Clarinets, drums, tambourines, percussion instruments, and paper musical notes were at the forefront yesterday during the musical gathering organised by families and adult students of the Isla Baja Regional School of Music facing an uncertain future due to the “financial suffocation” exerted by the Tenerife Council in the last two years.
Under the slogan Music will not be silenced, more than 300 people from the region – adults and children alike, according to the organisers – gathered on the TF-42 at the height of the Garachico marina to defend 30 years of musical teaching in the region and 26 years of the School’s operation. Councillors from the municipalities of El Tanque, Los Silos, and Buenavista joined them. However, there were no representatives from Garachico.
They remained at the starting point for an hour and then walked towards the village along the pavement. Around 11.00 am, at the Red Cross area, the Garachico musical group joined them and played the song Resistiré, a very emotional moment for those present.
Family members and students demanded quality education and the continuation of the School. Sergio Méndez
The demonstrators walked along the TF-42 from the marina to the Town Hall. S. Méndez
Various instruments musically accompanied the demands of both young and old. S. M.
Family members and students demanded quality education and the continuation of the School. Sergio Méndez
Around 12.30 pm, the brass band arrived at the Castle of San Miguel, from where they proceeded making music first to the School’s headquarters and then to the square, finally gathering on the steps of the Town Hall. There, another significant moment took place as they sang a fragment from The Sound of Music, a song familiar to the students thanks to one of the region’s first music teachers.
The organisers called the gathering a great success considering it took place “on a sunny day with almost unbearable heat, with two significant processions in Villa and Puerto on Saint Peter’s Day, involving music bands, and competing with the La Orotava pilgrimage.”
Families and students will continue with planned actions, such as collecting signatures to defend the institution, accompanied by a document they will present to the Council and the four municipalities in the region. Additionally, they will keep requesting a meeting with the island’s president, Rosa Dávila.
“We will continue fighting for quality education, but above all, for the Regional School of Music, not for music schools in municipalities, as no one guarantees that the same situation won’t happen again next year,” they clarified after the protest.
