The Festival de Música Cubana para cuerdas frotadas (Cuban Music Festival for Fretted Strings), at the elementary level, which took place with notable success this weekend, from 14 to 16 May, included a large group of students of violin, viola, cello, and double bass from the Escuela Elemental Alejandro García Caturla.

The offering was materialized virtually -due to the hygienic-epidemiological situation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic-, and was posted on the YouTube channel of the Centro Nacional de Escuelas de Arte (CNEArt), the institution that sponsored the event.

The event was very well received by the students, as 25 children participated with 26 videos, demonstrating the technical and performing skills developed by the students in these times when face-to-face teaching has been limited.

“This Cuban music festival for fretted strings, explains violin teacher Verónica Reyes, enhances the musical knowledge, feelings, and values of our music to give it the importance it deserves. Also, students gain greater mastery of Cuban music and full knowledge of each Cuban musical genre through it, which will be beneficial for their future.

The idea of the Festival de Música Cubana para cuerdas frotas - the interviewee explains- arises from the search for new guides so that students stay motivated and can show - through social media - what they have done at home.

Regarding the way they organized the meeting, the violin teacher from the music classes of El Arte de Enseñar el Arte (The Art of Teaching Art), broadcast by the Educational Channel, says that students sent their videos of their performances of Cuban pieces, which were later broadcast online.

The repertoire of this festival for the fretted strings was enriched by the pieces of the young and talented Cuban composer Jorge Amado, by whom seven works for violin and cello were performed, five of which were conceived especially for this meeting.

In addition, double bass teacher Jorge Machado, who also conducts the charanga orchestra of the Alejandro García Caturla school, performed several versions of Cuban works for the students and made arrangements for viola and double bass.

The Festival de Música Cubana para cuerdas frotadas, of the Escuela Elemental Alejandro García Caturla, is the result of the master's thesis on the subject of Music, education and society defended by Professor Verónica Reyes.

This research showed that there is little representation of Cuban music in the repertoire taught at the elementary level, and for this reason, the school was recommended to hold this festival to promote and enrich the Cuban repertoire among students and motivate composers to write for this level.

Although the thesis points out that elementary level string students are very interested in performing Cuban music, it is noted that except for the honorable piece Un recuerdo by maestro Guido López-Gavilán contained among a few others in the current repertoire, most Cuban composers do not write for the elementary level.