I spent 3 weeks of the summer of 2008 teaching music in Leogane, Haiti. This experience was one of the most unique and life changing events in my life thus far.
Deciding to go to Haiti was difficult at first. There are obviously the issues of a dramatic change of culture with the possibility of danger. However, I talked to students who had taught in Haiti in previous years and they all assured me that if I used common sense (i.e. don't walk alone at night, etc.) I would be safe and sound.
In Haiti, I worked with two other choral volunteers as we prepared a "boys" choir. This was not a traditional boys choir in that it was not just pre-adolescent boys. The ages of the members of the choir ran from nine to thirty-two. From a teaching standpoint, it was an amazing experience to get to work with such a variety of voice types, changed and unchanged voices, and trained and untrained singers while trying to prepare the entire choir of 46 for a concert each week. For that group, a quality concert each week with new material was a challenge, but they always achieved it.
Working with them forced me to become a better and more creative teacher. My students would not always understand what or why I was asking them to do different things with their voices either because I could not verbalize what I wanted in Kreyol, the students didn't speak enough English, or I was using American idioms. However, I did learn that with patience, flexibility and a smile I can teach in strange and new situations with great results!
Personally, this trip not only widened my musical horizons, but also my personal development. Being a musician inherently means that there is a measure of the perfectionist included. Sometimes, my desire for perfection prevents me from being the best teacher that I can be. In Haiti, I learned that a quality product does not always mean a perfect product and not being perfect is ok. My students taught me to become a better teacher and a more flexible person.
A discussion that is always included at Lawrence on the first day of classes is that of the teacher saying that their class will push the student to think creatively, think differently, think outside the box. Often classes will make you think, but not all will push you to a place where you grow both in your field of expertise and personally. An experience like teaching music in Haiti definitely does both and is an experience that I would highly recommend to all future music educators.
