As author of what has been labeled "the original blog" on Sistema, I reluctantly accept the responsibility of writing its obituary. Where to begin... Sistema was born in the 1970s as a conventional elitist youth orchestra, founded by a career civil servant with conducting ambitions... Or: Sistema was born in the late 1990s in Venezuela … Continue reading Sistema is dead – a post mortem
Jonathan Andrew Govias
The Problem Part 6: where in our search for solutions we pick on a theoretical middle school band instructor
The history of music education as a whole is essentially one of excellent outcomes for a chosen few being achieved through manifestly anti-social if not unethical means.
The Problem part 5: Molehill or Mountain?
To describe Sistema’s fall as inevitable is an abdication of responsibility: the failure of the movement must be viewed as an opportunity (perhaps the best in history) we were simply incapable of leveraging through our own pedagogical paralysis.
The Problem Part 4: the indoxination of musicians
Being nice, being friendly, being polite is so alien to group music making that apparently it looks like praxial innovation.
The Problem Part 3 – where we conflate “control” with “learning”
We shouldn't try to eliminate or control chaos, but instead focus or direct it in ways that are the most pedagogically productive.
The Problem Part 2 – where we explore Authoritarianism in music education, with the help of the Karate Kid.
At almost all stages of music and sport, some level of drudgery, of repetition, of building fundamentals, will be required. In music this is not an abuse of the conservatory system: the abuse is committed through the great parental and pedagogical cop-out “because I said so.”
Introducing “The Problem”
You would not believe the number of false starts on a blog entry that litter my hard drive. Or if you’re a writer, perhaps you would. Too many topics, not enough time, and the end consequence for me has been a kind of literary paralysis which, judging by the interval between this entry and the … Continue reading Introducing “The Problem”
It’s official, Sistema doesn’t work
There’s a study circulating which purports to show that El Sistema-style/inspired music interventions at three separate US-based programs had no discernable impact.
Sistema is Dead – and “THE RESPONSE”
There’s a certain charming simplicity and predictability to the remnants of the Sistema movement, vestigial though they may be. Publish a deliberately hyperbolic polemic on the demise of the word, and you can set your watch to THE RESPONSE.
What the pandemic has taught us about music and education
The fact that the pandemic hit during a school semester has provided what may be the largest natural socio-educational experiment of our time. And it's been uncomfortable.
Jonathan Andrew Govias 