What do our participants say about Traveling Notes?

You have no idea how much I enjoyed this summer’s festival. It was really fantastic and I am already counting the days until next year in Santo Domingo.  Thanks for allowing me to help you with some of your tasks, such as finding donations and host families for instance.  It was a pleasure for me, an honor really.
As you know, Traveling Notes combines all the things in the world that I enjoy most: music, Spanish, culture, traveling, meeting people from other parts of the world and sharing music with people who don’t know it very well. I really loved it!
Marlee McDonald, age 19, USA

 

Many thanks for your interest and economic support, which were a great motivation for my career as a musician as well as on a personal level. Indeed the interaction among four cultures – United States, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic – allowed us to know different aspects of life with music as a common ground.  It was a marvelous experience.  During the Traveling Notes Festival 2009 we all lived and shared with each other in a joyful atmosphere.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I am very happy to have been given this opportunity. Thanks to your altruism the festival was a real success.
Elisa Nivón, age 22, Mexico 

How I wish that the world were full of angels like you, like miss Ellen, like Matt, and like so many other people that I had the good fortune to meet.  I will never forget you. As a matter of fact you have become a part of me, of my best memories.
My family always taught me to be grateful. Now I understand.
You will always be with me, and when I have children of my own (?!) I will tell them that there were people like you without whom I would not have made the progress that I’m making.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!  My parents and I will always pray for you so that all your kindness will return to you multiplied by a hundred thousand.  No, by a million…
As far as the musical aspect is concerned I have gained a lot of experience, learned a lot of important things about the violin, which are basic in my development to become what I most desire, a professional violinist.  I also fulfilled my dream to get to know the US, especially New York, a magical city.
Words are not sufficient to express my gratitude and affection for you.
Eduardo Ríos, age 14, Peru

The festival has been very beneficial for my training as a professional violinist.  I have improved a lot thanks to the quality of the teachers, the well organized program, and the cultural exchange with participants from different nationalities.
César Sánchez, age 17, Peru

I wanted to tell you that I feel very satisfied and happy, because I feel that I achieved everything I wanted to accomplish last year during the Traveling Notes festival in Peru.  Last year I set as a goal for myself that I wanted to play better, because when I saw all the other young musicians who played so well, I understood that I too could do it.
When I saw Daniel play so beautifully and sure of himself, I said to myself that I could achieve the same if I set my mind to it.
I feel that the experience of participating in Traveling Notes during the past two years has helped me tremendously to want to prepare myself better; it has motivated me to study more and with a greater awareness of what I am doing and it has helped me to set goals for myself.  To realize that I can make improvements every day.
I can tell you that I enjoy playing in public much more; before I was very afraid, probably because I felt insecure.
I have always known, since a very young age, that my life would be about music, the violin, but it is now, through these gatherings and through meeting great musicians and students from different parts of the world, that I realize that it is not enough to wish for something, but that you have to work towards the things you want and not be afraid or ashamed of what you love.
Thank you very much for all the support you have given me since the beginning.  I am very happy that I passed the auditions and that you thought well of me.  So happy I am that I already started preparing for next year’s festival.
Scarlett Martínez, age 13, Dominican Republic

This trip, in addition to giving me my first opportunity to travel to the US and get to know such wonderful places like Norfolk Virginia, Washington D.C. and New York, gave me the greatest satisfaction to do what I love … play the violin. As a result, I was able to get to know different cultures like those of the US, Peru and the Dominican Republic and share our different points of view in the same way and in the same language, that of playing music.
The experience is amazing because in the festival nobody critizes you, they are all very supportive and the environment is warm and fun.  For a moment I forgot that, despite the respect I have for music, I should take the music seriously, and I truly started to have fun and to enjoy it in a more convincing way.  This made me realize that things happen of their own accord, that there always will be competition but that there are places where this becomes a triumph, because from the desire to work hard flow the creative spirits which we share and with which we surround ourselves. Music expands horizons because it is a shared language and a shared way of appreciating life!
I think nobody wanted to return home and we still can’t believe we had to say goodbye, which I believe is the greatest proof that this course has been a success.
Karla García, age 20, Mexico

 

During these two weeks I have studied the cello in an enviable environment where I learned some basic rules of making music, such as discipline, the commitment to do things well or the passion for one’s instrument.  But what struck me most is the human warmth and the enthusiasm that you all conveyed to us and that motivated me and my fellow participants to take maximum advantage of this opportunity and in so doing we were able to repay the trust placed in us when you considered us worthy of representing our countries in the United States.
Gustavo Rodríguez, age 16, Peru

 

On a personal level I am very satisfied with the work that we did.  At the same time it was an inspiration for me as an artist and has left a significant mark in my life, not only as a student and musician, but as an individual as well.
This Festival does not only inspire musical growth in its young participants, but through the interaction with other cultures and ways of thinking it also allows to expand our minds towards other possibilities.
Jonnathán Méndez, age 22, Mexico

 

As the beneficiary of a full scholarship to participate in the program organized this year in Lima and Cuzco, Peru, a dream of mine became reality because it allowed me to get to know various aspects of the Peruvian culture and live with a new family; share with music students from other countries; receive master classes taught by important foreign teachers; play in an orchestra formed by outstanding young music students and directed by exceptional maestros; and last but not least, bring a message of hope and joy, through music, to less fortunate children.
This last aspect is to me the essence of the project, it is an enriching experience that has allowed me to grow a bit more as a person and become more aware of the importance that such programs have in the entire world.  I also realized how these activities can be achieved thanks to the selfless work of some individuals and to the strong support that solid institutions offer to these initiatives.
Nulibeth Ortiz, age 18, Dominican Republic