Comments from friends who enjoyed the youtube video
• FANTASTIC!! I will pass this on to my wife!! I have been amazed at your teaching them the "ferengie" flute!! Have you ever used the native Ethiopian flutes, which only have five (?) notes in their scale? Lap
• It's wonderful. They are beautiful children. Bb
• Dear Celine~ I’m so proud of you!! I was very impressed watching this beautiful performance! Thank you so much for sending it. I wanna hear more about your stories in Ediophia and others! HSP
• Wow Celine...worth all the suffering...St. Lucy would be so proud...incredible...
they sound like real musicians!!! Yeah for Celine...thank you for changing their lives forever for the better...God bless you. SMB
• Celine!!! Wow! Your students are amazing. They sounded great. I can't believe that they have improved that much since they performed at YGIS. You truly have a gift in teaching to have such great result. You must continue your passion. It is an inspiration to see. Love to you, and tell G/M Happy New Year. MC
• Celine, Very, Very impressive. Great Work!! The students sound really good -excellent. The positioning and playing accuracy is just outstanding. How are you doing, and are getting much support for this? Let me know. I am glad that you placed it on youtube. D
• Dear Celine, Congratulation, I am very happy and I wish you all the best. I assure you of my prayer. Best regards, S A
• Dear Celine, The students are amazing and the music is beautiful. I loved watching this video. PJ
St. Lucy Flute School
Class of 2009
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Letter from Abba W/Tesfay
Dear Celine,
Thank you very much for your letter of last week. We thank God that you turn back home safely. Hope have found your familly very well. Here thanks be to God,we have a very good summer rain. Hope we will have a nice harvesting time allover Ethiopia next year. Adigrat is beautifull now with grass,flowers...etc.
Reguarding your flute programme with Agazians was wonderful. Yes, it was transmitted on Ethiopian Television properly. It was nice and nodoubt you will have many friends and partiners if you do some kind of projects on your flute programe next time.
Finally, wishing you all the best for your future life and please unite in prayers,
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Abba W/Selassie Tesfay
Thank you very much for your letter of last week. We thank God that you turn back home safely. Hope have found your familly very well. Here thanks be to God,we have a very good summer rain. Hope we will have a nice harvesting time allover Ethiopia next year. Adigrat is beautifull now with grass,flowers...etc.
Reguarding your flute programme with Agazians was wonderful. Yes, it was transmitted on Ethiopian Television properly. It was nice and nodoubt you will have many friends and partiners if you do some kind of projects on your flute programe next time.
Finally, wishing you all the best for your future life and please unite in prayers,
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Abba W/Selassie Tesfay
Friday, September 10, 2010
You Tube video
Hey there everyone. Here is a performance of the students playing for the Agazi International Conference. More is coming.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0mGPJe-V8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0mGPJe-V8
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Last entrance of my 2010 mission
Dear Family and Friends,
Well I'm at the end of another trip. When I first came it seemed like it was going to be one of the hardest trips ever. It has ended up being the most fruitful of all my trips. The flute school is doing fantastic. I'm at 14 flute students who are far more serious about their leanring and playing than I have had with most of my students in America. It has been such a wonderful time with them. I have many film clips of them playing scales and some of their songs. They have had far more performances from all the trips. I have 4 serious teachers who are also seriously learning their flute to help with my program. The 14 flute students are now good enough to help teach the beginner students. They are actually that strong.
This Sunday the flute class will perform for the International conference of the Agazi School Alumni. The head council of this alumni met with me yesterday. They are very impressed with my accomplishment to teach western music to the children of Ethiopia. This organization, the International School, and the St. Lucy school are all very interested in having me set up a liberal arts program for the schools of Tigray. So this is super fantastic and hopefully we can make something of this. Also, I plan to greet the flute professors of Addis Ababa at the Addis Ababa University to discuss what we can do about sending more flutists from the school of music to Adigrat to help with my program. I'm so excited about all of this and I pray and pray we can have a very big future for these children and their education.
