The Power of Music Unit 1: Introduction to El Sistema Transcript

The Power of Music Unit 1: Introduction to El Sistema Transcript VOICEOVER: The music education movement El Sistema has been transforming the lives of disadvantaged children in Venezuela for more than forty years. Now programs are growing across the US with the same goal to foster musical excellence and citizenship. At a New York City seminario, beginners play with musicians from Venezuela s Simón Bolívar Orchestra. In Union City, New Jersey, parents help their children build paper violins to use before playing real instruments. And preschoolers begin to build skills in an ensemble, learning the importance of community. DIMENNA CENTER FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC, NEW YORK, NY NYC SEMINARIO PRESENTED BY CARNEGIE HALL S WEILL MUSIC INSTITUTE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE S KATY CLARK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE S: What s happening today is that there s a gathering of all the programs, the El Sistema-inspired programs in New York City, and a few from New Jersey and from Baltimore. And they re known as núcleos, and they re coming together for the first time in New York City. JENNIFER KESSLER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION, ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE S: This is the first seminario of New York City ever. Today we are going to be working with thirteen members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Can you guys just raise your hands and show yourselves? They ve been playing at Carnegie Hall this week. And today, they are going to be working with all of you. VICTOR VILLARROEL, PERCUSSIONIST, SIMÓN BOLÍVAR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: It s a great pleasure to be here. I m a part of the percussion section of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. And I start to play music when I was a very, very young kid. At that moment, I didn t realize what the music going to do with my life. Now I m here, in New York, talking to all of you, my friends. And I really know how music could change your life. OLLANTAY VELÁSQUEZ, VIOLINIST, SIMÓN BOLÍVAR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: One, two, three, and [STUDENTS playing Ode to Joy ] OLLANTAY VELÁSQUEZ: Together. Listen listen! 1

KATY CLARK: The El Sistema movement is a movement of music for social change. But this is music for social change in whole new dimensions. [STUDENTS rehearsing in Venezuela] OLLANTAY VELÁSQUEZ (in Spanish, with English subtitles): The national system of youth and children s orchestras of Venezuela is an organization that was created under the leadership of maestro José Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan from Trujillo. It has been thirty-eight years since he created this foundation, or this organization. Today in Venezuela there are more than five hundred orchestras throughout the entire country with more than one million young people. And the idea of all this is to strengthen and improve the quality of life of each of these kids through music, through music education. LEON BOTSTEIN, PRESIDENT, BARD COLLEGE; MUSIC DIRECTOR, AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: José Antonio Abreu, who was trained as a musician and entered the Venezuelan government with an interest in economics and social reform, discovered that if you could get young people in very poor areas to play music and to learn how to work with one another and have the pride of performing for their communities and developing a sense of solidarity and common purpose, that it was transformative for the way the children, particularly, looked upon their own lives and futures. And so he developed a way of spreading music education very quickly through concentrating on ensembles, on older students teaching younger students, on giving from the start the sense of being part of a larger enterprise, of connecting what was done in music with the community, by performing constantly. It was funded and remains funded largely through the government as a social program, not as an arts program. And that is very fundamental because El Sistema is a recognition that its final purpose is the building of a society and citizens. CONDUCTOR: One, two, ready and [STUDENTS playing Ode to Joy ] LEON BOTSTEIN: What we need to do is to imitate them by adapting it to our own circumstances. There really is no system. What there is is a point of view and a set of principles which is radically different from many other traditions of music education. First, that learning music is not a solitary activity. Second, that from the very beginning, the child can t be asked to delay all gratification for being part of a public experience by waiting ten years or one year to give a recital and play five seconds of music for the pleasure of the parents. So from the very beginning, the child has to be in the public arena. The other thing is that it is not only teaching by a teacher, but also teaching by older generations. So it s wonderful to see little kids 2

