Josh and Steve Taylor Travel to El Hogar to
Record the Boys Marimba Band:

Two years ago, my wife and I were part of a mission trip to El Hogar. On the final night of our visit, the boys celebrated with us by playing music on their marimba. Above the noise of happy melodies and dancing feet, we immediately thought of our son, saying, “We should get Josh to record this!” Early this year, I suggested the idea to Josh, a music school graduate, now working in local recording studios, and he instantly agreed.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, the staff and board of directors of El Hogar Ministries were making plans to bring several El Hogar boys to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church for a musical performance this June. By the grace of God, our idea to record and their idea to travel, meshed perfectly. We agreed to produce a professional CD of the boys playing and singing music that could be sold at Convention and elsewhere.

Our time at El Hogar was marked by challenges and amazing rewards. One challenge was to build a make-shift studio and set up all our recording gear. As we duct-taped mattresses to walls and set up partitions in order to isolate sounds, we wondered, “Will this work?”

The recording process was hard work, but resulted in 15 excellent songs. The boys were exhausted, but each wanted a chance to hear what they had done on the headphones. The look on the boys’ faces when they put on the earphones to hear the “rough cut” was priceless. Heyser, their music teacher, said it almost brought tears to his eyes. What he couldn’t see was the ear-to-ear grin on his own face!

With the sun shining and the rhythms of the boys’ marimba music blaring from his car’s CD player, five days later Heyser took us to the airport. Above the noise of the traffic and the music, my son smiled and told me, “This is the way this music was meant to be heard.”

And it will be heard. Josh is now mixing and editing the material to create a full length CD entitled “Sounds of Love and Hope,” in time for General Convention in June. All the proceeds from the CDs will go to El Hogar. And the people who leave with the CD will leave with the image of the smiling boys and a beat that you can’t get out of your head. It is difficult to know who enjoyed and benefited from this recording project more!

Steve Taylor


Click here to order the El Hogar CD - Sounds of Love and Hope .




The El Hogar Marimba Band traveled to Ohio to perform at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church this past June. Read some of the boys comments about their experience in the US.




Top of page