As usual, the good-bye part of my trip is bittersweet. I'm so close to so many people. Everyone here loves how I have become Ethiopian. My dress, my eating, and my lifestyle has completely adapted to their culture. Not to include my ability to speak in Tigrinya has improved greatly. I love it here so much. But, I miss my beautiful children and family very much. I'm very anxious to see them and have the chance to greet with them and give all of them big hugs and kisses. for this I'm super excited to come home. But to leave all my friends and especially the orphans is so difficult....
I love everyone. I can't wait to post the pictures and film clips of the students. I'm so excited about so many things from this trip. Can't wait to see everyone....
God bless you and love always,
Celine
Well I'm at the end of another trip. When I first came it seemed like it was going to be one of the hardest trips ever. It has ended up being the most fruitful of all my trips. The flute school is doing fantastic. I'm at 14 flute students who are far more serious about their leanring and playing than I have had with most of my students in America. It has been such a wonderful time with them. I have many film clips of them playing scales and some of their songs. They have had far more performances from all the trips. I have 4 serious teachers who are also seriously learning their flute to help with my program. The 14 flute students are now good enough to help teach the beginner students. They are actually that strong.
This Sunday the flute class will perform for the International conference of the Agazi School Alumni. The head council of this alumni met with me yesterday. They are very impressed with my accomplishment to teach western music to the children of Ethiopia. This organization, the International School, and the St. Lucy school are all very interested in having me set up a liberal arts program for the schools of Tigray. So this is super fantastic and hopefully we can make something of this. Also, I plan to greet the flute professors of Addis Ababa at the Addis Ababa University to discuss what we can do about sending more flutists from the school of music to Adigrat to help with my program. I'm so excited about all of this and I pray and pray we can have a very big future for these children and their education.
As usual, the good-bye part of my trip is bittersweet. I'm so close to so many people. Everyone here loves how I have become Ethiopian. My dress, my eating, and my lifestyle has completely adapted to their culture. Not to include my ability to speak in Tigrinya has improved greatly. I love it here so much. But, I miss my beautiful children and family very much. I'm very anxious to see them and have the chance to greet with them and give all of them big hugs and kisses. for this I'm super excited to come home. But to leave all my friends and especially the orphans is so difficult....
I love everyone. I can't wait to post the pictures and film clips of the students. I'm so excited about so many things from this trip. Can't wait to see everyone....
God bless you and love always,
Celine
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Drawing to a close
Dear Family and Friends,
I'm down to 2 1/2 more weeks here in Ethiopia. This has been a very interesting trip. I haven't had near the amount of time with the school children and orphans as I've spent on my last 2 trips so that has been a little sad for me. But it has given me the chance to explore and get to meet new people and other new adventures. I've met new people and have been able to visit new schools in Adigrat. I love meeting new people. The flute students have also had many more opportunities to perform for these schools and everyone is loving the flute program.
The flute students are doing wonderful. They began classes again last week. We are busy in progressing into learning about key signatures and playing in different keys as well as progressing in their music level. All are playing fantastic and I am very pleased to see such dedication from these students.
I also began the beginners adult program. they too are doing wonderful. It has been a long time since anyone has given them any lessons so we had to back track a little bit and retrace our learning steps. But I can see over the next few weeks they will continue to do fine. As for the beginner students, I think the summer bug has gotten them and they have forgotten that I was willing to start their program again. that's ok, I know that Seyoum will help me in September to begin learning the flute.
I've been staying in a hotel this last week. It has been a lot of fun. I enjoy the hotel staff very much. they have been very accomodating and kind to me. I've learned to eat many new Ethiopian cuisine because of being here. Its pretty cool. For breakfast I eat a dish called special fata. This is 2 rolls (like french bread rolls) torn into small pieces like you are preparing stuffing on thanksgiving. Then they add butter to a pan, fry onions, garlic and other spices. they add berber (chili powder) to the spices and then sautee the bread in this sauce. Then they scramble an egg. They put the entire thing in a bowl and bring it to me with a side dish of yogurt. I add the yogurt with some salt and toss it all together. It is extremely delicious and it goes great with a latte.(which I taught them how to make.) This dish fills me up and I don't need to eat anything until dinner.
