Rescuing native languages at risk through music learning

The speakers of the native Ticuna and Yagua languages are at risk of disappearing as their number of practitioners has decreased. In the Peruvian Amazon, communities have been identified in Yanayacu whose economic openness puts them at a disadvantage in maintaining their traditions, and young people hardly practice native languages. Together with the Ticuna community of Cushillococha, they are communities that also have limited public services and state assistance. Previous experiences in cushillococha have shown the enormous potential of young people for music.

The Yanayacu communities have restricted access depending on the flooding of the river, they are semi isolated. They have no electricity. So education has to be presencial from December to May
Galilee of Yanayacu
50 students
Cahuide,
75 students
San Jose de Yanayacu
40 students

Cushillococha Community:
continuing students
15 beneficiaries,
new students:
50 beneficiaries

200 native language books for children ages 5-7

Musical training, training for adults and advanced, psychopedagogical support.
2 years duration, during 5 months of intervention according to calendar.

A musical learning plan for several generations is proposed, with the Kindergarten books developing skills in the early ages and the Flute Book allowing progression from beginner to intermediate, including concepts of popular arrangements. These books will be in the native language, and will be complemented by more advanced ones in Spanish. Developing the reading of scores will allow you to continue studying even in the absence of the teacher. Musical arrangements, compilations in native languages and indigenous songs will be encouraged. Parents and school teachers will be trained in the use of language books. Additionally, the progress made in the 2017-2019 program in the Cushillococha community will be continued.

Additionally, the progress made in the 2017-2019 program in the Cushillococha community will be resumed.

The Cushillococha and Yanayacu communities have been part of a program to substitute illicit crops, such as the coca leaf that they sell to traffickers, for cocoa crops that allow them to participate in a profitable trade. The economic opening confronts them as a minority community as their culture, their language, and their songs are diminished. The government education that these populations receive continues to be very elementary, and the services are very limited. However, the enormous talent that these communities can develop for music is well known from past experience. Therefore, it is proposed that a quality education, which develops their self-perception and leadership skills, will be able to generate stable and positive cultural impacts in the medium and long term.

Since 2006 I have formed an inclusive musical creation group, where the participants were organized to create music by improvising in a group. This was taken to more than 400 participants, including communities in Venezuela. Musical creativity and compilations of songs in Ticuna have also been made. From 2017 to 2019, an educational program was conducted in Caballococha and Cushillococha, where repairs were made in Ticuna. The youth have been oriented. One of the students is now a keyboardist for the community church and continues with local musical traditions while reading sheet music and piano works. To this day he maintains contact with parents and authorities of the Cushillococha Ticuna community. In December 2019, interviews were conducted in the Yanayacu communities to learn about their situation and possibilities. The Knder Musical and Flute books are currently published in Spanish and English, and serve as a starting point to adapt them to native languages.

I think it's a clever solution to an urgent problem. The risk of losing a native language means losing a culture and epistemology, which include them in a disadvantageous way in a foreign cultural system. But there is more. The musical talent of the native people has been known historically. With the successful experience with keyboard students in Cushillococha, I can affirm that it is possible to promote an outstanding musical culture in the region that contributes to their education and development. In addition to strengthening their native language and its expressions, it is important to me that Solve understand the long-term consequences of a cultural intervention in semi-isolated communities, providing tools for cognitive and emotional development with music.

I think it's a clever solution to an urgent problem. The risk of losing a native language means losing a culture and epistemology, which include them in a disadvantageous way in a foreign cultural system. But there is more. The musical talent of the native people has been known historically. With the successful experience with keyboard students in Cushillococha, I can affirm that it is possible to promote an outstanding musical culture in the region that contributes to their education and development. In addition to strengthening their native language and its expressions, it is important to me that Solve understand the long-term consequences of a cultural intervention in semi-isolated communities, providing tools for cognitive and emotional development with music.

My goals are very clear in continuing systematic musicology, the development of groups of musical creativity and intervention in communities. It is hoped that this pilot program can grow to more Ticuna communities, and the same beneficiaries can later become trainers, as well as consolidate their own organizations.

Trainings will be held for the most advantaged on arrangements, harmony and direction. Teachers and parents will be trained so that they can use the Kinder Musical books in their native language. Therefore, quality education will be consolidated with an emphasis on local trainers.

A permanent factor in local education is introduced with music books. Therefore, along with the practices, musical arrangements and compilations, a corpus of local songs will be left, as well as the ability to continue making their own arrangements. It is hoped that quality education can continue to influence several generations, where creativity can, in the long term, generate solutions to community problems.

Community music will be encouraged. A modern and adequate education can understand the elements of expression and creativity of the community. So your musical expression will be revitalized with modern music teaching tools. Tools to promote creativity can generate a corpus of songs in a relatively short time.

My years of experience have allowed me tools for inclusive musical creativity, where participants are helped to collaborate on dynamic and participatory creations. These same tools can be applied to communities to achieve their own musical repertoire, with local expressions.

The first works of my NGO will allow me to visualize the new native music, the advances of the students. in addition to highlighting the beauties of nature and the community's relationship with its environment. The production of documentaries, recordings, audios and videos about the creative processes in the Amazon will help raise awareness about the importance of educational inclusion and quality.

The campaigns are expected to inspire companies to continue contributing to social responsibility

This educational program is low cost compared to other NGOs that have more complex administrative components. However, it can generate many beneficiaries due to the appropriate educational approach to their conditions, with the possibility of training new trainers among the beneficiaries. So it can be maintained by local companies that want to improve their brand image and get involved with inclusive development, or by universities that want to venture into educational programs in the Amazon.

First I must name the Orquesta Creativa, a group improvisation group founded under my direction, as part of an extensive plan of inclusive creativity workshops. Then I must mention my students in Cushillococha, one of whom has become the keyboardist for the local church, and who also teaches keyboards to other local youth, maintaining his language and developing his musical creativity. He is a young man of just 12 years of age.