and middle-aged kids and teenagers and young adults all playing together very often. The other part about it is to make music education part of the community, part of the public life of the community and to aspire to a very high level of excellence that is obviously only possible in group music-making. OLLANTAY VELÁSQUEZ (conducting): We have to concentrate all the thoughts. But in only one orchestra, okay? We have a hundred children, but we are one, okay? Really one. So concentrate the rhythm, concentrate the sound, concentrate everything here. ERIK HOLMGREN, FORMER DIRECTOR, SISTEMA FELLOWS PROGRAM, NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY: A seminario is a snapshot of what El Sistema-inspired work is all about. It s about children who belong to communities and contribute to those communities coming together to form a bigger musical community. It s about intensive rehearsals, all day long, leading up to a performance. VICTOR VILLARROEL: All of us have to play together, one sound. You understand? NYC SEMINARIO PERCUSSION SECTIONAL So, count with me. Play very loud with your feet. And now, say with me, One, two, three, four. STUDENTS: One, two, three, four. VICTOR VILLAROEL: One, two, three, four. STUDENTS: One, two, three, four. ERIK HOLMGREN: When children as young as five and six have only been playing for a year or two years and they have the opportunity to see professional musicians giving them attention and teaching them, it gives them a role model, and it s a way for them to understand that they can become that person. And they have an opportunity to become something as a musician, as a teacher, as a performer. [STUDENTS singing and playing instruments] SAMUEL MARCHÁN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, UNION CITY MUSIC PROJECT: One of the great things that Dr. Abreu said, that they asked him that question, How we can make El Sistema work here in the States? And he said very simply, You just connect the dots. So use the infrastructure that is here and make it work. The seminario was very experimental because our núcleos around New 3

York are very young. In our case, we didn t have instruments. We just graduated our kids from the paper orchestra. So we said, Well, what we can do? We can sing. And then, they were so excited and it was awesome when they got together with the other kids, and singing was an important component of that seminario. KAREN ZORN, PRESIDENT, LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE: One of the incredible advantages of the approach that El Sistema takes with the ensemble is the variety of levels that are playing in one ensemble. So the beginner can find herself in the ensemble right away. A week into having picked up her instrument, she s playing in an ensemble. But it s not an ensemble of all beginners. It s an ensemble of musicians at a variety of levels. And the idea is that everyone in the ensemble is a mentor. As soon as you ve learned something and you ve mastered it, you are expected to actually pass on those skills and that ability to someone who s striving and working on that skill. CONDUCTOR: The next piece is about what we have done today, and the beginning, as some of my colleagues have said, of a long journey that unites us through music. [CONDUCTOR leading orchestra playing Ode to Joy ] MICHAEL BLAKESLEE, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/COO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION: We know that a good music education program can bring to kids the ability to experience creating, performing, and responding as called for in the national standards. We also know that a good music program can help kids grow in many of the ways that are identified as twenty-first century skills collaboration, critical thinking, creativity. All of these can be delivered by music programs. But beyond these core ideas El Sistema brings the idea that the community is what we re building through music. We re building fine musicians, but by doing that, we re building fine human beings. [STUDENTS performing Ode to Joy ] OLLANTAY VELASQUEZ (in Spanish with English subtitles): The capacity to take on things, the commitment to study and to work that, I believe, is what makes a kid within an orchestra turn into a citizen, a person. UNION CITY MUSIC PROJECT, UNION CITY, NJ MELINA GARCÍA, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, UNION CITY MUSIC PROJECT: Union City, New Jersey, is predominantly a low-income community. Approximately fifty percent of the people here are foreign-born and whose first language is Spanish. LEON BOTSTEIN: In the United States, adapting El Sistema will not take one route. One basic principle of El Sistema is it can be freestanding, but it s better if you do it in 4

