Student Voice & Leadership

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

Young Performing Artists Gather in the South Korean Mountains

10-02-2024

In August 2024, the Festival of Dreams brought together young artists from across South Korea to a camp held in the mountains of Pyeongchang province. The camp brought together members of the Youth Orchestra of Dreams and the Youth Dance Team of Dreams for the first time, and they united to form the Arts Group of Dreams. The three-day camp culminated in a joint performance that showcased their collective talents.

Learning Leadership at The Lewis Prize for Music
A Conversation with Nadia Johnson and Raiyasha Paris

10-02-2024

The Lewis Prize for Music (TLPM) has supported our field over the past five years by granting significant awards to programs across the U.S. In addition, TLPM sometimes brings students from the programs they support into the organization’s leadership development projects.

TLPM recently brought two of these young leaders into conversation about the impact these professional experiences have had on their learning and their lives.

EDITORIAL
Universal Design for Learning: A Natural Fit for El Sistema-inspired Programs

10-02-2024

Imagine that you are walking up a staircase that leads to a school entrance, and you notice a sign that says, “ramp located at the back door.” Okay, so the sign and the ramp make the building technically accessible—but a person who can’t use stairs has to go all the way to the back of the building, locate the ramp, and hope that the door is open.

What if, instead of a staircase in front and a separate ramp in back, the architect had created a walkway that incorporates stairs and ramps all in one place?

This is the foundational metaphor of Universal Design for Learning, or UDL.

Side by Side by El Sistema Sweden, for a Joyful Decade

09-04-2024

Every year, a joyous gathering of over 2,000 children and hundreds of teachers and chaperones transforms the sunny city of Gothenburg in mid-June into a grand musical jubilee: it’s the Gothenburg Symphony’s youth orchestra festival, Side by Side.

Free Student Membership with the League of American Orchestras

09-04-2024

The League of American Orchestras is currently offering free membership to U.S. high school and university students, as well as alumni who graduated within the last two years.

National Seminario Ravinia: Orchestras For All

09-04-2024

On the evening of July 10, the Ravinia Festival’s historic Pavilion stage glowed with the combined talents of the 130 students of National Seminario Ravinia. It was the final night of the 2024 Seminario, just in its second year. Students aged 11–18 from 43 El Sistema-inspired organizations around the world—including those from 17 U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, Greece, and Sweden—had gathered for four days of intensive orchestral training and mentorship from members of the Seminario Orchestra Partner, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F). For many of the students, it was their first time having such an experience. 

International ‘Chords of Harmony’ Resound in Barcelona

07-10-2024

“Throughout the entire concert, the young musicians were free to laugh. And so was the audience…Music was being felt and lived in another sphere.”

Isn’t this a description of how we would all love our students to experience music, at some point in their learning journey?

Twenty-Five Years of Music for Peacebuilding: Musicians Without Borders

07-10-2024

Musicians Without Borders started in the Netherlands in 1999, when a choir and small orchestra led by musician and activist Laura Hassler performed a war memorial concert during the Kosovo War. Their repertoire: folk songs from the Balkans, spanning different languages and ethnicities. The choice of music was a poignant one; the Yugoslav wars had consumed much of the Balkan region, while the rest of Europe helplessly watched daily news images of mass killings, bombed-out villages, and refugees.

Sistema Toronto Students Release Hip-Hop Track ‘Earth’

07-10-2024

A recent project by Sistema Toronto offers an impressive example of how young people are committing to environmental stewardship.

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