El Sistema Research Articles

Silent stages: COVID-19 as a catalyst for change in Canadian El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes

Abstract El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes have become increasingly popular community music education and social welfare initiatives that aim to benefit socially and economically disadvantaged youth. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly disrupted many of these programmes. The purpose of this research was to investigate how eight Canadian El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. We interviewed eight teachers and eight administrators and found that their programming was impacted in relation to four themes: (a) an increased emphasis on social curricula, (b) pedagogical shifts, (c) inclusion of diverse musical voices and (d) adopting anti-racism perspectives. The COVID-19 pandemic response served as a significant catalyst for change for Canadian El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes, utilising the disruption to rethink and address participant needs.

‘The barrier has to be jumped out with this music’: Collaborative creation in an after-school community music programme

Contemporary research into community music programmes highlights diverse contexts for collaborative music making. This article contributes a case of the collaboration in music making to a growing literature on creative practice in community music initiatives led by major orchestras. The authors reflect on field research involving an after-school programme that provides free, classical instrumental music instruction to primary school-age students who would not normally have an opportunity due to their socio-economic circumstances. The Pizzicato Effect, run by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in the City of Hume, Australia has operated in the northern suburbs of Melbourne since 2009. Through focus group interviews with students, family members and teaching artists, the researchers examined community experiences of accruing cultural capital in conditions of social inequality and multicultural practice. Using qualitative methods, the case study aimed to position respondents as experts in their own lives, who own their knowledge of their worlds. Collaboration was central to a model of improvisation developed locally by teaching artists and applied on site. Furthermore, improvisation took the programme in different directions to the El Sistema model of youth orchestra training in Venezuela, which had been the original source of inspiration for the programme.

How the El Sistema Inspired Programs, Miami Music Project and the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Directly Impact the Underserved Youth of Miami and LA

This research is in the form of a collective case study focused on the Miami Music Project (MMP) and the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA). This study explores the various functions and goals of these El Sistema-inspired programs, and how they directly serve and impact under-represented communities. It also highlights the impact on the youth’s future and what these experiences tangibly and indiscriminately provide for their futures, be it beneficial or detrimental. This will also briefly touch on how MMP and YOLA’s approach to training young musicians subverts the idea of instrumental training typically being perceived as an activity only for those with few social and financial restrictions. Through virtual, individual interviews with various people that were either current alumni of these programs, recent graduates of college age, or adults in the field, their responses were recorded. This allowed for a holistic view of how these programs serve their students, thus resulting in answers that are representative of a larger population. Results showed commonalities between responses that trended towards highly positive results from being students in MMP/YOLA. In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates that these programs have left positive, tangible impacts on their current and former students.

Study of The Violin Book for The Development of Beginner Level Violin Teaching Materials Based on National Song

The violin is proven to be able to build the positive character of a nation. Venezuela's experience with its program, El Sistema, where the violin instrument is learned by the wider community, has had a positive impact in terms of social and economic aspects, including a sense of empathy, cooperation, self-confidence and can help increase awareness of national identity. In Indonesia, the violin is known as a western classical musical instrument. This assumption is supported by the rise of violin course institutions that use eurocentric teaching materials. Learning from Venezuela's experience, an effort is needed to develop violin teaching materials that offer material related to Indonesian National songs, as an effort to build national character. As a first step, a review of beginner level violin books with high credibility will be carried out. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of beginner level violin teaching materials. The research method used is analytical descriptive. This process is expected to produce the basics that need to be considered in the process of developing teaching materials, especially teaching materials for violin musical instruments. The researcher hopes to be able to inspire researchers who are developing music teaching materials through a content analysis process carried out by researchers to produce teaching materials with international standards.

