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Colourstrings and Sistema

Mariesther Alvarez & Marielisa Alvarez, co-directors, Boston String Academy

09-01-2017

In June we traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to work on our teacher certification in the Colourstrings method. Colourstrings is a method based in Kodaly philosophy that was founded by the Hungarian brothers Géza and Csaba Szilvay in 1972, just three years before Maestro Abreu founded El Sistema in Venezuela. The method uses colors for each string, and also picture symbols. It focuses on both the individual and the ensemble, offering individual and group lessons, orchestra, choir, theory, and kinder-music. Students receive music learning every weekday, and advance gradually through a series of skill levels, insuring their healthy development.

Framing “Classical” Music in Racial Equity Contexts

Alexander Laing, Principal Clarinet, The Phoenix Symphony

09-01-2017

Calling orchestral or so-called classical music “white music” isn’t a framing that fits comfortably around many folks’ practice. This is particularly true for ALAANA (African, Latino/a, Asian, Arab, Native American) practitioners or those who teach ALAANA students. I get that on a personal level.

Being a Servant and an Artist

Kiana Maria Gonzalez, bassist, Take A Stand Festival Orchestra and El Sistema Lehigh Valley

08-01-2017

The National Take a Stand Festival has ended, and 101 students are returning home to over 25 states, each with an intimate and personal experience. Here is the experience of just one of those 101.

National Take a Stand Festival & Symposium

Stephanie Lin Hsu, Founding Director, Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA)

08-01-2017

I remember that the first Take a Stand Symposium in 2012 was shaped by questions such as “How should we go about starting an El Sistema program?” and “What outcomes should we evaluate, and how?” This year’s symposium, which included YOLA students as participants, was framed by very different questions, signaling our relative maturity as a field.

FROM THE EDITOR

Tricia Tunstall

08-01-2017

On Saturday night, July 22, there were 101 young musicians on the stage of the Walt Disney Concert Hall: the first-ever national Sistema orchestra of the United States.

One hundred and one – there is something intensely human about that number. It suggests that the organizers set out to recruit a hundred student musicians – but then there was that one more vivid, luminous youngster they couldn’t leave out.

Batuta and Berklee Join Forces

07-01-2017

Take A Stand Consortium in L.A.

07-01-2017

Creative Youth Development – Join the Movement

07-01-2017

Video Tips for Students from Carnegie Hall!

07-01-2017

Helping Teenage Students

Laura Jekel, Founder, and Eddy Kwon, Director, of MyCincinnati

07-01-2017

The Youth Apprentice Program grew directly out of a need expressed by high school-aged students at MYCincinnati, an El Sistema-inspired program now entering its seventh year. They wanted to continue playing music at MYCincinnati, but they felt pressure to gain meaningful work experience, support their families, and begin a path toward financial independence. This new program provides meaningful employment, job training, and work experience for current MYCincinnati students.

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