua, 24 from 04 of San Cristobal, as well as San Pedro de Macorís which has 42 groups at the festival and San Francisco with 82.

The regional districts of Santiago, Mao, Santo Domingo (Regional 10), Puerto Plata and Higüey, have 42, 30, 124, 12 and 27 respectively. The  Montecristi area has 15 school choirs, Nagua 57, Santo Domingo 15th district has 83, Cotuí 81, Monte Plata 37 and Neyba has 6 choir groups.

The most outstanding school choirs in the regional festivals will go on to participate in the 36th José de Jesús Ravelo Choir Festival to be held in Santo Domingo on October 30-31 with the participation of some 800 students of the 18 Educational Regionals. This festival will conclude the XXXVII Month of the School Song, a yearly commemoration with which MINERD seeks to promote singing in schools with the understanding that this activity “is of vital importance for the comprehensive development of children and adolescents in that it has, throughout history, been a way for humans to express ideas, views, livelihoods and feelings and is a vehicle of human communication,” explained Cruz María Dotel, coordinator of Artistic Education of MINERD.

“With music in the school, children develop capacities and make strong friendships while achieving such goals as socialization, comprehension, solidarity, discipline, respect, ethical development, esthetics and the ability to express themselves. It also provides entertainment and recreation, pleasure, an outlet for tensions and a social activity that contributes to the development of a healthy personal, emotional, intellectual and physical life for all people,” added Dotel.
Dotel explained that in order to strengthen these cultural events and art education in public schools, this month 389 choir directors will be offered teacher training workshops to learn more about training their own school choirs. These will be given in 18 of the regional districts, organized by the Artistic Education Area under the Curricular Office of MINERD’s Deputy Minister of Technical and Pedagogical Services.

The activities will be coordinated by the Curriculum Area and has the support and consultation of Leila Pérez y Pérez and Adamilka Victoria along with eight specialists from the Canto Choir, hired for this job.

As a result of these efforts to promote school music and strengthen choirs, on Saturday October 13, forty five teachers from two Santo Domingo regions (10 and 15) will receive certificates of participation for the Choir Directors’ course offered by MINERD and the SOS Foundation. The event will be held at the American School.

In addition to the certificate, they will also receive a guitar, a flute and a music stand to be used in artistic pursuits in the schools where they work. They will also be given musical instrument education training.

The participating teachers were selected from a total of 300, based on their previous capacity in this area. The 3-month course is supported by MINERD, which provided the space and instruments while the SOS Foundation provided the trainers.

Choir of the Dominican de la Salle School’s participation in the 2011 Choir Festival  
  

Santa Teresita School Choir from the National District.