“Apagando el sistema”: Fusion Music as Protest Soundscape in Lima, Peru

The song “Apagando el sistema” was released in 2015 during protests against the youth labor law known as the Ley Pulpín and frequently reposted on Facebook to show solidarity with various political and social issues. Analyzed from the perspective of what I call “fusion aesthetics,” it can be considered to build on the tradition of the Latin American Nueva Canción, reflect the fragmented nature of protests, and help the musicians negotiate their identities as mestizos and fight racism and discrimination in Peru. La canción "Apagando el sistema" fue lanzada en 2015 durante las protestas de la ley laboral juvenil conocida como Ley Pulpín, y se republicó en Facebook con frecuencia para mostrar solidaridad con diversos temas políticos y sociales. Un análisis desde una perspectiva de lo que yo llamo "estética de fusión” nos permite decir que la canción se basa en la tradición de la Nueva Canción latinoamericana, refleja la naturaleza fragmentada de las protestas y ayuda a los músicos a negociar sus identidades como mestizos y luchar contra el racismo y la discriminación en el Perú.

Book Review: Assessing El Sistema and the Claims of Social Change through Music Education

Book Review: Assessing El Sistema and the Claims of Social Change through Music Education

Teaching Citizenship Through Music Education: A Case Study of a Community Youth Orchestra Program

Abstract This instrumental case study was designed to elicit a nuanced view of perspectives and approaches to citizenship education in one context of music teaching and learning. I chose an El Sistema-inspired youth orchestra program as an instrumental case of citizenship education given the program's explicit mission: to educate students as citizens through intensive ensemble-based music instruction. Throughout one academic year, I conducted observations of the program's routine activities and engaged with five participants in interviews and processes of member reflection. Through these interviews, one program director, two instructors, and two student participants illuminated the phenomenon of citizenship education within the case. I chose a theoretical framework encompassing Nussbaum's (1998, 2000) world citizenship, as well as categories of legalism and communitarianism, to analyze perspectives and program practices relevant to citizenship education. Primary themes related to participants’ perspectives on citizenship education included expectations for individual development via musical and intrapersonal skills. Additionally, program participants discussed possible instruments of wider social and community change through long-term program outcomes. Based on this analysis, I suggest that organizations intent on citizenship education more closely examine whether classical techniques and curricula inspired by El Sistema best fulfill their missions or if the needs of their communities transcend these traditions.

Remediar la cultura impresa: reacciones a la revolución digital en Facsímil (2014), El sistema del tacto (2018), Scout (2016) y Leñador (2013)

The aim of this article is to read four works from the recent Chilean literary field as a series of reflections on print culture. These novels start from the premise that print has been profoundly affected by the digital revolution. In the first part of the article, I develop a theoretical model to understand the effect of digital on print based on the concepts of remediation, materiality, and practices of print culture. I propose that the digital revolution produced a liberation and tension in the printed culture that the four novels I study reflect, and they do so from the questioning of the functions that print has historically had. Facsímil (2014), El sistema del tacto (2018), Scout and Leñador, are novels aware of their status as a physical object, and therefore use their materiality to reflect, intervene and comment on the role printed book plays in the contemporary world. The article seeks to show that printed culture in Chile is in a moment of paradigmatic change and that literature is an exceptional starting point to understand it.

Encouraging Guidelines in Neuromusicological Research Regarding Classical Music’s Usage in Sonic Therapy - When Science Becomes Magic

"In systematic musicology as a branch of music psychology we found an intriguing orientation called cognitive neuroscience of music, or neuromusicology. It studies the function of the brain in music processing, the way music perception and production manifests in brain. Compared to other analytical models of music cognition, the mapping of the brain’s functioning serves to examine the outcome of music rather than its process, and as the music therapy methods discussed reflect, most approaches follow this ontological direction. As recent scientific researches shows, the brain mapping technique differentiates moment of listening, playing classical music or improvising. In the light of the research findings, our main focus was to get to know and understand how our musical brains functions during classical music audition so we could argue from a scientific approach not only the existing therapeutic methods used in music therapy, but the perception of classical music in the present. In the master class “Dialogue of the Arts”, we explore with our students in all grades the possible links between music and other artistic and scientific disciplines. One of the most exciting aspects of this is music and brain research, an incredibly fast-developing field whose results could reinforce the place and role of classical music in contemporary society, reinforcing existing broad-based promotion of classical music education (Kodály, El sistema etc.) Keywords: music cognition, neuromusicology, sonic therapy, classical music, models of therapy. "

