Symphony under the sea

Kelly has always been fascinated by swimming and music, until he dreams that he dives, with his alto saxophone, into a deep sea to invite many species to play the Symphony Under the Sea, a work dedicated to marine biodiversity, also because The animals make “pretty” sounds and for her that is music. And that is what the piece would be titled if he ever had the opportunity to compose, because his creativity has no limits. She's even thought of a brief description in her program notes, she says, “fish, whales, dolphins and my family in submarines would be invited to this great presentation. Starfish would play the violins, clownfish would play the flutes, seahorses would play the trumpets, and an octopus would do all the percussion, because it has eight tentacles.”

Kelly Montoya Monsalve is 30 years old and is part of Soy Músico, a Filarmed program that creates musical experiences for people with disabilities and/or neurodivergents. At the age of one and a half she was diagnosed with moderate cognitive delay and at sixteen years of age with retinitis pigmentosa, which is why her vision is minimal. “When he was first diagnosed, the doctor assured me that he would not be able to study, and that he would even have difficulty developing his motor skills. In our case, since she was five years old, we insisted on her learning various activities to stimulate her brain, including music," says Dora Luz Monsalve, her mother, who also says that her greatest strength is love and his gift of service, “…because that's what life is, you have to be helping others, that fills me with vitality.”

Kelly was a high school graduate, never missed a school year, practices swimming, loves watching soccer and is a National fan. He currently studies music at the Network of Music Schools in the Aranjuez neighborhood and is even part of a musical group for people with disabilities where he sings and plays violin. And he also plays his favorite songs on the piano, he does it as a hobby.

He likes Beethoven because he is a symbol of freedom, hope and improvement. “The genius of Bonn stimulates my creativity; I love listening to the hymn of joy from his Ninth and with the Fifth Symphony I have a very special memory: I used to listen to it on CD with my brother before we went to sleep,” says the musician.

“Kelly is blind, therefore, he has a good memory. This year she started with the rhythmic thing, because she was very melodic, at first it was difficult for her, but she already has a very good grip on the sticks and plays well. She is attentive, willing and very dedicated, she easily expresses her emotions; She takes the instructions into account, she is very good at her instrument, the violin,” says Verónica Restrepo, music therapist at Soy Músico.

Music in the mind

His limited vision has not prevented him from reading his favorite book The Chronicles of Narnia 5: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and he even imagines playing the violin within the story. It is said that people with degenerative vision diseases are particularly fast at remembering things in the correct order and this is the case with Kelly, when learning sheet music: “her memory is out of this world. He has an amazing ability to memorize music. She is very disciplined. First the teachers send me the scores by email, she reads them from her tablet line by line, she learns them by heart and at the concert she doesn't need to look at them. For me it's like he has a tape recorder in his brain, because he learns music from one day to the next," says the mother.

This is Kelly, tender, smiling, friendly, full of light and who at the age of five discovered a deep love for music. Her disability has become a driving force to bring joy to her family and to everyone who has heard her in concert.

Postscript

“I am very proud of my mother because she does everything with a lot of love; “She is my favorite superhero.”