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.
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.
We shouldn't try to eliminate or control chaos, but instead focus or direct it in ways that are the most pedagogically productive.
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.”
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.
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.
I’ve stopped counting how many Sistema programs I’ve visited. There have been many, many, many, but I don’t see much point in attempting to enumerate them. I've found that passing visits rarely if ever offer enough information to draw any real conclusions about what happens between the walls, if not for reasons of time constraints, … Continue reading Knowing what counts
It’s likely that, were it not for some controversy, the most recent Miss USA spectacle would have passed largely unnoticed, as befits an outdated and sexist institution that ironically claims to be progressive and feminist (because seeing a woman in a swimsuit is apparently an essential way to gauge her intellectual capacities). But the competition … Continue reading When beauty pageants, human rights, and music collide
From Mark Swed’s hogshead overflowing with champagne to Gabriela Montero’s dry shot glass, there’s been plenty of disagreement over both the size of the vessel and the extent to which it was filled by YOLA’s appearance in the Super Bowl
An investigation into "Social Action through Music" produces some unexpected - and oftentimes uncomfortable - results.
Jonathan Andrew Govias 