Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Back to Reality: A La Orden

Is it really true? I step out of the cab as my feet touch the white snow falling from the sky and I unlock my front door. As I walk into my room and see my bed for the first time in almost a month, it feels almost as if I hadn't left, but introspectively, I see everything with a new light. I don't think I've ever been so happy to eat oatmeal and a veggie burger and today, now that food is back to my control, marks day 1 for my true vegan diet. We'll see what happens.

Our last full day in Caracas consisted of a significant meeting, the one and only Maestro José Antonio Abreu. As we were anxiously waiting for him to arrive, I searched the various certificates hung on the walls for the honorary doctorate I know he had received from NEC. I had no such luck, but instead found honorary doctorates from several institutions, Germany and Venezuela, recognition from the cities of LA and Boston, and many many other awards for being a phenomenal citizen, contribution to science, humanity, music, the arts, economy..the list is endless. All of these awards (especially knowing there were others like the NEC honorary doctorate that weren't even shown!) reinforced to me what an amazing man this was, not only nationally, but literally worldwide.

I am so glad we spent the whole morning prior to the meeting planning what we were going to say because he left the meeting completely up to us. It was so special to not only have time with him, but to have a personal interaction with him. He didn't make a speech, but instead everything he said was in dialogue with what we were telling him. It was also really exciting to not only hear the takeaways of my fellow colleagues, but of their future plans, a topic which we so readily will dismiss because of fear. Even though it is still unclear, I am so calm and confident knowing it will work out as it always does.
Dr. Abreu stressed the importance of having a choral program in every nucleo and I also found out he went to MN tenish years ago for a choral conference led by their director of choral programs (who didn't even start as a choralist!). Needless to say, high dream achieved!

Despite the media angle of a corrupt, socialist, and "evil" Venezuela, I was shown the COMPLETE opposite from every person I encountered, inside and outside of El Sistema from the minute I exited the airport to the minute I arrived in Texas. They never say "you're welcome" there, but rather "to the order" and were literally there to serve us whenever, however, and in whatever way they could. It made me think our response to thank you of "you're welcome' and how automatic and unthoughtful it is when we say it. As I step back into American life, I am going to take those three simple words with me. and the next time I say 'you're welcome" I am truly going to mean it. The friendships, stories, memories, joy, laughter, and  in every way imaginable beautiful country reinspired, rejuvenated, and demonstrated to me once again how much people can have, and how much more these types of things weigh than material goods.

                                                     Beautiful Venezuelan countryside

Monday, March 18, 2013

Venezuela 8: The Cake Batter of El Sistema

Yesterday we had lunch with Bolivia Bottome, the International Relations Director of El Sistema. Her main goal is to develop loose relations with international programs and give what she can, but does not want a leadership role in these. "Each program needs to be adapted to its own country, in its own culture and with its own particularities."

I'd like to make an analogy to cake after having a delectable smorgsbord of cakes at a delicious dinner at Dani Bedoni's beautiful home. Thank you, Dani! There are needed ingredients in every cake and there are varied ingredients, catered to each taste. The basic ingredients (according to Bolivia) of El Sistema are 1) Inclusivity 2) Free of charge 3) Weekly Intensity 4) Frequent performance and above all, 5) the musical excellence. "But within this, it's up to you what you want to do." She assumed every El Sistema program had these things, but I don't think the US has our basic batter recipe together yet, or they're trying so hard to replicate their grandma's cake that has an ingredient you can't find in the US that they're missing the fact they could still use the batter as a base but make just as delicious of a cake by altering ingredients that are easily and readily available.

As I witnessed with ACME, performance is a powerful tool and essential for "social change." We have two main ethnicities: African American and Latino and at the beginning of the year these two groups were incredibly segregated. Trying to partner them randomly would be unsuccessful. But after they had their first large performance two months into it, they all feel they were part of something together and thus have something to relate to with one another. The teachers numbered them off and there was no opposition. This increase in diversity respect was directly caused by that performance and the preparation of it, sharing the hard work and celebration of a successful performance.

