El Sistema Japan

 
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“Music For Every Child”: A New Initiative in Toyonaka, Japan

Yutaka Kikugawa, Founder/Director, El Sistema Japan

09-07-2022

In the Shonai district, an inner-city commercial area in the southern part of the city, population is half what it was in 1970; as families with small children moved out of the area, the number of children has decreased. A survey conducted by the Toyonaka City Council (TCC) showed that only about 40 percent of the younger generation (ages 18–39) in the Shonai area say they want to keep living in their community, while among all city residents in general, that number is 60 percent.

‘Controlled Chaos’: In Soma, New Techniques Produce Stronger Rehearsals

Sara Watanabe, Soma Program Coordinator

02-02-2022

When children do this for the first time, they often begin with uncertainty. But they quickly realize that they are hearing the music in a different way. They also come to understand that each of them has an important role to play in taking responsibility and shaping the music.

Treasures within a UNESCO Report

Yutaka Kikugawa, Founder and Executive Director, El Sistema Japan

06-02-2021

I earned my M.A. degree in educational policy studies from the Institute of Education, University of London (now University College London) a quarter-century ago. In the same year, a seminal report called Learning: The Treasure Within (the Delors Report) was published by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), where I started my United Nations career two years later. This is one of many texts that have made a huge impact on my life; it is always a source of inspiration when it comes to education and learning. Although the Report has been influential among educators, I’ve come to recognize that it is not well known in the sphere of music education, let alone the art and music world in general.

World Children’s Music Festival 2021 in Tokyo: Let’s Play, Sing, and Strive

04-07-2021

Back in 2018, the Friends of El Sistema Japan organization made a plan to host a “World Children’s Music Festival” in Tokyo in April 2020. Of course, the pandemic made this plan impossible. But the organization was determined to make it happen in 2021.

World Children’s Music Festival 2020 in Tokyo

Yuriko Yagisawa, Project Coordinator, El Sistema Japan

02-05-2020

Tokyo is now in high-energy mode, with the countdown to the Summer 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games currently underway. This coming April, we at El Sistema Japan are anticipating another exciting event, the World Children’s Music Festival 2020 in Tokyo.

Athens to Texas: “We’re With You”

Tricia Tunstall, Co-Founder and Executive Editor, The World Ensemble

01-08-2020

Over the past few months, some El Sistema activists in the United States have been mobilizing resources to launch an El Sistema program this month for immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas, who are living in the acute stress of the border crisis. Raising money for this has been a challenge; a music industry charity, the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Foundation, recently came through with sufficient support, with help from the Leonard Bernstein Foundation, but many funders with deep pockets don’t understand how ensemble music learning can alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

Japan’s El Sistema Festival 2018 Welcomes Venezuelan Musicians

01-01-2019

El Sistema Japan welcomed the musicians of the Ensemble Lara Somos, from Venezuela, at Japan’s El Sistema Festival 2018 last month.  Ensemble Lara Somos gave a number of presentations, and were joined by Japanese Sistema students in a gala concert conducted by Enluis Montes Olivar at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater on 1 December.

El Sistema Japan Plans World Sistema Festival in 2020

12-31-2018

Some exciting news from El Sistema Japan: they are planning a music festival in April 2020 as a pre-event for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020 in Tokyo. They will bring together over 200 children from the worldwide El Sistema family, bridging differences in nationality, religion and ability.  The festival represents a celebration of social inclusion—an element essential to open the door for lasting peace. “This is a great opportunity to contribute to world peace by sharing the power of music,” says Yutaka Kikugawa, the founder and executive director of Friends of El Sistema Japan.

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