Ritornello: El Sistema, music education, and a centuries-long narrative of socio-musical activism

ABSTRACT Between 2007 and 2017, El Sistema – Venezuela’s national system of youth orchestras – enjoyed a seemingly unexplainable meteoric rise, followed by an equally spectacular sunset. Although it would be easy to dismiss this Sistema decade as being no more than a peculiar aberration of music education history, I assert that El Sistema more accurately represents a poignant return – or ritornello – to one of the recurring rationales for music education, namely social activism. By situating this brief but notable decade of Sistema enthusiasm amidst a wider historical context of Venetian Ospedali, British Brass Bands, and American Settlement Music Houses, I highlight and critique the use of social activism as a rationale for music education. Ultimately, I argue that the societal importance claimed by El Sistema and derivative music education initiatives is not tenable, especially in consideration of the unremarkable legacies of similar socio-musical endeavours. I also argue that a stronger socio-musical lens would be advantageous for the field of music education to adopt. Thus, in addition to establishing a centuries-long pattern of socio-musical ritornellos, the purpose of this paper is to use a rise-and-fall dialectic to further explore the complexity of music education and its capacity for directly addressing society’s inequities.

A scoping review of research that examines El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired music education programmes

AbstractDominant discourses promote El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired music education programmes as positively transforming young lives through social inclusion and musical excellence. However, critics have raised concerns that the El Sistema model has little support from objective, evidence‐based research. To address this issue, the authors conducted a review of peer‐reviewed articles published in English between 2010 and 2020, in order to bring together descriptions and findings of research examining El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired programmes. Following a scoping review method, the authors identified 30 relevant articles for detailed review. The reported studies were identified to address programme impacts (including musical growth, academic achievement, cognitive development, and social‐emotional development) and programme design (e.g., pedagogical approaches, curricular focus, and programme challenges). Reported research methods included randomised control trials, longitudinal randomised studies, qualitative interview studies, a quasi‐experimental pre‐post design study, and ethnographic studies. Overall, the results of this scoping review strongly suggest that Sistema‐inspired music education programmes have great potential for positively impacting students, particularly in terms of musical and social‐emotional development, with less convincing but nevertheless reasonable evidence of increased academic achievement and cognitive development. The authors conclude that realising the potential of El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired programming requires context‐ and student‐specific teaching, curricula, and community support. Context and implicationsRationale for this studyDominant discourses promote El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired music education as positively transforming young lives through social inclusion and musical excellence. However, critics have raised concerns that the Sistema model has little support from objective, evidence‐based research. To find out what existing research has actually revealed, a review was conducted of peer‐reviewed articles published in English between 2010 and 2020, bringing together descriptions and findings of research that has examined El Sistema and Sistema‐inspired programming.Why the new findings matterThis review provides clear details of research that reports both the benefits and limitations of Sistema music education in terms of program impacts and program design.Implications for policy and practiceResults suggest that Sistema music education has great potential for positively impacting students, particularly in terms of musical and social‐emotional development, with less convincing but some evidence of increased academic achievement and cognitive development. Accordingly, policymakers would do well to focus advocacy and improvement efforts on social‐emotional benefits. Findings suggest Sistema educators would do well to adopt more learner‐centred approaches, particularly those that promote self‐expression, creativity, and agency; resist the privileging of Eurocentric music traditions; actively value and celebrate diverse musics, backgrounds, and cultural expressions; and bring teaching methods in line with contemporary K‐12 and community music education practices.

