El Sistema

 
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 an Empty Airport to Downtown Berlin, a Music Program Still Soars

Tricia Tunstall, Co-founder and Advisory Editor, The Ensemble

12-03-2025

In a white-walled, sunlit room with arched ceilings, an El Sistema-inspired youth orchestra plays Gustav Mahler’s well-known “Bruder Martin” (“Frère Jacques”) theme—the third movement of his Symphony No. 1—under the direction of teaching artist/conductor Leila Weber. The two double bass players are six feet tall, around sixteen years old; the youngest cellist might be seven, and this is the second time she’s held a cello. Embedded among the second violins is a guest teaching artist from an orchestra based 500 miles away.

An Upstate New York Community Connects through Myanmar’s Music

Andrew Borkowski, Director of Education, Buffalo String Works

12-03-2025

During the 2022-23 academic year, Buffalo String Works began asking the question: “How can we be more intentional about the music we’re asking our students to learn and perform?” Over the course of attempting to answer this question, the BSW Music Library Development Project was born—resulting in the commissioning and composition of a brand-new work for student string orchestra: “Aka” by Wai Hin Ko Ko.

El Sistema Oman Launching This Fall

09-03-2025

A new Sistema program is coming to Oman this fall.

New Guiding Pillars Amplify Our Collective Voice

Elizabeth Moulthrop, Executive Director, El Sistema USA

09-03-2025

Nearly two decades ago, a handful of United States programs that were inspired by El Sistema in Venezuela opened their doors. Since then, El Sistema USA® has become a network of more than 150 organizations—the largest such network in the world. Our members represent a diverse array of music programs from dozens of states, as well as international programs in adjacent countries from Canada to Haiti. Given the diversity and breadth of our network, it’s reasonable to ask: What is the common thread between these programs? And why does this collective work matter? Watching and helping this coalition grow and evolve, we have been able to isolate a few distinct qualities that unite us and affirm the power of our collective voice.

Teacher Learning through the Spark of Action Research

Francis Gagliardi, Program Director, Nucleo, London, England; member of first Firebird team at the Academy for Impact Through Music

09-03-2025

How can I contribute to making something that’s already great even better?

That was the question I asked myself when I took on the challenge of carrying out the first Academy for Impact Through Music (AIM) Chispa, in Caracas, Venezuela, in December 2024.

 

Can Young Children Learn to Identify Harmonic Progressions by Ear? Yes, They Can!

Dr. Eric Rasmussen, Chair, Early Childhood Music Department at Peabody Conservatory; educator, author, and researcher

09-03-2025

Unfortunately, many music teachers rely on a notation-first approach, teaching students to read music symbols before they have a strong foundation in listening, singing, and rhythmic chanting. Because we jumped the notation hurdle, often relying on math and puzzle-solving skills in addition to our propensity for learning music, we sometimes assume (incorrectly) that most children will have the same capacities.

The principles of MLT guided my teaching at OrchKids (the El Sistema-inspired program in Baltimore, MD, USA), and the results were extraordinary.

In Oregon, a More Neighborly Approach Brings Joy

Neal Spinler, Executive Director, BRAVO Youth Orchestras

09-03-2025

The majority of the population is in Portland, at the northern border, with most everybody else residing along the “I5 Corridor”—Interstate 5, a major north-south highway that runs from Portland to California. BRAVO serves a region at the very northern tip of Portland; JOY serves students in Yamhill County. North Portland is a diverse blue-collar area with shipyards, warehouses, and port terminals; Yamhill County is the heart of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley, a region known best for its fabulous wineries. But while the county boasts fancy vineyards and tasting rooms, it is also filled with farms and the hardworking farmhands and families.

Just 46 miles apart, our landscapes could not be more different. And yet the work we do could not be more aligned.

EDITORIAL
Rehearsing Community for a Better Tomorrow

Gabrielle Molina, Executive Director, Project Music; Lead Program Consultant, El Sistema USA

07-09-2025

As Executive Director Liz Moulthrop remarked during El Sistema USA’s East Coast Regional Gathering, “Community is our power.” Yet too often programs operate in isolation, brilliant islands of musical striving that rarely connect with the broader archipelago of creative youth development work happening across the world. This siloing, while understandable given resource constraints and logistical challenges, represents a missed opportunity to address our urgent need for unity.

In fact, we must double down on gathering. The practice of community.

In Chicago, One Piece of Music Brings a City Together

Christine Taylor Conda, Executive Director of Education & Community Engagement, Ravinia Festival

06-04-2025

During the two magical years I spent in Jamaica as a child, my aunt would visit our house every Thursday evening after work. I remember our family spending dinnertime on orange pleather cushions, listening to broadcaster Leonie Forbes recite poetry on the radio as classical music played in the background. That dinner table is where I first fell in love with Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, and my family still talks about those Thursday nights we spent together.

Now, as Ravinia searches for inventive ways to reinvigorate interest in great musical works, those Thursday evenings come to mind.

Now, as Ravinia searches for inventive ways to reinvigorate interest in great musical works, those Thursday evenings come to mind.

The Arts of Dream Begin with Children’s Dreams

Kim Kibun, actor and arts educator

06-04-2025

In both Korean and English, the word dream carries layered meanings. It can refer, first, to the images and sensations we experience during sleep; second, to the hopes and ideals we wish to realize; and third, to a fleeting illusion or unrealistic fantasy.

When I was designing the framework for the Theater of Dreams last year, I leaned into the second meaning—the kind of dream filled with high ideals.

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