Expecting a large ensemble to improvise as successfully as a jazz quintet is ludicrous.
In Search of the Perfect Society
The Price Tag of Independence
If you don't like the politicization of El Sistema in Venezuela, there is something you can do about it.
No apologies for the orchestra
Is the orchestra the best medium for social action through music?
On the S.S. (Symphonic Ship) Titanic
Can Sistema save the Symphony?
On your Márquez…
And now for something completely different: a little ray of Mexican sunshine to warm your January
Revenge of the Domestic Dispute Part 3 – in which all questions are answered and all issues forever resolved.
Music cannot be single purpose. The social element it offers is critical, but it's not the only one of importance or value.
El Sistema in the UK – Directory and History
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!
El Sistema in Canada – 2012 Update
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.
Music and Murder
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.
Poison and Pedagogy – revisiting the purpose of movement in music education
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.
Jonathan Andrew Govias 