Teaching & Learning

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

A New Sistema-Inspired Program in the Pacific Islands

05-29-2018

Ensemble Nambanga, a new El Sistema-inspired ensemble of young string students, is taking shape in Port Vila, the capital city of the Pacific island nation Vanuatu.  The name Nambanga refers to the banyan tree. Banyans are deep-rooted, strong trees that grow to enormous proportions and have deep spiritual meaning for the Vanuatu people.

FEATURE: The Americas Take On Collaborative Composition: A Right Answer to the Hard Questions

05-24-2018

It’s even more important than I thought.  The Ensemble and The World Ensemble have published positive pieces in the past about the Collaborative Composition (CC) work that Dan Trahey leads with other teaching artists in support, but this was the first time I witnessed most of the full process.  It is educationally and artistically powerful, and bursting with potential for the El Sistema-inspired movement.

Sounds of Palestine Continues to Thrive

12-10-2017

Sounds of Palestine’s annual Music Summer School started on the 30th of July and lasted three weeks, with more than one hundred children participating. The School provided students with music lessons, orchestra, choir, music theory lessons, art workshops, and swimming, as well as healthy home cooked meals and fruit daily.

Very Young Composers, Around the World

10-20-2017

Can the core musical endeavors of El Sistema be enhanced by introducing the art of music composition?  At the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers (VYC), we believe the answer is yes.  We feel that all music education is furthered by empowering students to be creative to the point of composing for ensembles, bands and the orchestra itself.  There are, of course, many ways of introducing children to their innate creativity, and enabling them to hear their musical thoughts performed by themselves, their peers, even by professional musicians. The VYC, a program founded in 1995, has been working closely with El Sistema for seven years, primarily in Caracas, VZ.  We have also worked with children in countries around the world.

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