collaboration with the school system, especially in low-income neighborhoods where there is a real concern about what happens when the school day ends. In the Union City school district, kids have very limited access to instrumental music education. So our program, the Union City Music Project, is filling a need in the community for music education. The way I actually was able to make this program happen was through a partnership with the Board of Education and the city of Union City. They saw it as a great fit for all the things that they were trying to do to improve the district. Qual es mi nombre? Anybody knows my name? I m Sam, or Mr. Marchán. Samuel Marchán is from Mérida, Venezuela. He has been a music educator here in the United States for almost twenty years. And he actually was raised through El Sistema with his brother, who is one of the founding members of the first Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Venezuela. Working in the public schools, developing programs around New York City, listening and remembering what happened in Venezuela...I think it, we could create our own way of doing things. Like a superhero! The first step is creating the paper orchestra that initiates the kids into the fundamentals of playing in the orchestra as a team, as a musical family. FIRST PRE-ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP Sofia, Iszar Today was the first time that we got them together, as a group. First, what we try to generate is the trust. And the most important thing is getting to know them. Jayla? Okay. And? VALESKA: Valeska. Valeska. Jayla, Valeska, Samantha ROBIN: Robin. 5

Robin. So I need to repeat Jayla, Jayla, Jayla, Jayla, Jayla. Why we repeat? That s the only way to learn! In order to play an instrument, the most important instrument is yourself. Then, we did games to be aware of that. Who can tell me, between your head and your body, what is the thing that moves your head around? STUDENT: Neck. Thank you! That s called the neck. So, we can call it, it s a giraffe. Like you see, you can do like [STUDENTS laughing] So, we use a lot of imagery. For example, the animals the giraffe for the neck, the bear for the shoulders, the elbow is the eagle. So we go play games to generate that awareness in the kids of their own body. So when they play, they play just easy and fun and beautiful, and there is no more major complications, and there is no stiffness. So this is elbows. Can we open and close it and open and close like a little what? We could say it s an eagle. We re gonna stretch and now the bear becomes an eagle. JUDITH HILL BOSE, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES, LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE: In the first moments of this first class that these preschoolers are taking, Samuel is bringing a great sense of joy and enthusiasm and physicality to the way that he works on some very important skills with them already as an ensemble, as a community. I always think of the violin like a boat. Because the violin and music can take you to places that you ve never been before. We use the book because, I would call it it s a pre-paper orchestra step. The boat has to be floating, has to be steady. What happens if the boat is tilted? [speaking Spanish] 6

It sinks. Now you hold the violin with your left hand. Look at me. Left hand. Left hand. Now the violin is going to go under the cave and you re going to get the violin in rest position. You see, the violin s protected by the big bear. The big bear lives in the cave. Violin. Footstep. Footstep. Release. Statue of Liberty. Slowly, slowly. Bend your knees. Soften your knees. Don t get too tight. Count up to five. By doing the book, we instill that idea of I can have something on my body and I can I can hold it. And I can be careful, and I can balance it. So then, that makes me aware of myself. And it also helps me to focus, concentrate. Oh, I can hold this for ten seconds. Lift your right hand and find your balance. Find your balance. I know it s going to be if you feel it s a little shaky, that s okay. GIRL (off-screen): I can balance. Awesome. Count up to five. They don t have the balance, so you need to develop that, that trust and that confidence that they can manipulate something that is a little foreign for them but is going to be part of them. Now your violin should be on your neck. Your neck. Very tall. Back to rest position. JUDITH HILL BOSE: Young students in U.S. public schools, they are not generally envisioning themselves as authentic members of an orchestra when they re in kindergarten. The paper violin process allows very young students to begin physically and musically behaving as if they re performing in an orchestra. And that s a very Sistema idea, the fact that Sistema is at its core always embedded in this idea of we are musicians who perform in an ensemble. We re going to learn D major scale. Listen for five seconds. So, we need to develop that aural memory, that musical blueprint of being aware of the sound, and how a D or a B or the scales are, and how music works. (singing) Now we are going to go to your toes. Everybody bend your knees. And we re going to go D for your toes. We going to go, E for your knees. Everybody sing it with me. F for your hips. I want everybody singing. G for your shoulders. 7

