Introducing the Schools

Rhythm in the Barrios teaches in seven schools where more than 400 students receive music lessons.


QUINTA LOS CHAVALOS and ESCUELITA YO PUEDO are located in the neighborhoods El Miralago and En Enredo, respectively. These are two of Granada’s poorest and most conflicted areas, where drugs, violence, and youth gangs are very common.

Building New Hope opened these two centers where the kids can go to spend free time, get food, improve hygiene, and participate in various activities. Music, like reading, art, and computer courses, helps to keep the kids off the streets.

We give the music lessons individually or in small groups in which the kids learn to play instruments like piano, guitar, and flute. In order to show their work and to share music with their families and communities, the kids have given concerts in their own and other schools, as well as in restaurants, Granada’s Central Park, and even on a local radio station.


LA INMACULADA, ELBA ZAMORA, ÁNGELA MORALES, ELENA ARELLANO and LA EPIFANÍA are five public schools which rely on the Nicaraguan government for funding.

All of these five schools are located in Granada’s outskirts in communities where the people must fight to survive: La Prusia, El Pochote, El Mamón, Las Camelias, and El Hormigón. In areas as remote as these, the government has forgotten its schools. As a result, they have practically no teachers nor materials to work with; the classrooms are overcrowded, and many instructors have no choice but to teach many different levels of students all at once, in the same classroom.


Music isn’t mandatory in the Nicaraguan education system, but a complementary subject called “Practical Orientation Class” does exist. Its content varies depending on the different resources of each center, and it usually consists of art, dance, sports, music, computer, and gardening activities, among other things. In schools located in Granada’s poorest neighborhoods, like the ones we work in, Practical Orientation Class is nothing more than a reinforcement of the principal subjects of reading and math; the schools’ lack of human and material resources prevents them from offering any of the enriching subjects mentioned above.

Our mission is to provide the schools with the necessary resources for music classes, because we believe that a well-rounded education is important for every child’s development.


We work in these schools giving flute, guitar, piano, and trumpet lessons, as well as a course called “Introduction to Music.” This is a group activity for the youngest children, with songs, auditions, and games.

To give the classes, we bring musical instruments, other necessary materials, previously trained local professors, and international volunteers to the schools. We all want to give the most disadvantaged kids an opportunity to experience, learn from, and enjoy the extraordinary world of music.