The Trumpet Sound Connects Joy

Children perform trumpets at the 10th Southern Region Trumpet Festival hosted by Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: DUY XUAN

The 10th time organized, The Trumpet Sound of Our Team 2024 is a reunion of 54 units from palaces, children's houses, and youth activity centers in the southern provinces. Each performance brings cultural characteristics and breath from the regions, creating a colorful and youthful festival picture.

Team members only need a brief instruction from the teacher and then mainly practice, review lessons and perfect skills together. That helps each student learn independently and practice self-study skills quite well.

DIEP THAI NHAT HOANG ( Phu Yen Youth Activity Center)

Hard but emotional

Ms. La Thi Ngoc Diem – Deputy Director of Kien Giang Children’s House – said the children were so excited that they practiced hard for the festival. Some practiced so enthusiastically that their lips bled. “At times like these, I have to encourage and cheer them on, but also remind them to stay healthy so they can participate well,” Ms. Diem said.

From Kien Giang to Ho Chi Minh City is quite a long journey, the group had to ask their parents for permission to gather and depart at 4am on August 8th to be on time. However, as soon as they arrived in the city, they seemed to forget all their tiredness and jumped right into practicing on stage instead of checking into their rooms to catch up with the opening ceremony that evening.

The weather in Ho Chi Minh City also made it a little harder for the kids. “It was quite tiring, but we wanted to contribute to the overall success of this Southern region festival, which was organized quite grandly, so the whole team tried their best,” Ms. Diem smiled.

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Tran Phuong Bac - Deputy Head of the Professional Department of Lam Dong Youth Activity Center - said that the 72 members of the team representing the province had been preparing since the end of May. During those two months, teachers and students practiced together with an intensity of 3-4 sessions per week.

The most painful days are the rainy days, the cold weather in Da Lat, parents brave the rain to take their children to the practice site. "Every time I join the festival, it is an opportunity to learn from each other, to reflect on the good points of other teams to help me improve and change so that my team can become more and more perfect" - Mr. Bac said.

Our Team's Trumpet Sound: Having fun and learning good things

Nguyen Quoc Hoai (Children's House of Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that during the practice, everyone tried their best to coordinate and harmonize their voices so that each performance would be the most harmonious. However, they wanted to come to the festival with the spirit of "learning from teachers is not as good as learning from friends" because if they were willing to observe and listen, they would learn something good from their friends.

Diep Thai Nhat Hoang (Phu Yen Youth Activity Center) said he was quite excited to be able to attend the festival in person this time. Because in 2022, the festival will be held in Kien Giang, the team only sent a video to participate and did not have the opportunity to experience the vibrant atmosphere like the past few days.

In particular, the opening ceremony made everyone want to explode because of the joyful atmosphere and brought a lot of energy to the teams. Hoang said the hardest thing was to practice fluently the test pieces that had not been practiced for a long time, especially the fast, paused, and syncopated music sections that took a lot of time to master. But everyone persevered because they wanted to participate in the city named after Uncle Ho.

“The teams are all very strong, everyone shows their passion through each drum beat and trumpet melody. I see everyone seems very excited. For me, this is a very useful playground because it helps each person develop their passion as well as their skills” – Hoang shared.

Along with trumpets, the festival is also bustling with drum beats converging from many provinces and cities in the Southern region - Photo: Q.HUY

A journey of many impressions

If counting from the first time Ho Chi Minh City hosted a national festival in 1998, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City, up to now this festival has gone through a journey of 26 years. Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union Ngo Minh Hai said that 26 years of formation and development, the Trumpet Festival of our Team is a long journey with many imprints, has been organized on many scales and in different areas.

Present at the opening night, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai, on behalf of the Ho Chi Minh City leaders, thanked the Central Youth Union Secretariat and the Central Council of the Young Pioneers for allowing the city to host the 10th festival with the theme "Reunion Song". "Through the festival, I hope that the children will have very impressive days, full of emotions as well as good impressions of Ho Chi Minh City" - Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai said.

Assessing this playground as useful and bringing many new things to the team members and children, Mr. Ngo Minh Hai said that the festival contributed to improving the quality of the team building work, creating a training environment for each child when coming to the festival. Evidence is that many ceremonial teams and drum and trumpet ceremonies were established, with progress in both quantity and quality.

Mr. Hai said that this year's festival was held on a very special occasion when the youth and children of Ho Chi Minh City are having many activities towards the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country (April 30, 2025). Therefore, within the framework of the festival, you visited and experienced many historical, cultural and tourist sites and works of Ho Chi Minh City.

“I hope you have meaningful and memorable experiences during your stay in Ho Chi Minh City. Especially, you will have many beautiful memories, new friendships, and connections between localities starting from the sound of the Team's trumpet” – Mr. Hai hopes.

Accompanying the child

Following her son's journey closely, Ms. Le Nguyen Dinh Thao (living in Binh Dinh province) said that she realized her son had started to love and practice playing the drums in elementary school, so she let him join the ceremonial team to practice. Now in middle school, her son has switched to playing the trumpet.

To have her son present at the festival in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Thao supports him both mentally and physically, and feels happy with his enthusiasm and cheerful spirit. Many times, seeing her son practicing in the hot weather in the countryside, the mother is also worried but always stands by, encouraging her son to try a little harder because it is both a love for the movement and a way to contribute a little to the province.

“These activities and movements are very meaningful and useful, helping children accumulate knowledge while having fun and becoming more mature, which is very good for their future,” Ms. Thao said.