I am fully aware of the fact I am a vocal person and I think the real reason what Bolivia said held so much weight is I can write as many blog posts and advocate as much as I want, but the real demonstration is in the results (the taste of the cake if you will). If we can actually taste the cake by showing what El Sistema "should be" through our program and the success of producing good citizens through this musical excellence, that is far more powerful than anything I or anyone can say about how to make a cake. Bolivia's opinion was you can't achieve good citizens through music without musical excellence. As much as I would have disagreed with this earlier in the year, I am starting to understand how imperative it truly is. She also posed an interesting question, "Are we trying to influence or educate?" By us telling people how to be good citizens we are educating them, but that's it. How can we turn this education into real influence? By demonstrating musical excellence and stressing that we can apply this excellence to other areas of life.This is a very interesting difference and one I had not thought of before.

Another huge topic right now is should we centralize the US movement in a country that is so decentralized, not just by state, but by district? And if we do so, shouldn't we respect Maestro's wishes of not having a taxonomy and lead by example? I will admit the idea frightens me because El Sistema has incredibly marketing power right now and without a taxonomy anyone can say they are "El Sistema." However, like most things time will tell and only true significant results will survive sustainably. If everyone here is telling us to take what works for us from here and not have an objective of replicating, how are we able to make a taxonomy anyway? Especially with such a decentralized movement. How do we connect El Sistema to all the other beautiful resources we have in the US, can access and should use and take advantage of: youth development programs (YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs), youth orchestras, public school music programs, community centers, social programs/support, school psychologists, family clinics, etc etc etc? The five things above are the "preserve the core." the fundamentals, or the cake batter. But think of how rich this cake could be with all the ingredients I just listed. And the beautiful thing about cake is there isn't just one favorite recipe or list of ingredients, you make different types of cake for different people based on their likes/environment (a wedding cake for a large wedding vs. a two year old's birthday party for example); programs should be no different but catered to community needs. And when the cake party comes where we can try a slice of each of the myriad homemade different cakes, think what a delectable and satisfying day that will be. Far more so then trying a slice of only one cake that is mass produced.

Venezuela 7: Casa de Culturas/Folk Music


Another story is that of Jesus Segovia, a student studying composition at the conservatory. Because his story was a lot of information about the importance of folk music, I have also added my personal experiences with folk music at the nucleos.

Jesus started his musical career learning cuatro and mandolin at La Casa de Cultura (House of Culture literally translated where folk instruments were taught until very recently when the beginning of folk music is occurring in some nucleos). These Culture Houses really fascinate me and despite not being part of El Sistema per se, two of the eight nucleos we visited took place there and this is the place I've seen art and dance classes in addition to folk instrument classes where students interchange instruments. Rather than the "drill and kill" pedagogy I've seen in the classical settings here, it's more a repetition of the whole song with the idea that students will become more proficient, the more times they play the song.

I participated in a guitar class at Quilbo where they were playing some Venezuelan folk songs and the teacher played a solo instrument, mandolin, cuatro, or bandola, while the rest of the class accompanied him on guitar and continued to repeat the song until the teacher after at least five playthroughs said, "last time." I can't help but notice how repetition is still at the forefront, but how the focus is on the aural development and self-correction through repetition rather than a teacher identifying the mistake and repeating the passage for the sole purpose of correcting it. When I come back (there will be one!) I'd love to watch more folk music classes and continue to develop this idea. Again comments always welcome, especially if you have expertise in this area.

Jesus wanted to learn clarinet, but when he participated in El Sistema, instruments weren't free, only the lessons were, and clarinets were too expensive so he studied violin. He fell in love with playing violin before long and believes that the most important need in El Sistema right now are composers that "can write like not like Beethoven or Mozart, but like Echeves (a Venezuelan composer)." I learned the first time folk instruments were introduced into El Sistema was when Dudamel debuted in 2007 so it's a very new development. He has no doubt this will continue to be expanded and integrated, but his firm belief in the importance of folk music along with classical music and playing Venezuelan music was a new perspective. He gave us some of his compositions that will hopefully debut in Boston this spring!

