Orchestra R/Evolution
My latest blog post, as a contributor to the online discussion for the League of American Orchestra’s 2010 National Conference in Atlanta, GA.
www.orchestrarevolution.org
An Orchestra of Leaders
As an Abreu Fellow, I have been immersed this year in the history, life, challenges, myth, and no-holds-barred god’s honest truth about El Sistema. The hype is real. I left my very stable (that may be an exaggeration) job in orchestra management in one of the worst times in the job-market to jump off the cliff. I spent a year back in school and abroad, chasing this dream. I have returned inspired and obsessed. Here’s just one reason why.
El Sistema is not just a social program disguised as a music-education program, it is also a leadership program, disguised as a social program. I first encountered El Sistema in 2005, when I was touring as a violist with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. We spent three-four weeks in Venezuela, rehearsing with our conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Carlos Miguel Prieto. In those days, half the orchestra still had their bets on Prieto as the favorite. Before this year in the fellowship, I thought there must just be something in the water in Caracas. My friends from the US, with masters degrees from CIM, Julliard, U Mich, IU, were all being beat out in the seating auditions by Venezuelan children of 18-19 years old. We never had a chance, these young Venezuelans were born to lead their sections. Why?
In returning to Venezuela this February as an Abreu Fellow, I was thrilled to see all of my friends from the orchestra again. And I was shocked. Many of my friends, while in our early 20s I had played with, toured with, and danced the night away with, were now in charge! These young musicians had been given the helm of a now international sensation, and they were running with it. Not a single member of the young team of administration of FESNOJIV is much past 30, and the large majority are musicians. Why?
Over the past 35 years, El Sistema has churned and churned to produce what is the now infamous Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Each musician in the SBYOV is a product of their “nucleo”, the community music center where they were cherished and nourished, challenged, protected, and loved. The musicians of the SBYOV are HIGHLY aware of their past, and of their obligations. There is a deep sense of history in them, traced back to Maestro Abreu himself. Many many of the musicians return to their nucleos to perform and teach on a regular basis, some of which are days of driving from where they live and perform in Caracas, deep in the middle of the desert, jungle, or mountains. When the SBYOV performs, I’ve asked a few of my friends where the energy comes from, what is it that lights them on fire. Why at every rehearsal and sectional it’s edge-of-the-seat playing. Here are a few quotes… “because everyone else is working so hard”… “it’s our job”…”we’re at the top, the kids, they look up to us”… There’s an iceberg and they are just the tip of it. So many kids (over 400,000 to be exact) are looking up to them as their inspiration to practice, to succeed, to change their environment. The musicians of the SBYOV and the musician leadership of FESNOJIV feel as though they have a huge responsibility to be the best, to carry the flag. They are leaders, all of them. Growing up in El Sistema has ingrained in them a sense of social responsibility, and an obligation to shape the futures of the children who are inspired by them. Can you imagine if we performed everyday as though the future of children in poverty in our community depended on it? It is a noble calling, and no small task. And for me, totally totally thrilling.
Filed Under: Katie's Blog • News & Events
