Opinion

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

Tricia Tunstall

12-01-2018

I’ve been thinking lately about the problematic nature of the relationship between Sistema and pop music. I don’t mean the genre issue. I am a fan of many current pop artists and much pop music. And I think it’s absolutely essential that Sistema programs embrace ensemble arrangements of the pop music that is meaningful to our kids. So this is not about “classical” versus “pop.” Rather, it’s about the collaborative ethos at the heart of Sistema versus the cult of individual celebrity that dominates pop culture.

Working with Urban Youth

Adam Eccleston, Program Director, BRAVO Youth Orchestras in Portland, OR

09-01-2018

As a teacher, musician and administrator in an El Sistema-inspired program, I ask myself four principal questions every September. First, Who are our students? In my community, they are generally black and Hispanic, from low-income and/or single-parent households or dual language households. In choosing how to shape ensembles and repertoire, I rely heavily on my students’ backgrounds; I often make choices that help them learn from one another about their different languages, holidays, and cultures.

Around the Sistema World with Hannah, Part Four: Kenya

Hannah Whitehouse, Northwestern University

08-14-2018

My second trip to Kenya was definitely one for the books: packed with dozens of class visits, several hundred students, and two of the most inspiring organizations that East Africa has to offer. Over the course of three weeks, I had the opportunity to work with two different Sistema-inspired organizations. The first half of my trip was spent with El Sistema Kenya.

A Social Skills Curriculum

Christie Gray, Executive Director, Sistema Toronto

08-01-2018

Sistema Toronto is in its second year of a three-year project dedicated to building a detailed and integrated curriculum focused on musical and social learning outcomes for its 250 students, aged 6-12. The music curricula components include music and moment, strings, choir, and percussion. We are also creating an integrated social curriculum, developed by a team of our teachers and rooted in experiential learning pedagogy, that is intended to be woven into teaching and learning outcomes for all music classes.

Music Therapy & Sistema

Virginia Eulacio Cierniak, Director of Education and Creative Arts Therapies, Union City Music Project

07-01-2018

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Around the Sistema World with Hannah

Hannah Whitehouse

06-27-2018

I was fifteen years old. It was the summer of 2012. My dad and I were making the sixteen hour drive up to Interlochen Arts Camp, and I was surfing the web on my iPhone. I began browsing TED talks, when one caught my eye: “The El Sistema music revolution”. For the next seventeen minutes, I sat in awe listening to José Antonio Abreu discuss his founding of a program that changed lives through music. As Maestro Abreu explained the program of social rescue, its structure, and the cultural impact that it has on the people of Venezuela, I grew more and more captivated by the model.

From the Editor

Tricia Tunstall

06-01-2018

A recent article in the academic journal JAMA Pediatrics, on the subject of teaching students self-regulation, bears the subtitle “A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” – a phrase so densely academic that I almost stopped reading right there. But I’m glad I didn’t. There’s some important good news here for Sistema programs.

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

Eric Booth, Publisher of The World Ensemble

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.

Get Comfortable……Being Uncomfortable

Calida N. Jones, Co-Founder & Artistic Director, Bravo Waterbury!

02-01-2018

What a great opportunity it was to be together with over 100 leaders, teachers, students, and curious individuals this past weekend at the El Sistema USA first-ever symposium. You could feel the excitement, energy, and buzz around Duke University as we took over the Nelson Music Room with live performances, slideshows, and plenary presentations. I believe some of our plenaries really gave space for people to think, reflect, and then hopefully plan a course of action.

From the Editor

Tricia Tunstall

11-01-2017

Our issue this month features collaborative initiatives between programs that are Sistema-inspired or similarly oriented. The U.S. Sistema ecosystem is beginning to see more such collaborations, of varying degrees of formality and longevity. Often, the first impulse toward collaboration comes easily; it’s later that questions can arise. How are decisions made? Do programs need to agree on everything? How much can they diverge and still be part of the joint enterprise?

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