Revisión narrativa sobre el sistema inmunológico del paciente coinfectado con VIH y SARS COV-2: implicancias terapéuticas

El SARS CoV-2 produce la enfermedad denominada COVID-19, la que ha llevado a declarar en emergencia Global por la OMS. Los factores de riego para tener cuadro severo son diversos, uno de ellos podría ser la infección por VIH.  Se Realiza una revisión narrativa de la evidencia actual acerca de la inmunidad sobre el SARS-CoV-2 y el VIH. Se describe también la fisiopatogenia y la actividad de linfocitos CD4 subyacente, con intención de clarificar la posible utilidad de biomarcadores inflamatorios y el desarrollo de tratamientos en esta coinfección. Además, se habla del enfoque diagnóstico para pacientes coinfectados y recomendaciones de ONUSIDA. PALABRAS CLAVE:  Sistema inmunológico, SARS CoV-2, CD4, VIH/SIDA. (fuente: DeCS BIREME). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17268/rmt.2020.v16i01.11

The Dystopian Imagination in Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film

The Dystopian Imagination in Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film

Teaching creative music in El Sistema and after-school music contexts

El Sistema music programmes have blossomed over the past decade, with the aim of fostering social development through intensive orchestral music instruction. Many scholars agree that creative music making can facilitate student agency development, increase a sense of belonging and promote creative expression by allowing students to bring their perspectives to the learning context. With these benefits apparent, it seems rational that El Sistema should incorporate creative music making into its curriculum. To build understanding of how creative music approaches function in some programmes, I used a multiple qualitative case study to examine eight teachers’ perspectives of creative music making within El Sistema and after-school music programmes in Canada and the United Kingdom. Findings revealed that teachers conceptualized creative music making as activities that develop agency through collaborative music creation, that have the benefit of creating a sense of belonging and that give students the opportunity to contribute to their community. Successful nurturing of creative music making seems to rely on connecting students to their wider community, which is achieved in part through incorporating students’ own musical tastes. Teachers’ experiences with creative music making in their own music education played a crucial role in preparing them to teach creative music.

Art Music as Universal Language: Youth Orchestras' Reactions to Social Conflict

This article identifies the role art music plays in orchestra projects that deal with social conflicts of youth populations. I argue that art music serves well in this context because it is a universal language that allows for an alternative method of communication and expression between the young musicians themselves and with others. I apply metaphysical explanations, studies from cognitive neuroscience, and philosophy of language in three specific youth orchestra contexts: the Retiro Youth Orchestra, El Sistema, and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. These different lenses help uncover why and how art music positively impacts the development, both socially and personally, of young musicians in a healthier or alternative manner.

Art State, Art Activism and Expanded Concept of Art

Abstract: Contemporary post-aesthetic art implies an expanded concept of the work of art that also includes political functions. Beuys’s concept of social sculpture and Marcuse’s idea of society as a work of art can be complemented by Abreu’s project of a musical orchestra as a social ideal (the Venezuelan example of the music and education project El Sistema) and the Neue Slowenische Kunst transnational state formed from the core of art. These concepts are close to the views of Hakim Bey (Temporary Autonomous Zone), with D’Annunzio also touching upon them with his State of Fiume (1919–1920), for which he wrote the constitution and defined music as its central governing principle. Although the art state is a utopian project, art can serve a variety of emancipatory functions even in the dystopian present to intervene in and change the political. In this article, we also discuss the case of art activism in Slovenia, where culture (with many engaged artists) has become a central part of civil society oriented towards social change. Art activism contributes to an expanded concept of the political, which includes new subjects and new forms of antagonisms. Likewise, such repurposing of art emphasises its role in research.