The trio at Quilbo including the 10 yr old trumpeter who hadn't played with them before.
Learning Venezuelan folk songs at Quilbo. (Photo courtesy Elaine Sandoval)

Venezuela 6: Despedida de Barquisimeto

Our last night in Barquisimeto we had a despedida (a goodbye party) in which we received the surprise gift of Venezuelan jackets and I heard a lot of wonderful life stories. My colleague Elaine said "These past few days we haven't been talking about El Sistema. We've been hearing how music entered people's lives and their life stories." She's so right and reminded me that's the point, not making generalizations about the movement. And how important it is to not make generalizations based off of a life story, but to take that story for what is, as an individual's account and real firsthand experience.

I'd like to tell you a few of them below, which in turn did make me learn some things about the "secrets" of El Sistema and understanding the context of Venezuela, but first and foremost I want to tell you life stories. After seeing the length of this one, this is going to be a series of blogs.

The first is of my new friend Rafael, a violinist and singer, who is now the orchestra director at Santa Rosa, a nucleo that is based at a plaza where students literally have lessons in different corners of the park. After finishing high school where he was enrolled at the conservatory, he went to study music in Caracas. But after two years, he began working as a nucleo director and didn't finish his degree. He emphasized to me how the value of experience is far greater than any title or degree, which prompted a discussion about how different this is in the US. How on job descriptions it always says "Master's Degree preferred, B.A. required," and experience is secondary. Especially being a kinesthetic learner, experience is the best way to learn. What better way than to do instead of sitting in a classroom talking about doing. He then went on to tell me he was a nucleo director for nine years where he worked definitely six days a week and most often seven and that was the reason he left to take a job in Spain; he needed a break. But now he's back in the System, in the same line of work that caused him to burn out. He explained that despite the hard work that is required, there is no substitute for the feeling that occurs at a concert when kids nail pieces. And that's what brought him back. He's now finishing his studies obtaining his licensure.

A curiosity of mine has been what the coveted job is and the turnover rate. I learned the most important job is not actually the orchestra director, but the preparador translated as the preparer and a Venezuelan-created position. This person not only directs the orchestra, but is responsible for the teaching of every instrument and the needed techniques and theory needed to play the pieces. Once you become a preparer, you can also become a director, a manager, etc. but this preparing is at the base. As to my question, I found out it's not the job, but rather the salaried position of the job.
Jobs here always begin on the hourly rate and you literally have to fight for yourself, proving yourself, and demonstrating you deserve not a raise, but a contracted, salaried position. It also makes sense why people stay in the same position for so long since you have to start hourly each time (And I thought seniority/tenure was bad). Obtaining this is rare, which gave me that much more respect for the meticulous, arduous work 7,000 employees put forth every day to make a difference in these kids' lives where probably only 1% of those are salaried. I also learned that new directors usually occur because they didn't exist prior; in other words jobs are created, not replaced.

I also mentioned to Rafael my amazement with how quiet kids were while directors worked with students for long amounts of time one-on-one or by row despite the fact it was in a full orchestra rehearsal. He explained it's the discipline that is instilled in them from the beginning. Strict, military (and sometimes fear-filled) discipline, but never directed at one individual. Notice the idea of ensemble, even in discipline. I think this idea is overlooked in the US, we're so concerned with being nice to children, that we forget children need structure/consequence to thrive. One day when students continued to talk after several reminders, Rafael just got up and left rehearsal. The students assumed he had gone to the office or somewhere briefly, but he had actually gone home. An hr later, a student called him and asked where he was. He told them, "Only call me when you are ready to work. Until then you are wasting my time." The students were never unruly again.



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Venezuela 5: A Tugging at the Heart Strings

After a wonderful two days working with the chamber choir in Carora, Thursday was a day we had all been waiting for: the White Hands Choir. However, instead of a muestra (showcase), we had the extra fortune of sitting in on a rehearsal which none of the teachers at the conservatory had done. They began with a "Gloria" and aside from being stunned with the tonal quality of the choir, I truly saw what it meant to be accessible to all, visually, aurally, cognitively, and motor skills impaired, people in wheel chairs, and not only children. And then out of my right peripheral vision, I saw a sea of white gloves doing sign language to the Gloria. If that wasn't enough, at the end of the piece, even the deaf children sang amen. As I mentioned earlier, the objective of this choir was to enable the children to speak since they can't speak since they don't hear. Music is giving them the opportunity to do so. The director then invited us to join the choir where we sang "Ave Verum Corpus" (stay tuned for video) and Carlos, Diogo, and Monique joined the White Hands part of the choir. I will admit knowing i have a strong voice I thought I would have to not sing full voice, but I was completely wrong. The strong sound that completely surrounded me was amazing and to think of the diverse composition of that sound is something I will not forget.

