While working at Arts & Craft shows children ask me dozens of questions; mostly about the instruments I sell. I tell them how they are made and the process to create the musical notes on those that attract their interest. I love sharing with them the joy of making beautiful music with those pieces of art that are part of my Native land of Ecuador. It is an honor for me to teach children how to play the toy instruments, specially the little whistles; to see their eyes sparkle when they produce their first bird sound. I can not describe the joy of the parents when I bring an introvert child out of his or her cocoon. It is the direct contact with families what keeps me traveling this land town by town disregarding offers of Corporate America.

The sound of a whistle awakes the child in all of us, regardless of our age. Whenever I play it I feel joyful; I do not visualize the final product in my hands: the elaborated hand painted clay instrument that became after being in an oven at 300 degrees for three hours. I hold the whistle and I close my eyes to evoke the smell of black clay when is wet. I dream about the songs the birds sing at the break of daylight and then I blow. Respectfully I blow…