The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.

Editorial

EDITORIAL
The Sound of the World

Anis Barnat, Co-founder, El Sistema Greece; Managing Director, Community Arts Network (CAN)

National and international youth orchestra and choir festivals instill a collaborative mindset in their participants and provide all attendees with powerful, lasting memories. But they are time-consuming to organize, requiring logistical know-how and well-considered, family-flexible safeguarding policies for the children and young people. It’s not only tiring; it’s expensive. And program leaders know firsthand that students progress with or without these national or international festivals. So why bother? What do they offer to young people that their own programs can’t provide?

My answer, in a word: perspective.

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL
Methods Change, but Community Drives Our Field Forward

Christine Taylor Conda, Director, REACH*TEACH*PLAY Education Programs at Ravinia Festival

If music is the universal language that brings people together, one would assume that this truth would hold for music education as well. But often, unfortunately, our field can pull people apart into seemingly oppositional camps. Over the course of my career as an arts education leader, I have witnessed many of these schisms, as well as their resolutions. I’d like to share three such dichotomies here.

What is music education for?

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