Then a group of five men came to the forefront of the room and introduced themselves. They sang and their intonation was impeccable. Not only were they in tune, but their syllable matching and cutoffs were perfectly together and there was a precision that I think can only come from having such sensitive ears that are heightened due to the fact that all members were blind. Watching them read the musicography on which I had had a workshop with their fingers was so touching. They then did a typical Venezuelan song and of course one of the members Gustavo is also a phenomenal cuatrista (person who plays the cuatro, a traditional four stringed instrument). As an aside, he was also the piano accompanist for another choir. I had heard Barquisimeto was the capital for musicography in the world, that there was no global comparison, but it's one thing to hear about it and actually hear it. The word amazing is overused, but these voices were truly amazing. They had all studied at the conservatory and were members of Camera Larense, the professional chamber choir that won first place for folk music at the World Choir Games in Cincinatti in June
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sXeFGPWQ3A (the first time a Latin American country had won an award!). The third song was prefaced with a beautiful speech by Gustavo about how they chose a piece that meant something to them all, a piece that was sacred and had a personal meaning to them all, Salve Regina. I decided to shut my eyes and appreciate music the way they did and a rush of emotions came over me. Beyond words, but I will try. They literally touched the deepest part of my heart and tears came to my eyes. It was that sense of deep joy, goosebumps, and any other reaction all combined into one and multiplied. This was further made profound because I had worked with the chamber choir in Carora for two hours on this piece just two days prior. It's moments like these where some can call it coincidence, but I firmly believe it's something more. Music is truly a spiritual experience and that was a moment I will never forget and even recalling it I can still feel that tangible heart string that was forever touched.

I greeted Gustavo and told him how amazing his voice was and how he made me cry and thanked him from the deepest part of my soul as I let the tears fall. His reply shocked me, "No, thank YOU for coming and listening. Without you as an audience, we'd have no reason to exist." While he does have a point of an audience being a requisite for an ensemble to have a purpose, I can't think of another time in my life when I have congratulated a performer or been congratulated and given all the credit to the person who made a compliment. We get so caught up in stardom, fame, and thanking people for coming to see you, that we forget the reason behind all of it (or at least IMHO the reason that should be there) of bringing people together through music and the community it manifests and the spiritual experience it CAN be when excellence is achieved. I used to think El Sistema always cared about firstly producing citizens and then musicians, but I realized it's not a sequential process; it's integral THROUGH the musical excellence, and that must be the foundation.

Elise and me singing with the White Hands Choir (still working on video)

Monique, Carlos and Diogo participating with the White Hands Choir
The chamber choir I worked with in Carora


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Venezuela 4: A Profound Day


After a seven day hiatus from El Sistema, today was a full return with conversations with Music Director Luis Jiminez, Special Education Director Jhonny Gomez, and the Baby Choir at Santa Rosa. This blog entry will be only a small snippet of the ah ha and profound moments I had today.

Middle Years of El Sistema

The day began hearing the story of how Luis, an original of the eleven kids in the garage in 1975, became the music director at Barquisimeto and my quandary of the "middle years" of El Sistema was finally answered. A big ah ha moment was the fact that El Sistema began with ALL conservatory students, so not only did all students have music exposure, but they were at a conservatory level. This made so much sense because it gave Dr. Abreu the persuasion he needed to convince the government music could save lives that wouldn't have been possible with beginning students. It also enabled for there to be mentors/proficient teachers from the start so that parallely he could begin nucleos for all students within the year. He chose to create nucleos where the eleven students were from assigning a director and coordinator for each nucleo. Of course, this idea wasn't without opposition. Especially from the conservatory where 1/50 students were selected previously and studying for ten years prior to entering the professional level and now ANY student could study music with aspirations to be at the professional level (and as we know, succeeded). Barquisimeto was a "hub" nucleo in that these musicians who were in the founding orchestra at Barquisimeto now taught at all the neighboring municipalities. Today was yet another example of the importance of questioning assumptions because today two were reestablished: 1) El Sistema didn't start out with just eleven random kids, but rather eleven conservatory musicians and 2) El SIstema didn't start with young kids, but rather students who had studied for TEN years (or more) and had the ability to teach.