I became tired of drinking their machiatto and I went into their kitchen and taught them how to make me a decent latte. they've been doing that ever since for me so I have a decent cup of coffee in the morning.
They other day I went to coffee ceremony at a friends house and learned how to make Ethiopian chiro. It is a dish made from legumes and it is very common in Ethiopia. It's actually the poor man's food because it gives proper protein and is cheap to eat. But it's also very excellent to eat. My friends say that I wouldn't like it if I had to eat it all my life too. But to me it's excellent. I will make it for my family with injerra with I come home. You will also love it too.
Last night I took my friend Atakilty out to dinner for his birthday. They don't celebrate birthdays here in Ethiopia so I told him it's time to do something from my culture and I took him out for a very nice evening. He really loved it and we visited for about 4 hours. It was a lot of fun.
I've kept myself busy with my flute school and watching the world cup. I voted for Spain and partied hard with my Ethiopian friends when Spain won. It was a lot of fun. I've attended a lot of social gatherings too b/c I'm not so busy teaching. I miss my teaching though and I really miss the children. But it's nice to have met so many new people. I've met people from Spain, Ireland, England, and Italy because they are also here to help with projects to help the Ethiopians. It's pretty cool to be around an international community that I've grown to know here.
It's been pretty easy going. I've gotten a lot of sleep which is great because I always run on a sleep deficit. So I'm well rested, well fed, and my social interactions have been fantastic.
Anyway, hope all is well with everyone. I miss all of you. Lots and lots of love to everyone.
Love,
Celine
I'm down to 2 1/2 more weeks here in Ethiopia. This has been a very interesting trip. I haven't had near the amount of time with the school children and orphans as I've spent on my last 2 trips so that has been a little sad for me. But it has given me the chance to explore and get to meet new people and other new adventures. I've met new people and have been able to visit new schools in Adigrat. I love meeting new people. The flute students have also had many more opportunities to perform for these schools and everyone is loving the flute program.
The flute students are doing wonderful. They began classes again last week. We are busy in progressing into learning about key signatures and playing in different keys as well as progressing in their music level. All are playing fantastic and I am very pleased to see such dedication from these students.
I also began the beginners adult program. they too are doing wonderful. It has been a long time since anyone has given them any lessons so we had to back track a little bit and retrace our learning steps. But I can see over the next few weeks they will continue to do fine. As for the beginner students, I think the summer bug has gotten them and they have forgotten that I was willing to start their program again. that's ok, I know that Seyoum will help me in September to begin learning the flute.
I've been staying in a hotel this last week. It has been a lot of fun. I enjoy the hotel staff very much. they have been very accomodating and kind to me. I've learned to eat many new Ethiopian cuisine because of being here. Its pretty cool. For breakfast I eat a dish called special fata. This is 2 rolls (like french bread rolls) torn into small pieces like you are preparing stuffing on thanksgiving. Then they add butter to a pan, fry onions, garlic and other spices. they add berber (chili powder) to the spices and then sautee the bread in this sauce. Then they scramble an egg. They put the entire thing in a bowl and bring it to me with a side dish of yogurt. I add the yogurt with some salt and toss it all together. It is extremely delicious and it goes great with a latte.(which I taught them how to make.) This dish fills me up and I don't need to eat anything until dinner.
I became tired of drinking their machiatto and I went into their kitchen and taught them how to make me a decent latte. they've been doing that ever since for me so I have a decent cup of coffee in the morning.
