Music cannot be single purpose. The social element it offers is critical, but it's not the only one of importance or value.
March 12, 2012
...The part of the experience that has stayed with me the longest was the opportunity to engage with the music on a completely different level, to go beyond playing it to a place where I started to understand it, to appreciate its architecture and narrative experientially, even if I lacked the knowledge to deconstruct it theoretically. The difference was no more than frequency and repetition, but music had finally begun to mean something more to me.
March 10, 2012
I occupied my mandated daily half hour by playing through things as best I could, trying to play fewer wrong notes each time without any conscious strategy or method, in a pseudo-Bachian optimism that if I were to hit most of the right keys at roughly the right time, the device would in fact play itself.
February 28, 2012
It is admittedly very difficult to envision music education as a whole, let alone Sistema, being embraced in some extremely conservative fiscal and philosophical environments – but not impossible. But as England has demonstrated, being reasonable, realistic and respectful has paid dividends.
February 23, 2012
The United Kingdom (encompassing the separate regions and governments of Scotland, England, Wales and N. Ireland) has a long history with Sistema in terms of both núcleo development and presenting Venezuelan ensembles...and the situation in England proper is about to change dramatically!
February 16, 2012
Canadian núcleos are some of the oldest in North America; Canadian universities have hosted the first academic conferences related to el Sistema; a national foundation presented the Símon Bolívar Orchestra in its largest venue to date and formally honoured Maestro Abreu's achievements in 2008; and a Canadian youth orchestra has set the current gold standard internationally in advocating for and securing major government funding.
February 12, 2012
the Orkidstra program will step into the limelight between March 30 and April 1st, as they co-host the Símon Bolívar String Quartet of Venezuela with the Ottawa Chamber Music Society for a symposium and performances.
February 9, 2012
“Teaching is not something hierarchical. It’s a pleasure. We consider ourselves privileged to be a teacher, especially because in Venezuela we didn’t have the profession of music teacher in the past. There’s a sense of pride to achieve through your students.”
January 31, 2012
Statistically speaking, the expansion of music education programming has been accompanied by a significant rise in violent activity – a warning for all against offering simplistic comparisons.
January 23, 2012
There's a fundamental biological connection between external physicality and internal feeling, and what's more, the relationship isn't unidirectional. Further research into embodied cognition seems to indicate that thought or emotion motivates physiological response - to the extent of effecting even how we sit in a chair - as much as the inverse.
March 16, 2012
1