Truly Using Existing Community Resources

Last week I attended a fundraiser St Paul Conservatory of Music breakfast with two extraordinary performances by youth under the age of 10! Their performances were truly at the conservatory level. SPCM has been around for 25 years and this is when I reaffirm the work that's already being done in our communities and how important it is to collaborate with them rather than tell them to "move over, El Sistema is comin' through!"

One thing El Sistema constantly preaches is the "accessibility" piece. Yet, I found out the piano player I mentioned above was on a 90% scholarship level. My old thoughts were that most of the time scholarship kids are seen as merely an outreach program and that El Sistema was the only thing to truly be accessible to all, but Gideon's performance showed me differently. And any high-quality school ensemble IS accessible to all. I didn't have to pay a cent to be in the Stillwater choir. It was that conservatory level we are enthralled by with El Sistema Venezuela occurring right here in Minnesota!! That's what we have to remember. That conservatories and music culture ALREADY EXIST here in the US. That we don't need to build music programs here, we need to provide programs USING these existing resources.

As i meet with more and more people and attend more and more trainings, I am increasingly grateful daily for these resources. I am now Youth Participant Quality Assessment trained, a national training that assesses quality in youth development programs. After writing our 30+ page paper on assessment in the arts, I realize how little of the iceberg we truly touched. The YPQA is a national tool for youth development programs, yet I had never heard of it until Sprockets. How many other assessment tools are already written and resources that are happy to share if all we have to do is ask? This was a huge intent for the Rep and Resource Library. So that we directors who are so busy, don't have to continually reinvent the wheel. In Minnesota, we have youth development institutes! Why am I trying to build a "new" youth development program when I have experts and tools at my fingertips? My true goal that I am writing aloud to be held accountable to, is not to design a new program; but rather use all of the existing resources collaboratively and by the collective whole creating a "new" program.

Another tenet we constantly talk about in El Sistema is the parent involvement. Yet St Paul Promise Neighborhood and St Paul Public Schools DO have a strong emphasis on this even going so far as to have a Parent Academy and a Wellness Cultural Center! By using these existing resources, I can build upon someone else's foundation, instead of trying to start without a cornerstone in place.

So my question then is this. What is "new" about El Sistema-inspired programs? My answer to you is this.

As wonderful as the work of the conservatory is, the focus is that: to be a conservatory focusing on individual performers, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, in contrast, El Sistema in my mind focuses on the ensemble, bridging the gap between the community and the musicians; they're one in the same. While this is obviously at a visionary level, we can start small by frequently performing for the community and involving them. Not with affectless performances where you are glared at if you applaud between movements (No fingers pointed ;p), but rather a celebratory informance (a word I heard the other day and have adopted), informing the community of what is going on and celebrating the community.

My goal is to truly link all parties together so that it is not a "new" program, but a selection of the fittest, linking all parties together-charter/public schools, colleges, high school students, other youth choirs, other non-music youth development programs, and thus providing high quality, while building upon the work that others have done for decades if not half-centuries!

Just Do It.

This past Friday I went rock climbing for the first time since the free wall at Galyan's in high school. I remember how badly my legs would shake and my fingers would tremble and asked myself, "Why in the world would I spend money to be afraid?" Well this past Friday I did just that after an invitation from a colleague and figuring why not. I went with a few colleagues and some new people, all very encouraging of my first ascent and my terrible trepidation of rappelling to the point of literally climbing back down the wall.
But, by the end of the night, I had overcome the fear and was rappelling with no hesitation. And yes, the adrenaline actually did feel good! One of my colleagues continued to try climbing a 5.10 and kept falling. He then talked about how his colleague was quitting his job and they were going to go for it and start their business. "That's why I tried on the rock climbing wall. I didn't know if I'd make it, til I fell. And the same is true here [with the business]."
And he's 100% right. WIth this mentality and knowing the rope was going to catch me regardless, I let go with both hands and let myself fall to the ground and even landed with a smile on my face. And that is also what I'm doing here in Minnesota. Until I fall, which hasn't even come close to happening yet, I can't leave. Each day is one new rock hold. Some incredibly large, sturdy, and a great grip, others a great connecting rock, and all pushing me upwards towards the top. And I'm starting to gain "spotters" helping me with which rocks I should connect to next and able to see from perspectives from which I cannot, able to see the whole wall and all the possibilities, whereas I, on one rock can only see the immediate rocks by me and perhaps feel for some and get lucky landing them.
So if you have something where you're afraid to fall, get over the fear and JUST DO IT! You won't know until you do!