They other day I went to coffee ceremony at a friends house and learned how to make Ethiopian chiro. It is a dish made from legumes and it is very common in Ethiopia. It's actually the poor man's food because it gives proper protein and is cheap to eat. But it's also very excellent to eat. My friends say that I wouldn't like it if I had to eat it all my life too. But to me it's excellent. I will make it for my family with injerra with I come home. You will also love it too.
Last night I took my friend Atakilty out to dinner for his birthday. They don't celebrate birthdays here in Ethiopia so I told him it's time to do something from my culture and I took him out for a very nice evening. He really loved it and we visited for about 4 hours. It was a lot of fun.
I've kept myself busy with my flute school and watching the world cup. I voted for Spain and partied hard with my Ethiopian friends when Spain won. It was a lot of fun. I've attended a lot of social gatherings too b/c I'm not so busy teaching. I miss my teaching though and I really miss the children. But it's nice to have met so many new people. I've met people from Spain, Ireland, England, and Italy because they are also here to help with projects to help the Ethiopians. It's pretty cool to be around an international community that I've grown to know here.
It's been pretty easy going. I've gotten a lot of sleep which is great because I always run on a sleep deficit. So I'm well rested, well fed, and my social interactions have been fantastic.
Anyway, hope all is well with everyone. I miss all of you. Lots and lots of love to everyone.
Love,
Celine
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
What a week I had last week. First we started it with the students performing for the ordination. The bishop told me how amazed he was when he saw and heard the flutes as the procession went up to the alter. Everyone applauded the performance of the flute students.
That after noon I felt really tired. But I figured it was because of waking so early. The flute students had to be at the school by 6am and then in the cathedral by 6:15am.
On Tuesday, again the flute students and i performed for the International School. They did a wonderful job and everyone really loved our performance. We got a tour of the school and the director of the school has asked me about my progam for this school too. I am very excited about this.
Again I felt extreme fatigue. On Wednesday I had a meeting with Seyoum and teacher Gebremedhin about the beginning flute program and the summer program or the continuing students. As I discussed these programs I began to feel very sick. I started to feel abnorally cold. I said I had to leave. I went to my room and began t cry I was feeling so badly. I was freezing which is very unusual for me because here I sweat all the time. I went o bed. My body absolutely ached and I lad there shivering. What's wrong with me? I thought. Withen 2 hours I was sick as a dog. Flat on my back and couldn't move. I ran a temperature of 104.
Previous that week I woke up with my entire left side of my body covered in mosquito bites. Sr. Nigisti and I cleaned my room but there was nothing I could do about it. I thought I had caught ringworm from one of the students as well. I physically hurt from the bites and itched like crazy. I scrathed so hard that I bled.
When I layed in bed I began to think of those bites. Sr. Antonia came into the room and also concerned was wondering if the bites was the cause of my illness. I know that I have never felt so sick in my life. 2 days went by and I was still sick. Sr. Antonia figured it best to get me to a doctor. She took me and I had to sit up (which was the most difficult thing for me to do) and wait for almost 2 hours to see the doctor. When he saw my scars from the bites he immediately ordered a malaria test and checked me for thyphoid. Both came back negative but he said I caught something from the bites. He gave me some medicine and by the next day i started to feel better.
I felt good enough to go and have tea with the teachers. When I came back to the sisters house I went to use the toilet and the pipes broke on me. I was bathed in water. the town of Adigrat had been out of running water into their house for 2 days and the water they did have was now all over the floor. Sr. Antonia began to cry as she saw the water going everywhere. I didn't know what to do. Then I on the way to dinner Sr. Antonia passed out from her high blood pressure. I had Sr. Nigisti of Gola angry with me b/c I wasn't coming to their parents day-even though I have been deathly sick and didn't have a ride to get there she still was mad at me. It seemed like everwhere I turned something went wrong.
