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“With this instrument you are going to change the world.”
Jose Abreu was talking to 11 children who had gathered in a Caracas, Venezuela parking garage to learn classical music in 1975.
This is the story behind the love.
This year those children number 300,000 and 70% of them are below the poverty line—the poverty line in Venezuela.
What comes to mind when we think about Venezuela? Is it an “insane” dictator? Drugs? Violence? Crime? Corruption? Futbol?
Or do we think of a system of teaching music that IS changing the world?
El Sistema is Jose Abreu’s living legacy. The system is intense. One of the first symphonies the children’s orchestras learn is Tchaikovsky’s Fourth. These aren’t youth orchestras which traditionally go up to age 25. These are children’s orchestras.
In San Diego, school children can opt into the school music program in fourth grade. A child in Venezuela will have already been playing in an orchestra for four to five years by fourth grade.
The Simon Bolivar Orchestra was the top youth orchestra in Venezuela. However, the players wanted to stay together and since some are almost 30, they dropped the youth orchestra designation. This group of players has been together with their conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, for almost 15 years.
This might explain the love they have for each other. They’ve been through the process of growing up together in music. They’ve gone from a ragtag group of children to arguably one of the top five orchestras in the world.
Dudamel considers himself to be a member of the orchestra. He plays hacky sack with them. He rides the bus with them. He is part of the extended family of musicians that Jose Abreu has raised in The System.
Dudamel may conduct the world’s great orchestras and command enormous appearance fees but it is clear that he doesn’t consider himself to be better than any of the 300,000 children in The System.
“This is the future the world needs, thousands of children making music, thousands of children enjoying playing an instrument or singing. If it’s possible in Venezuela, why not the rest of the world?” –Gustavo Dudamel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0feZhbY-5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iEnIhvjm3k&list=FLSs8QLxTmspcJJMgJig4wFw&feature=mh_lolz
“With this instrument you are going to change the world.”
Jose Abreu was talking to 11 children who had gathered in a Caracas, Venezuela parking garage to learn classical music in 1975.
This is the story behind the love.
This year those children number 300,000 and 70% of them are below the poverty line—the poverty line in Venezuela.
What comes to mind when we think about Venezuela? Is it an “insane” dictator? Drugs? Violence? Crime? Corruption? Futbol?
Or do we think of a system of teaching music that IS changing the world?
El Sistema is Jose Abreu’s living legacy. The system is intense. One of the first symphonies the children’s orchestras learn is Tchaikovsky’s Fourth. These aren’t youth orchestras which traditionally go up to age 25. These are children’s orchestras.
In San Diego, school children can opt into the school music program in fourth grade. A child in Venezuela will have already been playing in an orchestra for four to five years by fourth grade.
The Simon Bolivar Orchestra was the top youth orchestra in Venezuela. However, the players wanted to stay together and since some are almost 30, they dropped the youth orchestra designation. This group of players has been together with their conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, for almost 15 years.
This might explain the love they have for each other. They’ve been through the process of growing up together in music. They’ve gone from a ragtag group of children to arguably one of the top five orchestras in the world.
Dudamel considers himself to be a member of the orchestra. He plays hacky sack with them. He rides the bus with them. He is part of the extended family of musicians that Jose Abreu has raised in The System.
Dudamel may conduct the world’s great orchestras and command enormous appearance fees but it is clear that he doesn’t consider himself to be better than any of the 300,000 children in The System.
“This is the future the world needs, thousands of children making music, thousands of children enjoying playing an instrument or singing. If it’s possible in Venezuela, why not the rest of the world?” –Gustavo Dudamel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0feZhbY-5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iEnIhvjm3k&list=FLSs8QLxTmspcJJMgJig4wFw&feature=mh_lolz