Learning about Community Leaders from the Outside

A friend told me I hadn't written in awhile, which is true, partially because I'm in a time of transition and nothing's official and partially because some of my thoughts I've been afraid of expressing, but then I remembered my pact of being my true self here. So I'll elaborate on the latter and a blog post very soon on the former.

The whole Zimmerman case has caused a lot of interesting discussions and for me realizations. I'm sure you've seen the pictures of 1950s vs. 2013 and sad thing is the pictures replicate each other. Not even an exaggeration. I won't go into my personal feelings on the event, only to say that I've realized how segregated we still are as a society and how important race still needs to be. What do I mean by that? Of course, I wish I lived in a colorblind world, where it didn't matter. But after this past year being surrounded by various ethnicities, I realized how important it was to not only acknowledge diversity, but discuss it. Assumptions are made before I do/say anything just because of who I am; and why should I being from a "privileged background" be handed any information from others who didn't have that same "easy path"?

This question has really resonated with me this week as I began to attend community events. I attended one neighborhood event and I kid you not, aside from the photographer and a councilman candidate, I was the ONLY non-African-American, and even they didn't stay til the end. I don't even mean to say "white person"; I truly mean it was all African-Americans. To me this was sad, sad that so many didn't have the opportunity to learn about their visions for their neighborhood, to hear the beautiful music sang/played, to watch the amazing stomp dancing and spoken word presentations. From the moment I entered, I knew I was an anomaly attending this event, even though it said "everyone welcomed" and I was invited by a community member. I especially knew this when they thanked people for coming and the speaker smiled and stared at me. 'Who's the white girl at the table?' was certainly the question running through everyone's mind.

I tried to "act normal" and striked up a conversation with the man sitting next to me, but when it turned into an interview format, I decided it would be best to let it go. But just as I was about to give up, he asked me, "so..who are you?" This was my chance. I started to describe to him I was new to the area and what I am trying to build in the community emphasizing the community-based part of the elevator pitch. He politely nodded and acquiesced my request, giving me his email to send him the one-pager. The community member who invited me then told me all the people I should meet, but it was hard. I had to approach them and even then there was an invisible barrier. People wanted to see their friends and people they hadn't talked to in a long time; not the random white girl at the event. I had to truly push through this, and even then, I felt the disinterest. I acquired a few more business cards and returned to my seat.

It was only then, when my role turned to merely as an observer of the meeting, that I was truly able to see who each of these individuals were and when their true identities radiated. I was so impacted by these individuals, their words, their voices, their thoughts. Finding out the man I had spoken to was a former high school principal who impacted another adult present at the meeting to continue school and was now a business owner. Another was the only African American in the House of Representatives, one fought for the Red Cap Room name at the historical Union Depot in honor of his father. One fought for the presence of minority businesses in the Square and it was her daughter's shop that was there.

These individuals' identities shone brighter than an LED neon glow stick and their stories so powerful, but it was only in the presence of the community. I asked myself selfishly why I wasn't able to see this power when I conversed with them? And then the whole "privileged background" and being handed information from others who were constantly oppressed conversation from the year really resonated with me.

All of a sudden there was a large division of "we" vs "them." And how could there not be? "They" put a highway straight through "our" neighborhood, "they" weren't even going to stop the lightrail in "our" neighborhood, just have it go straight to downtown so "we" couldn't utilize it, and "we" are going to have to fight to keep living in "our" neighborhood as taxes/house value increases with this light rail so "they" don't kick us out. All of these statements are completely fair and I don't blame the mistrust.

But leaving that meeting, I had a question in mind: how can we show the power of being a community leader outside "our people"? How can we communicate our story, our identities, our backgrounds? Isn't that how impact is sustained, when we do something outside our own turf? As I truly value building a program that is community-based, how can I do this authentically? Especially when there are so many different cultures within that one community.

This is my dream. This is my hope of bringing different walks of life together through music. That we can realize it's not about the color of our skin, it's about the wisdom, the stories, the compassion, and the friendships we build, both within our own communities and with others different from ourselves. In my mind, this is the only way, we will be able to start to have the conversations needed to be empathetic towards all.

And now I'll close with part of a spoken word poem by Joshua Akpan, a freshman highschooler from Brooklyn park.

"People are always talking about the stereotypes of a young, black boy. That's right. I will rob you.
Rob you of your ignorance...I will sell you a drug...a drug of wisdom." I wish I remembered more, but that's a poem that will stay with me a long while.

What are your thoughts?