Another interesting fact to note is that classical music here is referred to as "academic music." Venezuelan songs are in a difficult key (A Minor) for a beginner, but Uruguayan Hector Gutierrez who worked with the original 11 managed to simplify arrangements so that they could be used for beginners (and are still used today). They used Venezuelan folk songs in the repertoire from the beginning and used these as leverage for government support because in the beginning while they did have some government support, a lot of their support came from the private sector. It wasn't until very recently that Venezuelan traditional music has been brought to the same level with cuatro orchestras, etc. as classical music.

Manos Blancas

We then had the privilege of meeting with Jhonny Gomez who was inspired to start the White Hands Choir after hearing a concertmaster in a wheelchair play Tchaikovsky 4, none other than Itzhak Perlman. It was then that he was so moved and realized that students with disabilities had just as much right to equal conditions as those without. But beginning, he had to obtain a degree in special education, as there was no comparison globally for him to use as a resource. He now works with six types of disabilities: visual, aural, motor skills, cognitive, autism, and learning disabilities. I have yet to experience them firsthand (stay tuned after Thurs), but Jhonny said today how many famous musicians not only tear up after experiencing their sound, but forget they have disabilities until they try to talk to them. They see them as a very high level percussion band, recorder ensemble, handbell ensemble, or choir, depending on the ensemble, but the disabilities by no means affect their high level of excellence in musicianship.

The president of the Bonn Museum in Hamburg was so inspired that after having visiting them, he placed the white gloves they use for the choir next to Beethoven's original 9th Symphony score. He said, "If Beethoven were to live today, he would compose for the White Hands Choir." For those of you who don't know, Beethoven was deaf and "the spirit of Beethoven lives inside each one of these choir members." These students are so pure and work so hard (symbolism of white gloves). After the Jhonny opportunity to visit Hamburg, the director gave him a picture of Beethoven's hand mold telling him "there is no greater gift for them to have than Beethoven's hands." Tomorrow morning we are going to have the opportunity to learn how to translate printed music into Braille and today I saw a score in Finale (a music notation software) print out in Braille.

El Sistema over and over again demonstrates that there are no limits. When someone has a vision, they find the resources to realize it and slowly make the dream a reality. Jhonny emphasized today how important it is to not only have a vision, but to have an objective in mind. The objective for the whole Special Education dept is to create equal conditions. Nowhere else in the world will you find blind clarinets asking for Tsychavosky scores or vocalists singing arias, all by memorizing the Braille notation. Specially, for the White Hands choir the objective is an outlet to help them speak. "Because they don't hear, they can't speak." Music can change this and it has. Music can manifest true miracles.

An Unexpected New Friend

I was waiting for the van outside on the steps at the entrance to a nucleo reading my book when I saw across the way a father pointing note-by-note to his son's music as he played the recorder. He approached me and attempted to say "How are you or what's your name?" (I'm still uncertain which) but his words were inarticulate so I spoke to him in Spanish. He wanted me to sing the colors song in English, so I began to sing Raffi and very quickly noted this wasn't the song to which he was referring. I then asked him to sing it and he did (stay tuned for video, internet here not worth trying to upload now). He explained to me how he had the opportunity to learn English at his school every day, but they charged by the class and his family didn't have money to have him attend classes. It was very evident how proud he was of knowing his colors and his father coaxed him along in trying to speak to me in English, but never got further than "My name is Moises." I told him (in Spanish) I'd be happy to give him a "regalito" (little gift) of teaching him any word he wanted. He immediately responded, "All of them." I explained that wouldn't be possible in a day so after thinking for a bit, he responded, "I want to learn the English word for Dudamel." This demonstrates the fame and love this man has attained even in a 6 yr old's mind, that of any word in English a musician was his choice word. I dare you to find a child in the US who could say the same. After chuckling to myself, I explained that names were the same in English and asked him again. He responded by telling me he knew another color, "anaranjado. Orange." And then, as I've seen many children do here, so precocious for their age, he politely excused himself saying he had to go to class.
Moises practicing with his dad