This week has been so much better. I feel a lot better. I've lost weight and now I cant keep my pants on me. Today I have my interview with the International School about developing an entire music program here in Adigrat. This makes me very excited. Thi Tuesday I've spent an entire day with Father Selassie. We went to see his family in the village of Erobe. The country side was gorgeous and I had a delightful visit with my favorite priest. the flute students performed for the St. Lucy's parents day and I did too. Parents were extremely happy with my program and came to tell me thank you for bringing so much to St. Lucy's school. I really appreciated their comments as I thought some of them were not happy with me. this was not the case. They are very happy with my program and thanked me immensely for bringing it to their children. I attended the party with the teachers for their end of the semester and I went to my first party with some friends in Adigrat. It's Thursday and I'm currently staying at a hotel while the sisters are on retreat.
Life is always interesting here in Ethiopia. I start my beginners students today and the second year program with my advance students. We are all excited to continue our program and now I'm evern more excited for the potential expansion of my program..
That's it for now. I miss everyone very much. Please keep i touch. I love it so much when I hear from all of you.
Love,
Celine
What a week I had last week. First we started it with the students performing for the ordination. The bishop told me how amazed he was when he saw and heard the flutes as the procession went up to the alter. Everyone applauded the performance of the flute students.
That after noon I felt really tired. But I figured it was because of waking so early. The flute students had to be at the school by 6am and then in the cathedral by 6:15am.
On Tuesday, again the flute students and i performed for the International School. They did a wonderful job and everyone really loved our performance. We got a tour of the school and the director of the school has asked me about my progam for this school too. I am very excited about this.
Again I felt extreme fatigue. On Wednesday I had a meeting with Seyoum and teacher Gebremedhin about the beginning flute program and the summer program or the continuing students. As I discussed these programs I began to feel very sick. I started to feel abnorally cold. I said I had to leave. I went to my room and began t cry I was feeling so badly. I was freezing which is very unusual for me because here I sweat all the time. I went o bed. My body absolutely ached and I lad there shivering. What's wrong with me? I thought. Withen 2 hours I was sick as a dog. Flat on my back and couldn't move. I ran a temperature of 104.
Previous that week I woke up with my entire left side of my body covered in mosquito bites. Sr. Nigisti and I cleaned my room but there was nothing I could do about it. I thought I had caught ringworm from one of the students as well. I physically hurt from the bites and itched like crazy. I scrathed so hard that I bled.
When I layed in bed I began to think of those bites. Sr. Antonia came into the room and also concerned was wondering if the bites was the cause of my illness. I know that I have never felt so sick in my life. 2 days went by and I was still sick. Sr. Antonia figured it best to get me to a doctor. She took me and I had to sit up (which was the most difficult thing for me to do) and wait for almost 2 hours to see the doctor. When he saw my scars from the bites he immediately ordered a malaria test and checked me for thyphoid. Both came back negative but he said I caught something from the bites. He gave me some medicine and by the next day i started to feel better.
I felt good enough to go and have tea with the teachers. When I came back to the sisters house I went to use the toilet and the pipes broke on me. I was bathed in water. the town of Adigrat had been out of running water into their house for 2 days and the water they did have was now all over the floor. Sr. Antonia began to cry as she saw the water going everywhere. I didn't know what to do. Then I on the way to dinner Sr. Antonia passed out from her high blood pressure. I had Sr. Nigisti of Gola angry with me b/c I wasn't coming to their parents day-even though I have been deathly sick and didn't have a ride to get there she still was mad at me. It seemed like everwhere I turned something went wrong.
This week has been so much better. I feel a lot better. I've lost weight and now I cant keep my pants on me. Today I have my interview with the International School about developing an entire music program here in Adigrat. This makes me very excited. Thi Tuesday I've spent an entire day with Father Selassie. We went to see his family in the village of Erobe. The country side was gorgeous and I had a delightful visit with my favorite priest. the flute students performed for the St. Lucy's parents day and I did too. Parents were extremely happy with my program and came to tell me thank you for bringing so much to St. Lucy's school. I really appreciated their comments as I thought some of them were not happy with me. this was not the case. They are very happy with my program and thanked me immensely for bringing it to their children. I attended the party with the teachers for their end of the semester and I went to my first party with some friends in Adigrat. It's Thursday and I'm currently staying at a hotel while the sisters are on retreat.
