Our prejudices manifest in how we engage with children based on their race and gender, but also on their attractiveness, their weight, how extroverted they may be, and how talented they are perceived to be
Race to the Top – part 2
Race to the top
A look at issues of ethnicity within Sistema, inside and outside of Venezuela
Making the Grade – an Epilogue
There's the confidence that deceives, and the confidence that supports, and a fine line between.
Making the grade
How we choose to be evaluated may reveal as much, if not more, than any test ever could.
The Emperor’s Social Clothes
Having professed one set of values just by teaching music, is it necessary or even appropriate to verbalize others?
Drink up! Reflections and video from Ottawa.
the nature of advocacy: not changing what people say, but what people do. The image of the bureaucrat gleefully snatching violins out of the hands of infants is a myth. Treating public officials, or those who just don't get it, with scorn and derision invites a similar degree of disrespect and disregard in return
The Domestic Dispute Strikes Back – Part 2, Jonathan vs. the Horn
...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.
Putting the pieces in place – how Sistema earned a foothold in England
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.
“Five Fundamentals of El Sistema” now available online and in print – en francais aussi!
I'm very happy to say that my formal article on The Five Fundamentals of El Sistema is now available in print in the current edition of Canadian Music Educator (53-1), the official publication of the Canadian Music Educators' Association. The editor, Ben Bolden of Queen's University, has very graciously allowed the Québec Music Educators' … Continue reading “Five Fundamentals of El Sistema” now available online and in print – en francais aussi!
Jonathan Andrew Govias 