Moises, my new friend, as I was waiting for the van
Santa Rosa

My last stop of the day was at the newest nucleo in Lara that is actually a plaza where students divide into private lessons/sectionals in different corners of the square. I saw two year olds not only paying attention to things like dynamics, not elliding vowels and pitch, but also how to act at the end of a song and when an audience member applauds. I saw children crying because they wanted their parents, a child who was struggling psychologically, on medication and reacted strongly to the change of having me teaching, students who admittedly said they didn't like to sing, but reluctantly eventually participated, and students who were not focused. Of course with these fallacies, I learned more. And to watch the 6 yr olds merely repeat the words the teacher was singing and stopping them when pitches were incorrect with no need for moving bodies or relevance to the students, I can't help but think of the emphasis we put on these concepts in the US, especially with young children, and the arguent of how these types of things evade behavior issues. Really here all they do to evade behavior issues is discipline.

One of the students Isabelle at age 2 potty trained at the nucleo. She was in diapers and every day saw all the other students using the bathroom. One day she asked the teacher if she could use the bathroom to which the teacher responded, "You're in diapers." But she protested and said she wanted to, so the teacher brought her to the bathroom and that was the end of her diaper days. Yet another example of observing, mimicking, and repeating as the way children learn. This was certainly a residual effect, but it certainly illustrates the positive power of peer influence (this is different than peer pressure.) Everyone around her was using the bathroom so she felt excluded not being able to do so.

And then the Youth Orchestra at the Conservatory concluded the day with Mahler 5. Punto final. To see 12 yr olds playing Mahler with such robust sound and fervor is unforgettable. And then Alfredo, the orchestra director said another quote that will stay with me for a long time (interpreted into English), "We see ourselves as on top of the whole country. With all the bad going on in the country, we can separate ourselves and come out on top, dedicating ourselves to these children and the music."

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Venezuela 3: What Is Social Change After All?


In shadow of recent national events, the country is now in a seven day mourning period with schools and related activities (including el Sistema) suspended until Monday. This is giving us a few extra days to discuss questions and debrief more fully. Some questions that came up in some great discussions yesterday and am now exploring follow. I am making no claims, only posing questions/viewpoints I've observed. I'd like to preface this after having read Geoff Baker's blog with this data is based on mostly observation in a normal classroom with a few private interviews with parents/teachers. However, the time spent at each place has been no more than one day.

I'd like to start by discussing this whole notion of social change and how we perceive it in the US vs. here. From what I can gather, it seems here by providing them with such a positive, intensive, and safe place where lots of children their own age/friends are, they are automatically creating a community and that is social change (thought courtesy of my dear friend/colleague Rachel). One mother said communities are changed because they can now talk about music, isn't that enough? As I'm sure some of you know, I tend to overthink and analyze, and I ponder, could it really be this simple? It's not in the way they are addressing the holistic child, reaching out to social services, or providing youth development as we strive for in the US. It's the fact they're in a positive, social environment, and giving children possibilities.that they couldn't access. That mother commutes by taking two buses to the nucleo we visited in Tamaca outside of Barquisimeto because she understands the importance of music after seeing her older son go through El Sistema and now sing in the professional choir and the waiting list is huge at Barquisimeto along with the fact that at Barquisimeto they're all amazing musicians and Tamaca has given her daughter a chance to read music and fully develop musical skills.

Before we arrived here we had a workshop on aesthetic education and a constant theme in the fellowship this year has been facilitative teaching, or engaging the child in new ways or ways that cater to their own learning style. However, here it seems to be all in the same way, the way that Jonathan Govias posits as the way children learn: observe, imitate, repeat. Regardless of other learning styles, this is the way they have taught over 400,000 children this year alone (about 2.5 million total) with no exception. Please again accept my generalizations as I by no means have seen every nucleo in VZ, but from the ones I have observed, this has been consistently true. My fellow fellows, esp brass, say they are exhausted at the end of the day because children are asking them how to play A-Z and rather than helping them with their own technique, they merely want to hear how it sounds played correctly. Something that to me sounds very similar to the Suzuki method. Another pillar of Suzuki is the Every Child Can concept which resonates strongly in El Sistema.