Making music, making language

This article reframes how the making of music by minoritized bilingual Latinxchildren is interrelated to their languaging and their literacies’ performances.Taking a translanguaging approach, musicking/languaging/performing literacies are described here as holistic critical meaning-making processes. Focusing on the process by which students make meaning of texts, and not simply on the output or product of such meaning-making, this article shows how a music education programme based on El Sistema and designed for social change transforms minoritized children’s critical sense of their positions and subjectivities as producers of language and literacies. Through music education, long considered only an enrichment activity from which language minoritized students are often excluded, bilingual Latinx children are able to crack open a vision for themselves and others as competent, dignified, and valid meaning-makers—as performers of complex acts of language and literacies.

Too Big to Fail?

AbstractTHIS ARTICLE ENGAGES WITH QUESTIONS OF FAILURE IN CULTURAL PARTICIPATION THROUGH A REFLECTION UPON MATTERS OF INTERPRETATION AND MEANING. THAT IS, RATHER THAN CONSIDERING THE WAYS OR EXTENT TO WHICH CULTURAL PARTICIPATION PROGRAMMES MIGHT ACHIEVE THEIR STATED GOALS, THE DISCUSSION CENTRES UPON THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF REPRESENTATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS IN RELATION TO QUESTIONS OF ‘FAILURE’/‘SUCCESS’. THE DISCUSSION CENTRES UPON ONE CASE STUDY INITIATIVE, ENGLAND'S VERSION OF THE VENEZUELAN EL SISTEMA PROGRAMME, IN HARMONY, AND EMPLOYS FRAME ANALYSIS TO EXPLORE THE WAYS PRESS COVERAGE AND RELEVANT POLICY DOCUMENTS CULTIVATE AN IMAGE OF PROGRAMME ‘SUCCESS’. IN ORDER TO HELP REVEAL SOME OF THE PROBLEMATIC ASSUMPTIONS EMBEDDED IN DOMINANT ACCOUNTS, THE ARTICLE ALSO DRAWS ON ORIGINAL INTERVIEW DATA IN EXPLORING THE MARGINALISED PERSPECTIVES OF PROGRAMME PARTICIPANTS. THE FINDINGS WHICH EMERGE SUGGEST THE NEED FOR PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE SYMBOLIC DIMENSIONS OF CULTURAL PARTICIPATION POLICIES IN RELATION TO QUESTIONS OF ‘FAILURE’/‘SUCCESS’.

‘Tchaikovsky is ours:’ the practice of minor music from the barrios of Venezuela

ABSTRACT How do young people living in social exclusion in Venezuela negotiate their deep personal attachment to classical music and the genre’s association with dominant European culture? I approach this topic through my ethnographic fieldwork with young musicians who are members of Venezuela’s nation-wide classical music program El Sistema. The majority of these musicians are from the lower social classes in an unequal society deeply divided along the intersecting lines of race, ethnicity, and class. Transposing Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of minor literature to music, I propose the notion of ‘minor music’ to explore the relationship between classical music practices, social exclusion, and aspiration. Minor music sheds light on how people on the margins of society inhabit dominant identities strategically, critically, and by making them ‘their own.’ Through a focus on the experiences of the young performers, I explore how they may articulate an individual and collective self within and through the medium of dominant categories. This has the simultaneous effect of both reproducing deep-rooted ethno-racial and economic hierarchies, while also infusing dominant identities with contrary forms of creativity and meaning embedded in the musicians' marginal social positions.

Freedom in the Face of Nicaragua's Hybrid Carceral System

Drawing on extensive prisons research and sustained contact with (former) prisoners in Nicaragua, this article explores three former prisoners’ post-release trajectories. In the face of a hybrid state that manifests as both a legal penal state and an extralegal system of powers, colloquially referred to as el Sistema (the System), and to the backdrop of a (d)evolving political context, I argue for an understanding of the ‘tightness’ of post-release life by conceptualizing the Sistema’s transcarceral grip. Former prisoners deal with this grip in different ways, ranging from self-censorship to the taking of ‘delinquent freedoms’. A detailed understanding of this grip can help pinpoint how carceral logics are mobilized outside prison in Nicaragua and how its carceral state expands through not only legal but also extralegal means.