El Sistema, the transformational program that lifts kids out of poverty via music study, will launch in the US.
Three cheers and more.
Music education in the United States has been abysmally done, and for all the wrong reasons, for decades now. I lose count of the numbers of recitals I have endured where students were attempting to perform big pieces of literature, studying with teachers who hadn't taught them scales!
The kids are often cannon fodder in the brush-war rivalries between teachers (and some parents). Those few who do continue in university programs have to be disassembled and reassembled by the faculty, because they arrive so abysmally prepared. My college-teacher buddies sport thinning gray hair--what hasn't been torn out has been turned...
This is a true Green Shoot for the culture. Here's hoping it is embraced, and not suborned, by the US.
Showing posts with label El Sistema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label El Sistema. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Green Shoots Award Nominee--El Sistema
Surfing through the trash on Sunday afternoon TV, I tripped across Ovation TV's broadcast of the documentary El Sistema: Music for a Brighter Future. My bride and I are shed tears of joy watching the teaching, learning, and joy on the faces of the students as they learn. At about 1:40 into the two-hour documentary, the film shows a choir singing John Rutter's Candlelight Carol (translated to Spanish), with another choir of deaf children signing the piece with equal beauty. Utterly breathtaking, in a film filled with extraordinary moments.
The LA Philharmonic's hot new music director, Gustavo Dudamel, is a product of El Sistema. In watching the documentary, it becomes clear that he may be the most public face of the thirty-something year effort, but he is far from the most important accomplishment.
This must be seen to be appreciated. The DVD is scheduled for release this month. We'll be buying multiples for friends, students, and several un-named dolts we know in academia.
What if we could capture that joyful, hopeful, anything-is-possible spirit here? Again.
Moral values shape culture.
The culture shapes the economy.
The LA Philharmonic's hot new music director, Gustavo Dudamel, is a product of El Sistema. In watching the documentary, it becomes clear that he may be the most public face of the thirty-something year effort, but he is far from the most important accomplishment.
This must be seen to be appreciated. The DVD is scheduled for release this month. We'll be buying multiples for friends, students, and several un-named dolts we know in academia.
What if we could capture that joyful, hopeful, anything-is-possible spirit here? Again.
Moral values shape culture.
The culture shapes the economy.
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