We try so hard when you re teaching to make the instrument sound good. It s not the instrument, it s you! So that s why our curriculum was geared towards that physical awareness that the main instrument to play an instrument is yourself. Now I m going to challenge your parents. [speaking Spanish] Everybody has to sing. You re going to stay right there on the sides. Parent volunteers are essential in our program. And it is their support and their continued participation that makes the program run smoothly. Ready? Go! SAMUEL, PARENTS, and STUDENTS (singing): D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D. I was very happy to see so many parents. Even though a lot of them work, they were able to manage the time to come and be with the kids. SAMUEL, PARENTS, and STUDENTS (singing): F, E, D. Awesome, guys! I was impressed. Those are very young kids. And there was a lot of levels of attention. And fascination at the same time. And then we knew that could work on them. and two and three. Awesome! PAPER VIOLIN WORKSHOP When we start the paper orchestra session, we hold different workshops with parents and the students. It is essential for parents to be involved because dealing with such young children, we need the parents total commitment. You have a handbook on the tables for you to review and read at home. In there you will find information about the paper orchestra why is it good for your kids to be in the paper orchestra before they enter an actual orchestra. And also you will find the howto s. How to make your paper violin. So tonight, we want to show you step by step, so 8

then you get to build it at home. We want you, of course to be working with your child. The whole purpose is for you to work together. The paper orchestra was created in Venezuela. Josbel Puche started this paper orchestra, because at that time, they really had trouble obtaining new instruments for the children. And so at the beginning it was used more for economic reasons than for educational purposes. But now, it s the pre-orchestra training aspect of El Sistema. Now, you will see that we have the scroll, the pegs, the neck, the fingerboard. The neck is what is under. The fingerboard is where you play, actually where the kids are going to play. In Venezuela, they do it as young as two years old. The families and the students create an instrument that is made out of cardboard or papier-mâché and they build it together. So it promotes family involvement. It also teaches the children how to properly care for their instrument. So you re gonna make sure that it s going to be centered liked this. So, you re gonna glue it. Take your time. The paper violin, it s a concept borrowed from Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki was the one using initially the ruler and a cereal box to teach them the biomechanics of playing an instrument. Then you re gonna cut the pieces of the marshmallows and then you re gonna put like two, three inside. So what we did in Venezuela is a little more we could say sophisticated way, in which they really create a violin, a real instrument. Make sure it s very tight. Then, as you know, we need to make the little holes here. We re drilling holes. And then, with a little needle, we re going to put the strings, and then we make them tight. So it s going to be a fascinating process. As you can see, the sky is the limit. The paper violin is an initiation. The kids are not physically ready for the real violin. What it does is just creates the hunger, the thirst to experience playing real instruments. And on the other side, we want to create that bond between the kid and the parent by building. So, any questions? ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL 9

After they graduated from that process, they get the real instruments. And it has been a great experience and it s fascinating to see how that transition happens. With the paper violins they imagine the sound. Now when they have the real instruments, it s a whole different dimension because that imagination in making the sound happens right there with them by making the contact with the bow on the string, by putting the fingers on the finger board. And now when we try to play the songs that we sang before, now it s awesome. Now, who do we need to listen to? STUDENTS: You! You need to watch me. But who do we need to listen to? STUDENTS: Violins. And then the violins and cellos have to listen to? STUDENTS: Xylophones. Thank you. Then, we are a team. In Venezuela, El Sistema started not just as an artistic program in and of itself; it really is a social program. They re using music as the hook, as the reason why and how to bring families and kids into the program. So music is used as the vehicle for social change. One and two. One, two, three, four. [SAMUEL conducting STUDENTS] In the orchestra, you learn so many valuable life skills. You need to learn how to focus. You need to learn how to listen. You need to learn how to work in a team. You need to be creative. Follow the music director. All these are very basic life skills that if you engage children at a very young age, these kids will grow up to be people, young adults, who know how to work with others, who can listen and respect people when they re talking, who have discipline, who are responsible. 10

That was awesome! In order for you to be able to have harmony, everyone has to play well. So it s not about, I, as the individual, am the greatest and I am the one that is good. Everyone has to be great in orchestral music education. Feet together touching. One, and two, and three. 11