The sky is falling on Santa Cruz today. The first decent rain in months is coming down and drenching everything in sight. I’ve just now managed to find a moment to finish up my report of the weekend as yesterday proved too hectic to do anything remotely related to blogging or preparing for my mid-terms.

At the back of my mind was the nagging feeling that I needed to find time to prepare for the coming exams (the first of which I have a mere three hours after arriving back in Boston), but I knew that all the work that I was doing was, in a way, a great deal more important than the coming week. I spent the morning teaching my second session on economic and effective vlogging, something I’ve little experience in teaching but after this weekend I feel a little more equipped to share what I know. The afternoon was spent preparing for the evening’s public performance, rehearsing, fine-tuning the mics and equipment, and making sure everyone knew what was happening. As we had only had the voting for the performers in the morning, we only had a couple of hours to gather our players, teach them the parts and rehearse.

The show was a great success. We had traditional Bolivian music, acoustic rock and roll, jazz, and pop, all played by some of the most enthusiastic and radiant performers I’ve seen in a while. The evening ended with a massive jam session which went on into the deepest, darkest hours of the night – and as we had no bassists on hand, I was recruited to play!

The spirit of the weekend was one of encouragement, of sharing, of sincerity, and of musical & personal honesty. Every session was passionate, aimed at empowering those attending, and giving them a renewed sense of purpose to go out and share their music with the world, whether they play professionally or in the comfort of their own home for family and friends. I leave Santa Cruz feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to share what I have with a renewed vigour.

I would like to Darrell Rodgers, the organiser of the entire weekend, and the staff at Bosch Bahá’í School for making this weekend one to remember for years to come. I seriously encourage all Berklee musicians to consider attending and contributing to this event in the future.

Read about the rest of Robert’s trip:

Robert Gillies
Latest posts by Robert Gillies (see all)