The first notes begin and something magical happens in the concert hall. In the meeting of voices, gestures, sounds and listening, aligning itself moment by moment, the music reveals itself to the audience. A mix of learning process, rehearsals and also mystery and harmony, as explained by our school’s music teacher, Amanda Ribeiro: “Music is a performance art, of the present moment: from the moment the music starts, the art is happening. When the song ends, that moment has passed.” What remains, however, are the learnings, full of meanings, and the feelings that crossed those who witnessed the experience. For all these reasons, the be.Living end-of-year music presentation holds a special place in the school calendar: it is, at the same time, a synthesis of musical learning built throughout the year, and also celebration, art, and magic.
What makes it to the stage carries a long and careful journey. There were many music classes exploring rhythm, melody, instrumental technique and sensitive listening. “The presentation of music involves all the elements that we study in music classes. Throughout the year, the children learn to play different instruments, explore a variety of rhythms, and experience percussion, melodies, and harmonies.
The teacher says that the repertoire is built from multiple cultural matrices. “We work a lot with Brazilian music, but also with world music. There is a musical and cultural dive into the African continent, in traditional peoples, in the native peoples of Brazil and Latin America, in addition to contact with contemporary and traditional music, always expanding listening and repertoires”.
In the second half of the year, this path gains a specific cut. Amanda starts to think of the repertoire also as a presentation, as a “show” that dialogues with those who watch. “I think about the appeal that the songs will have with the public, I think about the importance and relevance that these songs have in the history of music and how relevant they are to childhood as well.” From this, the work done throughout the year is reorganized to gain scenic, sound and collective form. Each song is revisited in the light of what has already been learned. “When we are going to build the arrangement of each song, we think: what have we learned that we can put in this arrangement? If, in that year, the children learned xylophone, it will be featured. If they studied tambourine, samba or maracatu, these elements come in. “I collaboratively build the arrangements for the songs, always creating together with the children,” says Amanda. She explains that, in this way, on the day of the presentation, they not only sing, but play, do body percussion and appropriate, in a lively way, the musical knowledge collectively built.
This year, the repertoire gained an even more special meaning. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of be.Living, the choice of songs followed a different path. “The choices of songs were not only based on the criterion of dialoguing with the curriculum of each group. This time, as it is a commemorative year, we revisit songs that have marked the history of performances in recent years. We made a collection of the best songs, according to my criteria and that of people who have followed the performances over the years. It was not a simple task. It was very difficult to choose only 14 songs”, says Amanda, considering the volume of repertoires already presented.
Among these choices, emblematic pieces of the history of music appear, such as “Águas de Março”, by Tom Jobim and “Trenzinho do Caipira”, by Heitor Villa-Lobos, with lyrics by Ferreira Goulart”. The repertoire also opens up to other languages, such as rock. A song by Queen came in as a way to further expand this sound mosaic. “By bringing Queen to the stage, the children experience a different musical style, a new energy, and another cultural context, discovering that the story of music is diverse and that classics transcend generations, continually reinventing themselves with each new listen.”
La Bamba is also part of this route. Because it is a traditional Mexican song in the public domain, it created opportunities for meaningful reflection among the children. “What is a traditional song? What is a public domain song? A song that has been sung for so long that no one knows who made it”, says Amanda. Based on these topics, the children discussed oral tradition, cultural belonging, and how a song can be passed down through generations and take on different versions. “How can an entire country sing a song that no one knows who made it?”, teases the teacher. More than just learning to sing La Bamba, the children were invited to understand music as a shared heritage—something that belongs to everyone and remains alive because it is passed on from person to person.
But before reaching the stage, there is a deep preparation work, which goes far beyond the rehearsal. Amanda emphasizes the importance of seeking balance in this process. “Rehearsing should be a careful, pleasurable and dynamic path. Children need to be engaged with music, but they also need to find joy in it. If not, the music becomes a burden.” The path involves listening, singing, playing, studying rhythms, revisiting lyrics, creating memorization strategies and, above all, maintaining pleasurable contact with music. “We take a significant tour of the elements of music,” he explains.
This tour also includes the historical and cultural contextualization of each work. One of the most remarkable experiences this year, according to the teacher, was the work with “Trenzinho do Caipira”. Amanda introduced Villa-Lobos to the children as a key composer in Brazilian music, who moved between orchestral music and popular music. “We think about what orchestral music is, what popular music is and how these things dialogue,” he says. Soon, music became a starting point for reflecting on the Brazilian territory, the landscapes, train journeys, other songs that talk about displacement, and different historical periods. There was also the study of the soundscape. “We studied how he took the sound of the train, the sound of this landscape, and incorporated it into his work.”
All of this world may not be visible on stage, but it shines through in the way the children sing and play. “Everything we discovered is present inside each child, in their memory and affection.” For Amanda, the more children embrace the history and cultural significance of a song, the more they honor it when they sing. “When we sing a song, it’s actually a tribute that we’re making to that song. And this is reflected in the emotion, dedication, and reverence with which they put themselves on stage”.
The music presentation also reveals one of the central marks of be.Living’s work: collectivity. “We are a school, we are not a music school,” says Amanda. The goal is not to train professional musicians, but people who are sensitive to the world and to the other. “Here, music is a means, it is not an end. It is through this that children learn to connect with others, share instruments, play together, and realize that making music as a group requires listening and cooperation.
In practice, this means breaking with the logic of individual performance. “We learn to play together, and not faster or better than each other. It’s not how much I do it super well, but how much I can share it with my group.” Children learn that playing outside the collective rhythm does not strengthen the ensemble. On the contrary, it weakens. This learning, according to the teacher, is valuable and takes time to be understood.
There is an especially symbolic moment in this process: the general rehearsals, when groups that rehearse separately meet. “In the music presentation, everyone together is playing and singing the same song.” It is there that the children realize each one plays a part, but together they build something greater. “It’s magical when we see that each person is doing a part, but everyone is making the same music.” Different instruments, different voices, different functions add up. This year, the presentation even had the special participation of an accordion player, further expanding the collective sound experience.
This experience makes evident an essential learning: no one does everything alone. “In music, you can’t do everything. It is necessary for each one to take their place for the whole to exist. When we put all the parts together, it becomes so much more beautiful, so much more powerful.” It is this perception that transforms the presentation into something greater than a show: it becomes an exercise in coexistence, listening and collaboration.
On the day of the performance, the entire community came together to watch the children making music and to celebrate 25 years of music at the school. A moment that can be recorded on video, but that only fully existed there, in that meeting. “That moment when the children were making music is truly unique,” emphasizes Amanda. An instant built over a whole year of listening, discoveries, stories, affections and encounters. And that, when it ends, leaves the feeling that something meaningful has been lived and built together, until the last chord.
Watch the presentation video: