We have been very fortunate to be able to bring down requested instruments to the members of the Deschapelles Fanfare Band, thanks to generous contributions from here in Essex, and Sigma Alpha Iota’s People to People Program’s continued support to both pay for and receive contributions of needed instruments.  Each member of the band now has a wonderful instrument, and their playing is better than ever.  In November 2012, I met with Abner Achoule, director of the Fanfare Band.  He informed me that there are now 17 students from 7 years old to mid 20’s who are taking lessons from different members of the Fanfare Band.  He had a list of the students and the instruments that were needed.  Some were available from our previous contributions, but I realized it would be a stretch to gather up all the additional ones, especially two baritone horns and a tenor sax.  At that point most of the students would take a lesson using the existing instrument of the teacher and only be able to play at that time.  The very next day, in Haiti, I received an email from Liana Valente with a list of instruments that one of the branches of SAI had collected to donate to the outreach program.  Every single one was on the list Abner had asked for.  We had to purchase a few other instruments which were paid for by SAI, and now each student will have the instrument of his or her choice and be able to practice to his or her heart’s desire.  In addition, a young man, Castillo Saint-Armand who had been taking clarinet lessons for about a year came to play two pieces for me – He has become an accomplished musician within one year, and as he so aptly stated, “I just love the clarinet.”

A section of the  Fanfare Band rehearsed and played for the “graduation” ceremony of Ecole Flamboyant, one of our EETT participating schools.   Logan Floyd, an Essex resident who just graduated from high school, who traveled with us, had a chance to show them different “styles” of music from tapes he had.  The Deschapelles musicians would like very much to have us come back and do a Music Workshop similar to the one we did a year ago.  There are several requests for additional instruments.

The musicians had an opportunity to play for Sister Cities Essex Haiti Board member, Bob Lamothe, when he was visiting Deschapelles with a group form Yale University as part of a 5-year project of the Yale School of Forestry and Public Health. Bob is an accomplished musician and he and his Band provided the lively entertainment at the Have a Heart for Haitifundraiser on March 2, 2012. He was impressed with their musicianship and looks forward to returning to Deschapelles and being able to spend more time playing with them and expanding their “styles.”

During my visit to Deschapelles, April 1-14, I did not have a chance to visit with the musicians as I was primarily involved with the initiation of the Early Education Teacher Training program. But I did have a wonderful afternoon with Castillo St. Armand who has begun clarinet lessons. We played pieces together from the technique book I brought with me. As the hour progressed, we played some of the duets in the book. He is making very good progress, and he wanted especially to conquer the incidentals so he could begin to play jazz. Although there are no definite plans yet for a future trip, they are eager to continue our collaboration with the opportunity to play as a group under the direction of Maestro Paddy (Hurley), with the opportunity to work with musicians who are facile in playing by ear, with the expansion of their existing skills venturing into jazz, bosso nova, blues and salsa.

By: Jenifer Grant

One of my missions on my recent trip to Deschapelles (Oct 16-Oct 22, 2011) was to meet with the Deschapelles Fanfare Band.  A newly formed SCEH Music Committee realized that we had not had the opportunity to sit down with the Band following the concert, and we wanted to get more information from them, in order to continue to be better collaborators.

It was my great pleasure to meet with them all for about an hour when I had a chance to ask questions and also listen to their desires.

The instruments we bring belong to ODES.  The musicians must sign a contract acknowledging that ownership and agree to be good custodians of the instruments.  If anyone ceases to be a member of the band or if they leave Deschapelles, the instrument will be returned to ODES.  This assures that the Deschapelles Fanfare Band will always have instruments for their band even if the players go elsewhere.  I had the pleasure of reviewing the contract, which a committee of three had drafted.

How did they learn to play?  Most had had some instruction in either a music school or in school itself or from someone who played the instrument and was willing to teach.

How did they learn their songs?  They learn them by listening to other Fanfare Bands, but mostly by solvege, Leonce Pierrestyle, a talented trombonist, is able to write the notes down when he hears a song and then the others can play the song in their key.   They practice as a group and say the practice daily.

Acknowledging our respect for their talent, I asked them “where they wanted to go” with their music and how we could help them.  They are are all eager to improve their individual skills.  What they would really like to do is to broaden their styles, which would put them a step or two above other Fanfare Bands; Salsa, Bossa Nova, Blues and Jazz.

They would love to have a guest artist come to play and then follow with discussions.  And they liked the idea of inviting other Fanfare Bands to come to Deschapelles to have a Fanfare Jamboree,

They asked me to express their deep gratitude to all those responsible for the collaboration and requested that we continue to collaborate.

In April 2011, members of a Deschapelles band, Fanfare, submitted an application to Sister Cities Essex Haiti for a musical exchange and support for their band.  In May 2011, after consultation with ODES and using the criteria established to determine the appropriateness of suggested projects, the Sister Cities Essex Haiti Board of Directors approved a Music Project which commenced with “Music Week” in June 2011.

