Jose Antonio Abreu and The el sistema music revolution
"Mother Teresa of Calcutta insisted on something that always impressed me -- the most miserable and tragic thing about poverty is not the lack of bread or roof, but the feeling of being no-one, the feeling of not being anyone, the lack of identification, the lack of public esteem." -Maestro Abreu
Abreu insisted that the purpose of his classical music education program was not artistry. The purpose of El Sistema is to participate in a humanizing education experience that empowers young artists to become young teachers and leaders in their own communities.
Forte Strings is not a "Classical Music School"!!!!!
Forte Strings is a social justice program that seeks to decolonize classical music education in a way that empowers our community.
Abreu insisted that the purpose of his classical music education program was not artistry. The purpose of El Sistema is to participate in a humanizing education experience that empowers young artists to become young teachers and leaders in their own communities.
Forte Strings is not a "Classical Music School"!!!!!
Forte Strings is a social justice program that seeks to decolonize classical music education in a way that empowers our community.
El Sistema USA
"ESUSA’s diverse membership across the United States represents programs that serve some of the most vulnerable communities and children throughout the country. We aim to provide connections to knowledge and innovation, advocacy, and leadership development for program directors, teaching artists, students, and volunteers. Members collaborate to share resources, values, aspirations, and advocacy efforts. ESUSA serves three major purposes: strengthening existing nucléos through capacity development and research, encouraging the formation of new nucléos through providing resources, connections and training, and building awareness of El Sistema at large throughout the United States." From https://elsistemausa.org/about/
We would like to be part of the network of El Sistema Programs that are thriving across the USA. We have a lot of work to do and it is going to take meaningful relationships to reach our goals. We plan to join El Sistema USA as an organization. We look forward to learning and growing with them.
We would like to be part of the network of El Sistema Programs that are thriving across the USA. We have a lot of work to do and it is going to take meaningful relationships to reach our goals. We plan to join El Sistema USA as an organization. We look forward to learning and growing with them.
Criticism of El Sistema
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
|
It is important that we examine criticism. One of the author's criticism's is that the "spin-off" programs have not been able to achieve the high levels of artistic success that were achieved by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra(The premiere orchestra of the original El Sistema program in Venezuela led by Gustavo Dudamel) . The author goes on to say: "Working with kids this intensely in any area — music, carpentry, chess — is likely to have a positive effect".
This author's assertions are not unfounded however, she is approaching the idea of music for social change from a deficit mindset. We do not expect the vast majority of our students to matriculate through conservatory and go on to performance careers. We do expect however that all of our students will benefit from music education and Social Emotional-Learning. One of the ways we will do this is by having high standards and performing both challenging and culturally relevant repertoire. Our commitment is to growth. We as a program cannot fix society's ills but, we must strive to make things better for our children. Success for our program cannot be measured by auditions or performances. To be very clear, our goal is not to send our students to great orchestras, our goal is to support our students on their way to realize any dream they can conceive. So if our kids decide they want to be in, compose for, or lead one of those high-level, traditional, european, common-practice period ensembles, you better not count them out. |