Strings

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

Regions

Africa

Asia/Oceania

Europe

Latin America

North America

Topics

Teaching & Learning

Program Design

Student Voice & Leadership

Community Building

Collaborations

Funding & Support

Perspectives & Collective Action

News & Resources

El Sistema Returns to the United Nations to Pay Tribute to Maestro Abreu

05-17-2023

The National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela returned to Geneva this past April for a special performance at United Nations Headquarters, marking almost a decade since the visit of El Sistema founder Maestro José Antonio Abreu.

New Resource: The Posture Project

05-17-2023

What’s the backbone of healthy musical practice? As it turns out, our backbones; when our bodies feel at odds with our music–making, we risk injury, fatigue, and poor development.

Spotlight on Venezuela

04-18-2023

El Sistema programs, mark your calendars: the second Global Congress of El Sistema will be held at the Centro Nacional de Acción Social por la Música in Caracas, Venezuela on September 10–24, 2023.

New Tool for Music Educators: The Comprehensive String Pedagogy & Curriculum

05-19-2021

The new Comprehensive String Pedagogy & Curriculum (CSPC) has been written by Richard Young of the Vermeer Quartet as an in-depth tool for Sistema-inspired youth orchestra teachers, conductors, and administrators. A longtime admirer of José Antonio Abreu, Young has taught extensively throughout Latin America, Europe, and the U.S.

PBS NewsHour Spotlights Genre-Bending Group Black Violin

03-17-2021

PBS Newshour recently caught up with Black Violin to discuss the group’s ongoing mission to disrupt people’s impressions of what classical music should be.

A Musical and Communal Journey in Lesotho and South Africa

John Minnaar, teacher and conductor, Maseru Preparatory School

01-06-2021

The story of music education as a catalyst for social change in South Africa and Lesotho is long and complicated. The history of human struggle and social unrest in southern Africa is well documented, but it gave birth to a new era of growth and potential for its people. One might say that in the wake of South Africa’s newfound freedom from Apartheid, democracy opened many doors to Black South Africans. Within that greater context, I share my own musical journey as a snapshot of three decades of music, equity, and opportunity in South Africa and Lesotho.

YOLA National Festival Opens Auditions for the 2021 Season—deadline Mar. 1

01-05-2021

The YOLA National Festival has opened its audition portal for its July 2021 orchestral training program. Open to students from all Sistema-inspired programs; students ages 12–18 are encouraged to apply for one of the two ensembles, the Symphony Orchestra (ages 14–18) or the Chamber Orchestra (ages 12–14). The intensive experience is tentatively scheduled to take place in person in Southern California, but an official update on in-person vs. virtual programming options will be shared no later than April 1. Applications are due March 1 and recommendation letters are due March 8.

NJ Symphony Offers ‘Let’s Play’ Instructional Videos for Young Musicians

01-05-2021

The New Jersey Symphony has a set of useful instructional videos that offer “pro tips” for the young, budding musician. Share this with your teaching artists and students for extra practice fun during the holiday break!

Music as a Birthright in Elkhart County

Hillary Harder, Program Director, ECoSistema, Indiana

10-06-2020

In Elkhart County, Indiana, our goal is to provide all people with equitable access to quality music education from birth to young adulthood. We believe music is a birthright for every child in our community—that the extraordinary benefits of music education should be built into the fabric of every young person’s upbringing. It’s not a coincidence that the name of our program, ECoSistema (Elkhart County El Sistema), means “ecosystem” in Spanish: we believe that the El Sistema-inspired field can have the greatest impact when we take the overlapping systems already in place in our community and build music into them.

Child’s Play (India) Foundation enters the double digits!

Dr. Luis Dias, Founder and Director

11-06-2019

The Child’s Play (India) Foundation is an organization that seeks to instill positive values and provide social empowerment to India’s disadvantaged children, through the teaching of classical music at the highest possible standards. We are celebrating our 10th year of working with children in Goa, a state in western India.

Share

ABOUT US MASTHEAD THE AMBASSADORS THE ARCHIVES SUBSCRIBE CONTACT
© Copyright 2022 Ensemble News