Wearing a bright red blouse with her dark hair resting on her shoulders, music teacher Giana Hesterberg – at her Brownsville home – recently talked about her new book “Music, music, you can too!” an educational book that breaks down basic musical concepts for children.
“I wrote this book about five to six years ago, so it has been a while,” she said while sitting at the table of his house holding the book with her hands.
“I wrote it for a contest and the winner of that contest was going to get published with all the rights. It was based out of a non-profit in Arizona. I hadn’t been published yet so I entered the manuscript. I didn’t win and then it just sat on the back burner for several years.”
The book, gives children a foundational lesson in music, Hesterberg said. She added the book is interactive so it helps children to move around and not just sit down to read.
“It is interactive, so you’re not just sitting reading with students or your kids; they get up, they move around, they clap beats and note values, so, it is like an introductory music lesson,” she said.
The musician said she fell in love with piano since she was 6 years old and was mentored by one of her cousins. Since there, all her life has included music, especially classical. She remembers going to competitions at the University of Texas-Austin when she was younger and being amazed by all the talented musicians.
“I fell in love with music, I fell in love with playing classical music and really seeing how you could go places with music,” she said.
“As my great uncle told me, you’ll see how good you really are and how good you could have been, and that’s what happens when you leave the Valley, there’s a lot more competition, there’s a lot more talent, so music is always going to be one of the big loves of my life and I just want to pass that to students.”
Hesterberg said teaching has always been part of her life. She offers private piano lessons and said Brownsville has many amazing, talented artists.
“Our city is amazing in the fine arts department, especially music. In High School I graduated from the fine arts program at Lopez High School and many of my classmates earned full rides to musical universities and colleges because they played their instruments so well, or they sang so well,” she said.
The author said music it’s a way out of poverty and she is inspired by the young musicians who are getting a music foundation in the community. She said she wants to be part of that musical foundation.
“Seeing what an impact music can have in the lives of people that I know, who are now adults, band directors, or doing other things but with music being a very important part of their life,” she said.
“It really inspired me that if I can give the children in our community a foundation and when they go to that first music class, or if one day they join band in middle school or high school, they are ahead of the game and I want to do that. I want to be part of their musical foundation because it is such a big part of our community and it’s a way out of poverty.”
The book can be purchased on Amazon.