 In Tamaca, I sat in on a musical literacy class (which in the States we would most likely call theory). and they had their exercises they were saying the solfegge. Note I didn't say sing. The teacher and a proficient student began by saying the exercise with them and little by little the students had to say it without the teacher. They hear the exercise whether it be theory or a passage in a piece and replicate it automatically, without necessarily grasping the understanding of what they're doing. The automaticity of it is something The Talent Code describes as imperative in developing myelin, the insulation that wraps around neurons and the reason for the 10,000 hour rule. As one does something more and more automatically, it becomes ingrained and then the understanding occurs (for instance, reading the notes rather than mimicking them). And clearly it's worked, at least in this country. I'd like to ascertain the notion that perhaps this too could work in our country and pose the question of are these other things (aesthetic education, youth development focus, etc etc) necessary? They're wonderful things, but if we're "preserving the core" are they key ingredients or are they icing on the cake?

My last stop of the day was the Parent Choir which consisted of 4 parents that day, an electric keyboard, and a trumpet studio next door (this was an open air building). We tried to learn a song and I have such a respect for their determination despite the trumpet studio next door. I ended up giving a piano/theory lesson to their director, teaching the circle of 5ths and scale fingerings. I then showed her how to read the music and play piano without having to look at your fingers each note by seeing the distance between the notes instead of the precise note.

 Tamaca parent choir
Conservatory student-led chamber choir, using the cuatro as a point of reference

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Learning Mahler in a Day

We arrived at the Conservatory in Barquisimeto and were told people were rehearsing for auditions occurring tomorrow to go to the Salzburg Festival in July. After listening to the woodwinds for a half hour, going down the line individually singing and then playing adding note by note slowly and then in rhythm, I saw the title and composer of the piece: Symphony I by Mahler! I then found out these students had played for less than two years, were between the ages of 9-11 and, most impressively, reading the piece for the first time and treating it like any other passage or etude.

A huge advantage almost all countries have is using solfegge syllables as the actual note names.  In America, we try to use solfegge and then change to note names, which is like having to learn two different languages whereas here, they learn the solfegge and go straight to playing it because those are the note names.

I was amazed at the discipline the rest of the section exhibited while the conductor worked with each student one on one and aside from students fingering the music, they sat there patiently waiting. I saw a clarinetist tap a bassoonist on the shoulder to help him count, but more than anything I was shocked that these children were literally going to learn a whole Mahler movement in ONE day (8:30-6) with an excused absence from school. And I have no doubt they're practicing their hearts out right now and will do well tomorrow.

I also met my first teacher who was in college and studying something outside of the music world and teaching just as a job. The choirs continue to have an amazing tone, have three parts with all ages, and are working on doing a Disney musical with all five levels of choirs, including a professional one. Something I found really interesting that demonstrates the importance of mentorship/leadership is most students are in two choirs. When they get accepted to the new level, they stay in the old level so as to keep the level of the choir as excellent and be role models.

Days like today really make me question because I feel like I have the most simplistic answer to the music phenomenon that occurs here and it feels too simple: repetition, repetition, repetition, and as soon as something is wrong, the student is stopped instantly and they start the passage over again. The few times they did run through it and a student did mess up they used the "go ahead" method, jumping back in as soon as they could and not preoccupying themselves with the wrong note. It was incredible to hear excerpts and echoes of Mahler all over the conservatory. Because of space issues, many students were practicing in the hallways and being an open space, students could hear other students practicing, which when practicing correctly, can be an incredible asset to hear the piece played correctly while you are practicing it. And because these kids are moving and pushed, they work them hard and there's no opportunity for them to be squirrely. The few times focus was lost, they were reminded of respect, or that they had an audition tomorrow, something greater than themselves and a goal to achieve.

I still want to know their secret for how students sat so obediently and quietly while they worked with one student individually, but enough secrets were undiscovered today, or so I think.

