Teaching

Only my second day and would you believe it! The math teacher is out on his holiday. Guess who’s teaching math – the music major and English grammar geek, grades 1-5 every day, through simple English and elementary Amharic. I’ve already learned to count to 100 and know the words for “add,” “subtract,” and “equals” by heart. To the youngest children I’ve spent two days trying to explain how to tell time. Their English is the most minimal of all the groups in the compound save for babies and KG. Some of them barely speak Amharic from years of living a more tribal life in their far-flung villages.

Scott, the volunteer responsible for bringing guitars, has been assisting the music teacher Gutu in class and now that I’m here, we’ll give Gutu a chance to observe and teach the classes ourselves. The goal is to share as many new songs as possible as they have been singing the same set for a few years now. Though my guitar skills are still as poor as ever, my voice seems to have improved. Scott and I now serenade as well as teach the classes per request of the children. Sitting on the cement floor, grade 2 crowded around our knees, Scott and I began with our classics: “Here Comes the Sun,” “Imagine,” “’Til Kingdom Come,” “Autumn Leaves.” Little voices caught the tune and puzzled unintelligibly through the words. Little bodies swayed in time.

Little eyes watched with fascination while Scott’s fingers danced with the strings. Little ears opened to the sounds of our song. When I close my eyes I can feel the vibrations of my own voice blend with those of the small child leaning comfortably against me. His shaven head drifts left and then right in rhythm, his fingers softly tap out time. This is why I do music. It does something to the body, the soul, and most especially the spirit that cannot be put into words. It heals, it soothes, it softens, it settles, it loves, it breathes, it covers, it calls, and still there is so much more that it does that I don’t have words for. I don’t want to be a music
teacher necessarily, but I want to share music; I want to use music to give hope and bring comfort and to offer a means of expression to things inside ourselves we cannot otherwise extract.