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More than Music: Why Brass for Africa believes music teaches more than learning an instrument

Margaux Maxwell, Communications Intern, and Brass for Africa staff

04-30-2019

“Problem!” says Brass for Africa teacher Micheal Nyombi to a crowd of eager girls in Kampala, Uganda at the Retrak Bulamu Centre (a subsection of Retrak, a registered charity that focuses on rehabilitating girls living on the street).

Acción Social por la Música

Nathaly Ossa Alzate, Coordinadora Área Orquestal, Acción Social por la Música

04-30-2019

Acción Social por la Música was founded in Madrid, Spain in 2013.  Our dream was to put music in the service of our most vulnerable people—following in the footsteps of Maestro José Antonio Abreu, whose conviction was that “music transforms adversity into hope.”  This dream began two years earlier when María Guerrero, our founder, discovered the documentary film “Dudamel: El sonido de los niños.”

The 5th El Sistema Children’s Music Festival in Soma City

Sara Watanabe, Soma Program Coordinator

04-30-2019

For the fifth year in a row, El Sistema Japan held its annual event, the Children’s Music Festival, in the Japanese city of Soma (in the Fukushima prefecture), where the Sistema-inspired Soma program for orchestra and chorus started seven years ago.  The celebration took place on March 23 and 24 at Soma Civic Concert Hall.

Preserving Traditional Venezuelan Music

04-13-2019

For many years, El Sistema in Venezuela has placed an emphasis on studying, teaching, and playing the rich folk musics of the country.  Now a new article in Smithsonian Magazine highlights those folk traditions and describes the importance of preserving them.  The article, “Venezuelan Music: A Light in the Darkness,” is by Patricia Abdelnour, who was Deputy Director of Internal Relations for Venezuela’s Fundacion Musical Simon Bolivar, and more recently, Executive Director for Acción Social por la Música, an El Sistema program in Spain.

The Ambassadors’ Exchange, April 2019

03-31-2019

Zohra and Dream Orchestras met two days before the concert to rehearse, eat, and laugh together. The young musicians had many experiences to share. One just came from his homeland, while another escaped four years ago. One took an instrument instead of a weapon to fight for what she loves, while another chose to migrate.

The Orchestra of Dream, El Sistema Korea

The Children and Youth Education Team at Korea Arts & Culture Education Service

03-31-2019

In 2011, three orchestras were formed by government support through the Orchestra of Dream project. The students in the orchestras had almost no musical experience. However, with the commitment and dedication of the teaching artists and music directors, the students learned to love and enjoy music. The beginning of the Orchestra of Dream project was small, but now it has grown to serve more than 2,700 youths across South Korea.

In-Depth Research Study of Portugal’s Orquestra Geração

Graça Mota and João Teixeira Lopes

03-31-2019

This study emerges within the framework of continuing the work undertaken by CIPEM (Research Centre in Psychology of Music and Music Education), in particular its interest in the relationship between music education and music in the community.

Creating Musical Communities in Romania

Elana Andrews, Coordinator/Choir Director, Superar Romania

03-31-2019

This month, 150 children in the community of Zizin, near Brasov in Romania, are celebrating six years of choral singing. Since April 2013, when I held the first rehearsal as part of Superar Romania, the choir program, involving mostly Roma children, has grown to become a stable and sought after part of village life. The program promotes the integration of marginalized people in the larger community, using music to develop the social skills necessary for the children to positively represent their village, which assists in contradicting stereotypes and prejudices.

Social Change from Within: Learning Human Values Through Music

Thomas Madeja, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project

03-30-2019

Social change, the primary objective of most El Sistema programs, is usually thought of as an external challenge. Addressing such challenges as poverty, violence, racism, inequitably funded schools, language barriers, and other familiar obstacles to success often involves outside foundations bringing in programs to the communities of need. This work is critical and important, and needs to continue and grow. However, because true change also must come from within a community, looking within ourselves to more reflective practices can help provide context, clarity, and purpose.

The Ambassadors’ Exchange, March 2019

03-01-2019

On 9 February, the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY), led by their conductor Joshua Dos Santos, performed a pre-Valentine’s Day concert titled “Musika at Misyon” (Music and Mission) at the Sun Life Amphitheater in the BGC Arts Center in Taguig, Metro Manila. They played an eclectic mix of pieces, from classical works such as Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 8 and Wagner’s Rienzi Overture, to fun pieces such as the “Mission Impossible” theme and “Mambos” by Toussaint and Perez Prado, as well as classic Filipino favorites. What made this concert special was that for a few pieces, the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth and the Ang Misyon Children’s Orchestra performed as one ensemble for the first time.

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