On Saturday, August 6, I left for my third trip to Beirut to teach in YES Academy Lebanon, sponsored by American Voices.  In 2018 and 2019, I taught there, but since then we’ve all been Zooming with the students regularly.  American Voices is a cultural diplomacy program based in St. Louis.  I am proud to serve on the Board of AV and to volunteer my time to teach as much as I am able.

American Voices: https://americanvoices.org

The prep for my trip is a blur.  All the books I needed to bring, games, and travel accouterments, were laid out in my study.  The students who attended from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have no access to ordering real, printed books, so I try to bring enough for all the pianists enrolled.

Lebanon is a very tough place to be right now, significantly tougher than the past years I traveled there.  The governments they have cycled through have been inefficient and corrupt.  The economy has completely unraveled, and even middle-class people are struggling every day.  There are only two hours of state-provided power per 24-hour period, so our hotel and our university were completely on generators, which are exorbitant to run.  They shut down now and again.  Internet is spotty.  Cars are ill-maintained and old, mostly standards.  The roads are treacherous, unlined, with few signs.  The drivers are intrepid; they make two lanes into five, jockeying in and out.  Potholes are much worse than around here.  I think I saw just one traffic light, when we went to a coastal “resort” town for supper.  It’s completely dark at night, no streetlights.  They are all shut off since there isn’t enough power.  Much of the rubble, the aftermath of the August 4, 2020, explosion in the Port of Beirut, has been left to decay.  What a beautiful people and country in ruins.  

The kids, some of whom I had in both 2018 and 2019, are just beautiful, so appreciative.  Even the smallest ones fought to take my heavy messenger bag up and down the stairs for me.  Their thirst for learning and growth is palpable.  The colleague in the maroon dress is new to me, Chantal Balestri.  She’s a brilliant concert pianist from Rome, only 30 years old.  We hit it off.  I guess I am like a grandmother figure to her. She plays like a dream.  The bigger man in the black tee shirt is John Ferguson, the founder of the entire program.  He is also a brilliant pianist.

https://www.littlechopins.com/piano-chantal-balestri

https://americanvoices.org/about-us/staff/

It was a difficult week, but there is nothing to replace the feeling of being a positive influence for these young people. The two sisters on either side of me came from Syria and we had one advanced pianist (in the black dress on the far right) from Jordan.  Others are from all over Lebanon and stay in a “hotel” our program provided, or, if they are from Beirut, they commute back and forth. We offered composition, songwriting, chamber music, orchestra, piano - younger and advanced.  On the final day, there was a performance by each program.

You see the students holding up music?  We did “The Twinkle Project,” where each student played some version of Twinkle.  We included Mozart Variations and others that were simpler.  There were solos, duets and flute/piano.  It was a way of feeling like a collaborative unit, even though the students were all ages and levels. I gave them each a certificate and gold star lapel pin.

I will continue to Zoom with several of the students.  The older ones are very wisely interested in learning to teach, so I will continue to hold individual Zooms with them for pedagogy.  By the way, the method books were brought in person by our Executive Director and my colleague Scott Donald, to the YES Academy in Sulimanyia, Northern Iraq.  I chose not to go there this year, though I was invited.  It’s even more difficult than Beirut.  We compiled a bunch of pedagogy lectures, so the young adult pianists there can have real books to use with their students.  Very moving.

I never imagined myself doing this work, especially at almost 68 years of age.  I self-funded since our students were not charged tuition.  The program was completely free.  The State Department has not yet restored all funding after COVID, though Antony Blinken has spoken very highly of our program.   I deeply thank so many of my colleagues who donated to defray my costs.  I was exhausted and exhilarated by this travel and yes, I will go again if I am able.  The students and families give back so much and with completely open hearts.  They appreciate everything they have and all that we offer.  This work has changed my life in so many ways.

Alison S. Barr