Marilyn Dewar is a woman who is so wrapped up in the world of music that her entire life is consumed by the art form and if she had an opportunity to do it all over again she would not hesitate.
One cannot mention music in Guyana, especially when it comes to the piano and a few other instruments, and not have her name featured. This is so because she is one of the few music teachers in Guyana who have been keeping the art form alive. It is because of Dewar and others like her, that local music students can still take the Royal School of Music in London examination. The examination helps students to become qualified and it is facilitated by an examiner who visits Guyana twice yearly to oversee the theoretical and practical aspects of it.
The Scene recently met Marilyn Dewar in the halls of her Charlotte Street music school and the encounter was a musical journey, as it were, going back to where she started. At the end of the meeting two things were certain; Dewar would not leave the world of music as long as she is alive and Guyana is fortunate to still have people of her calibre.
Dewar grew up with music as she had a mother who taught music. While she only teaches piano, she is handy with other instruments such as the violin. But her mother was not her only teacher, as she revealed that she had a “wide array” of teachers. While teaching is her profession it was not music she studied when she attended the teachers’ training school. It was in 1989 that she really started teaching music in earnest as it was in that year that her mother migrated.
She told The Scene that prior to her mother’s departure she had helped out with her students so it was to her the students turned when their teacher left. At the time, she had stopped her full-time job as a teacher to pursue her first degree and also to take care of her young children. So, as her mother’s students cried out, she heard and answered them by continuing their lessons.
“During that time other persons were coming to me and wanting me to really start teaching music… It was in 1993 that I started to really teach while the idea of opening the school came about in 1998,” Dewar said. At that point she was getting more and more students and eventually had to recruit a few persons to assist her. The school only offers piano lessons and while students are mainly children there are a few adults as well. There are plans to expand the adult classes.
Classes start with beginners and go up to Grade Six. Should students want to continue after this level they would have to migrate. A former student of Dewar went as far as securing a degree in music.
Her young students start at age six and while some parents would actually want their children to commence lessons at four years old, Dewar said she does not encourage it because the attention span of children below six is short. The lessons are one and one and last for half an hour, once a week. Classes are held from Monday to Saturday. Fees are between $2,500 and $4,000 a month depending on what grade the student is at. There are about 100 students enrolled in the school.
The practical examination is held between March and April of each year and it is not just the piano, as Dewar explained that there are other teachers, who are not part of her school, who would enter students playing other instruments. The students are entered through the school’s local representative and the teachers have to pay half of the examiner’s airfare. They also have to purchase the books to teach the students. The theoretical examinations are held twice a year, in June and November.
Not all students participate in both examinations, as Dewar explained that some adults are interested in the theoretical part of the examination which would assist them in writing music.
While for this year her school did “pretty well”, Dewar said she had expected more but she was quick to point out that her students were not getting the opportunity to practice as they should as their lives were consumed with many other activities. She revealed that she entered 80 students — 20 were for the prep test which is not graded — 43 gained passes, four gained merits and one a distinction with 12 failing. “We did fairly well,” Dewar said with a modest smile.
And when Dewar is not teaching music she is performing at various functions and helping out as the organist at churches. She has been the organist at Christ Church for the past 30 years. “So as you can see I am very busy. I am also the accompanist for the Woodside Choir.” She is also the secretary of the Guyana Music Teachers’ Association.
Dewar said she does not like the direction music, when it comes to playing instruments, has taken over the years as it is becoming almost a dying art. She recalled that when she was a child there were many orchestras in Guyana but today there are none. She said she wished there were more hours in the day as there is so much more she would like to do to keep the art alive.
She does as much as she can for her students. Every year she ensures that they are given the opportunity to display their skills during a three-day concert she convenes for their relatives and friends. The concert is held at a public place and is free, and every student, regardless of their level, is given the opportunity to perform. “It is a form of exposing them,” she said.
During their performances they have to bow and acknowledge the crowd as is done during performances by musicians. The concert is held in July, after which the school has a party and closes for the month of August.
“Many parents want me to open the school during August but I tell them I need that month for myself,” Dewar said. “So I take it and open school again in September. I need that break even though I would love to do so much more for music.”
(samantha_alleyne2000@yahoo.com)
