Wind instruments for school orchestra

• December 2003 in Quilicura (Chile)
• Alejandro Fuenzalida (DSM Bakery Ingredients Chile S.A.)

The celebration day was held on 14 December 2003 at the premises of DSM Bakery Ingredients Chile. The celebration was a great success with 400 attendees including most of the DSM employees and their families.

The kids worked very hard to give a perfect demonstration by the orchestra.  

"Our employees were surprised because this orchestra is formed with little kids and they proved to be very professional", Alejandro said.

From left to right: Manuel Dannemann (School Director), Alejandro Fuenzalida (dreamer), Frederik Hoogendijk (Financial Manager) with his two children and Felipe Hidalgo (Orchestra Director).

The Nocedal Professional Technical College, a private non-fee paying college, is located in one of the poorest urban sectors, the so-called Población El Castillo, in the district of La Pintana, city of Santiago. Nocedal College is set between two rubbish tips and hosts 680 pupils in its classrooms. The pupils come from homes hit by poverty and its painful consequences (such as alcoholism, drug addiction, family violence etc.) and see the college as a means of escape. The students start at 08:30 AM and remain at the College until 17:00 PM, which is when several recreational and cultural activities begin. The College provides them with free breakfast, lunch and in some cases tea. Nocedal is now in its 7th year and the forecast for 2004 is that the school will have 800 pupils. Alejandro dreams of overcoming poverty and this has driven him to dream of great projects for the students to be able to increase their self esteem and see hope for the future by means of serious, systematic, cheerful work.

The musical dream started in 2001, when, with sponsorship by the Music Institute of a prestigious University and the help of the Andes Foundation, a project was financed whose aim was to develop a College String Orchestra in which 42 pupils now participate directly. This initial dream has become a reality and so in less than one year, our incipient orchestra has already given its first concert at the country's most important classical music venue, the Santiago Municipal Theatre. The dream has become a reality not just because it has achieved great progress musically speaking, but also because the study of a classical instrument and of music itself has turned into a marvelous catalyst which has produced an incredible change in the children, their families and even in the residential quarters. This phenomenon has involved the rest of the children as well and every day, more and more children are encouraged by their classmates' experiences and wish to become a member of the Orchestra. A dream that cannot be fulfilled as they lack the economic means to acquire the necessary instruments.

“Our children’s' current Dream, the one that DSM encourages them to dream, is to be able to add a large number of pupils to this orchestra by incorporating wind instruments, which, musically speaking would mean that we could become a Symphony Orchestra. Given the current number of string instruments and in search of an appropriate musical balance, we dream of having flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones and a tuba in our orchestra. In addition to these instruments, we would need the support of the ideal teachers who could teach our pupils how to play these wind instruments correctly, for at least the first year of study”, Alejandro explained.