Life is always interesting here in Ethiopia. I start my beginners students today and the second year program with my advance students. We are all excited to continue our program and now I'm evern more excited for the potential expansion of my program..
That's it for now. I miss everyone very much. Please keep i touch. I love it so much when I hear from all of you.
Love,
Celine
Thursday, July 1, 2010
I’ve met with the flute students. We agreed with exams this week we will keep our classes to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for rehearsals. Then on Saturday we will have a dress rehearsal for the ordination of the priests in the cathedral.
The flute students are very excited to perform for this. It is a great honor to be called upon by the Bishop of Tigray to perform for this ordination. We have worked very hard on our piece and the students are sounding fantastic.
On Wednesday, yesterday, I prepared their new assignment. Starting next week in addition to flute class, 15 of the students has signed up for private lessons. The beginner students and adults will also resume classes next week too. As I handed out the assignments to their next studies, I handed them a new rhythm assignment introducing 16th-note rhythms. I told the class, that since they are ready to learn music in 16th note rhythms they are no longer beginner students but are now intermediate. Boy, you should have heard them scream for joy. They felt so proud of their accomplishments.
I’ve also introduced music history and new styles of music. They have learned how to play in waltz tempos and rounds. The students are eating this up. They are so smart and they learn so fast.
It’s pretty funny; when I’m waiting for the students to come to class I practice a little bit. The students hear me play and they come running in. Before I know it I’m surrounded by the children as I practice. I get a little self conscious and then I begin to sweat. Ha, ha, it’s funny. Then the students start to fan me to cool me off. They love reading the music while I play. They love watching me finger fast passages and articulate long runs. I remember when I was a beginning student and how much that impressed me too. I am so grateful that I can inspire these children to play the flute. This is wonderful!!
I’ve brought you up to date on my latest and greatest things here in Ethiopia. I’m having a wonderful time now. All is well. I will record the performance for the ordination. I will also record the performance for parent’s day which is coming next week.
I miss all of you very much. Please send me at least an email. I love more than anything to hear from all of you.
God Bless and Love,
Celine-Marie
Cferland00@gmail.com
The flute students are very excited to perform for this. It is a great honor to be called upon by the Bishop of Tigray to perform for this ordination. We have worked very hard on our piece and the students are sounding fantastic.
On Wednesday, yesterday, I prepared their new assignment. Starting next week in addition to flute class, 15 of the students has signed up for private lessons. The beginner students and adults will also resume classes next week too. As I handed out the assignments to their next studies, I handed them a new rhythm assignment introducing 16th-note rhythms. I told the class, that since they are ready to learn music in 16th note rhythms they are no longer beginner students but are now intermediate. Boy, you should have heard them scream for joy. They felt so proud of their accomplishments.
I’ve also introduced music history and new styles of music. They have learned how to play in waltz tempos and rounds. The students are eating this up. They are so smart and they learn so fast.
It’s pretty funny; when I’m waiting for the students to come to class I practice a little bit. The students hear me play and they come running in. Before I know it I’m surrounded by the children as I practice. I get a little self conscious and then I begin to sweat. Ha, ha, it’s funny. Then the students start to fan me to cool me off. They love reading the music while I play. They love watching me finger fast passages and articulate long runs. I remember when I was a beginning student and how much that impressed me too. I am so grateful that I can inspire these children to play the flute. This is wonderful!!
I’ve brought you up to date on my latest and greatest things here in Ethiopia. I’m having a wonderful time now. All is well. I will record the performance for the ordination. I will also record the performance for parent’s day which is coming next week.
I miss all of you very much. Please send me at least an email. I love more than anything to hear from all of you.
God Bless and Love,
Celine-Marie
Cferland00@gmail.com
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