Many towns in Haiti have local Fanfare Bands.  They are hired to play at funerals and they also play for different “occasions.”  Deschapelles has such a band. The musicians often march as they play, and they play all their music from memory.

The quality of the music varies often according to the skill level and also the quality of the instruments. The bass drum they have been using was borrowed and had only one head, and that one was held together by tape. The mallet was a stick with a sock at the end.   The snares on the snare drum were totally loose. One trumpet was badly dented, with holes in the tubing that were taped, and lacked the buttons for the valves. Nonetheless, the musicians were able to produce joyous music despite the condition of their instruments.

On a trip to Haiti in February 2011, Jenifer Grant, a director of SCEH, mentioned that a friend, a band conductor in Essex, had expressed interest in traveling to Haiti.  The Fanfare Group were thrilled, and submitted a project proposal for “Music Week in Haiti.”   They were particularly eager that “Music Week” coincide with the annual Hospital Albert Schweitzer birthday celebration and Dr. Mellon’s birthday, June 26^th. Fanfare members were eager to augment their musical repertoire, work with a “Maestro,” receive additional instruments, and generally increase their skills.

Concurrently, Karen Birch, the creator of the Oboe Concert, which was held in May 2011 in Essex to benefit SCEH, was in touch with Sigma Alpha Iota, a national musical fraternity which had been given donations for music in Haiti through their People to People Project .  They were delighted to form an alliance with Sister Cities Essex Haiti  to enable it to purchase instruments, music stands, and music books for the Music Project.  Stuart Ingersoll and Face Arts Music in Deep River, Connecticut made it possible for Sister Cities Essex Haiti to purchase the instruments at very affordable prices.

Sister Cities Essex Haiti received additional instruments as donations from Essex-area residents.  Over several years Jenifer Grant had delivered two trombones and three trumpets to Deschapelles musicians.

By June 2011, Sister Cities Essex Haiti was either given or was able to purchase  another trombone, an alto sax, two more trumpets, two clarinets, a flute, a bass drum, a snare drum and a baritone, all instruments that were requested by Fanfare. It also obtained technique books for each instrument in the band, sheet music, twenty music stands, and clothes pins to hold the music on the stands when the wind blew.

In June 2011, five musicians from the United States travelled to Deschapelles with the musical instruments: Maestro and trumpeter par excellence, Patricia (Paddy) Hurley, founder of the Essex Community Music School, creator and conductor of the adult New Horizons Band (for adults who either wanted to learn a musical instrument  or get reacquainted with their instruments), and a teacher of music for her entire career;  Roger LeCompte (alto sax) and Jenifer Grant (clarinet), each members of the New Horizons Band; and three youth; Alec Goodrich (trumpet) and Nick Smith (trombone and percussion) from Essex; and Jenifer’s grandson Reid Kellogg (trumpet and percussion) from Boulder CO.  Tom Briggs, of the Community Music School, orchestrated two pieces for the group: Home on the Range, to evoke Dr. and Mrs. Mellon’s time in Arizona, and a medley of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “Amazing Grace.”

Sister Cities Essex Haiti had been told that the musicians could all read music.  As the musicians gathered together the first morning, they were not sure how this was all going to work.  Only Jenifer had heard the band previously.  Everyone set up stands, distributed music, put the drums together, and began playing a few rudimentary scales and exercises from the technique books.  It was a bit like first day in school – getting to know each other and becoming familiar with the different groups’ expectations and hopes.

Patricia quickly ascertained that their skills were generally good and their ability to read music was strong enough to move along quite quickly.   Rehearsals took place every morning from 8:00 to 9:30 and sometimes in the afternoons.  After two days of rehearsals, the SCEH musicians attended a Fanfare performance and became acutely aware of Fanfare’s competency.  They all wondered what they thought they were doing, thinking they could augment Fanfare’s skills.

By the end of the week, however, the SCEH musicians had exposed Fanfare to quite a few new skills: reading music; being able to play a piece of music which had many different parts played by the different instruments; how to read the “road map” of a piece with repeats and first and second endings; how to play “piano” and “forte” (Fanfare bands specialize in “forte”);and how to follow the tempo set by the “Maestro” including retards at the end and changing tempos within a piece.  The Fanfare musicians also learned to play in several different keys augmenting their one key repertoire. The combined group was able to play five pieces at the Saturday concert.  A remarkable achievement, considering the fact that they had only six days to prepare.

Most importantly, Sister Cities Essex Haiti and Fanfare established personal relationships with one another, participated in the 55th annual celebration of the founding of Hospital Albert Schweitzer, and fulfilled the mission of Sister Cities Essex Haiti, to build a mutual long-term relationship between the citizens of Essex CT and the people of Deschapelles, their extended communities, and Hospital Albert Schweitzer, located in Deschapelles.   Furthermore, it is a long term sustainable project as Sister Cities Essex Haiti has been invited by Fanfare to return to continue the musical collaboration.