 300 students auditioned for the orchestra in this region alone!
Entering the building on the big day

Monday, March 4, 2013

Venezuela 1: First Impressions, Caracas


Week 1 Caracas: Centre for Social Action and music, Montalban, La Rinconada, Eurobuilding, El Sistema meetings

A place I loved and called home for eight months during college has been so different this trip because for the first time I am a visitor, not a resident. I'm being spoiled staying at a five star hotel where I can swim every morning and have endless food and everyone is " a la orden" at our service, with extra and special gratitude to Rodrigo Guerrero, El SIstema's International Deputy Officer. This generosity and hospitality is so uncommon in the US, at this level anyway.  I am going to different places daily and merely observing the different nucleos and documenting them, saving interpretation and how I can connect it/what is relevant for me til later. I write this as I sit by the pool looking at the grandeur of La Avila, the city's north star. that I saw from the top via teleferico  Because of limited internet access and my notoriety for writing anything-but-concise blogs, I have decided to write a six sense poem each day and share those along with nuggets of daily takeaways on my Twitter. Some may be reposted here, but this will mostly be reflections. You should check out my fellow fellows pages if you want a narrative of what we're doing: http://rachbrakes.blogspot.com, http://roldancarlos.wordpress.com, http://eliseseymour.wordpress.com, http://andrealandin.blogspot.com

So far I think the thing that has left the largest impression on me is the scale of El Sistema with between 1200-1500 students at EACH nucleo each day, and at the new Centro de Accion Social para la Musica (Centre for Music and Social Action), 2000 students use their practice rooms, computer lab with compositional software, rehearsal and performing spaces, and soon-to-be library. Best of all, this is FREE for all students, including the performances that occur there. Last night I had the privilege to watch the Simon Bolivar Symphonic Band that not only had a full band and percussion, but also a full lower strings section. I don't think I've ever seen a performer having so much fun.She not only looked like she wanted to be there, but that she could not have enjoyed doing anything else at that moment, literally having the time of her life.

Another large impression has been the "down-to-the-doornknob" detail that is so evident in design, specifically with the CAS design of having doorknowbs that people can push with their bodies so that they can enter a room with their hands full or with a heavy instrument in hand.  Something that really struck me was the attention to aesthetics in each space, the visual design. The rooms were not only aesthetically beautiful, but supported local Latin American artsts, and even had a space to host a gallery. The chairs were not a dim maroon or black as in most concert halls, but a vibrant, neon zigzag design. The idea is that the space should match the beautiful sound that occurs in the space.

A third impression is the true accessibility El Sistema has made. Not only do they provide a vocational school for aspring luthiers, but they also provide a special school for those with limb paralysis caused by gunwounds and traffic accidents. A quote illustrating the specific need El Sistema provides was from one of these students who commutes two hours each way to attend the workshop, "I had done IT before, but that skill didn't create a community with harmony." The instructor mentioned the therapeutical aspect of having all students who had suffered from a traumatic incident and the comraderie and support created among them So beautiful! I might add that to get to this site, we had to cross the GNB (Guarderos Nacionales Bolivares) who took our passports and were there because the Cuban embassy was nearby and it was the 20th anniversary of Chavez's coup. We've been highly encouraged not to speak about politics, as the country is highly divided and the uncertainty of Chavez's status only heightens these passionate beliefs.

My favorite nucleo thus far was La Serria. The students played at a high level, was partially outside, the choir was singing three part harmony acapella after only one month of singing, and the kids were so precious asking when we were going to return. They obviously were not used to seeing gringas like myself as they asked why I had blue eyes. We signed a guestbook and our very own Rachel conducted the orchestra! I asked the choir teacher her secret and she said discipline, focus, and repetition, and the fact that she rehearses with each section separately and has a teacher initially singing with them. I've noticed this "drill and kill" approach at all the nucleos thus far and wonder if it can really be just that simple. I'm anxious to try.

Pics are now on Facebook.

Signing off from Barquisimeto after a beautiful drive through the Venezuelan mountains and countryside and a belly full of a cachapa (a sweet corn pancake) and the most delicious fresh squeezed mora juice (something between a blackberry and raspberry).

 The juices are amazing (left to right): peach, berry, and strawberry
 Top of La Avila
 Caracas from La Avila
Best graffiti I've seen (the orchestra is the best x100) 
 Percussion sectional at La Serria
Musical Literacy 5-7 yr olds, Montalban
Top of Centro de Acción para la Música