Culturally Competent Orchestras #imagining2023

Thanks to the League of American Orchestras, I was able to attend their national conference free of charge. Aside from new connections, some of the sessions were very thought provoking including one discussing how to broach cross cultures. While I know etymologically the word culture come from its Latin root "to grow", the definition the presenter gave was the set of certain behaviors and values as things that are right and wrong.
What I found fascinating were the seven dynamics of culture
Fairness
Getting things done
Time
Status
Emotion
Control
Community

If you look at this link, you will notice there is a more individualistic, low affect side and a more communitarian, high affect side. Believe it or not, the new generation is tending to lean towards that similar of the archetype of Latinos, African Americans, and other high affect, communitarian peoples. So now let's apply this to orchestras. Everything from the structure of the concert hall being hierarchical to an exact duration of a piece to being reprimanded if applauding between movements are all things on the left side of these columns, where the archetype of Westerners tends to fall. But imagine if you tend to be on the right side of the above categories. You're used to expressing yourself, playing music in circles, and not knowing how long something will last because it will depend on that specific time of playing it (ex:drum circles, gamelan, indigenous music, jam sessions). Even if an orchestra ticket is available to you and they do include a composer from your ethnicity. Are they respecting your culture or at the very least acknowledging it? No. And that is why there hasn't been diversification of orchestra audiences. Sure part of it is an access problem, but why don't diverse audiences attend free concerts? Because they don't feel it's relevant to them, and how could they when only one end of the spectrum is being represented? How can we make it relevant to them so that they feel a part of their culture is reflected and thus it is of value? It's not because Latinos don't like classical music; did you know the first conservatory in America was in Mexico?
Obviously this wont't change overnight and I'm not necessarily suggesting people do the tongue flutter accolades done in E Africa in a symphony hall. But step one is for everyone to at least be aware and have the conversation. I asked when to have this conversation especially when beginning a new program? Her response will stick with me. "Well you have the operations, policies, etc. why not just add diversity as another topic?"

At the end of the conference we were all imagining our dreams for the orchestra in 2023 in six words or less. Mine was "orchestras truly represent communities and accessible to all." And then my colleague and friend Stan took the stage and boldly said we have bigger fish to fry than that we're not meeting our millions of dollar orchestra budgets. What about the future of children? Right now there is a 250 billion spent on children devoid of opportunity who end up in juv, welfare, pregnant, etc. that number will increase to 450 by 2023. Why not have the orchestras help this and worry about decreasing problems like the achievement gap in the twin cities, youth violence, teen pregnancy rates, etc. well said Stan well said!
So now I ask you. What do you think the world will look like in 2023 and how do you think orchestras can take a role so that they are not stifling, elite, sea-of-white hair institutions but rather the place their Greek root name derives, "the dancing place."

La Ultima Semana en Boston: New Discoveries

This past week has been nothing short of a whirlwind. In addition to the typical moving rituals of packing and farewells, I have had the pleasure of interpreting at the first U.S. misión (VZ to other countries) and Greater Boston showcase where eight nucleos came together and seven Venezuelans worked with them for an entire week, culminating in the final showcase concert tonight.  It was so great to be able to see all my colleagues' work. Bravi to all! I hope I can take pieces to MN!
As an aside, I saw my first El Sistema drums corps sans marching and a brass gig group that played the Beatles. It's evolved away from solely classical music in the US! Conservatory Lab is like the Montalbán of the US and I am so happy to hear they are expanding to 8th grade serving over 300+ students and eventually reaching 444 kids!
Aside from a brain that's caught between languages and many new connections I learned some more insights about the "Sistema way."

1) "Fuerza primero, refinamiento luego" (strength first, refinement later)
Forte is Venezuela's first objective and does not equate to passion. So often I hear people saying El Sistema kids are so passionate. I have no doubt about this! BUT, what is distinguishing that passion? Is this to say there isn't passion in other forms of music education? I certainly had passionate teachers/choir directors! Personally, I think this difference is the emphasis on the strong sound. Dr. Abreu strives for this strong sound as a starting point. In fact, he has a bow technique that literally translates as "scratching at the frog [of the bow]."A strong sound builds self-esteem and confidence, two incredibly important human characteristics.  In their opinion, pp (very soft) hinders technique and builds fear in the body. They emphasize this strong sound so much that for a long while piano dynamics are ignored in the music and everything is played forte.
I think it is this element of fortissimo, a surprise to which we're not used to hearing played by youth, magnified by the colossal size of their orchestras (200+), that some may claim as "passion."To say other music ed programs aren't passionate is just plain wrong.

2) The emphasis on scales
Roberto Zambrano, a founding member of El Sistema said everything for him was marked as pre/post his visit to Europe when he was studying Czech music for his Master's. He told me several times about how important it is to have the foundation of scales and it wouldn't be uncommon for them to work on this for an hour.
There is a pedagogy triangle of theory, practice, and philosophy. As I'm sure you're not surprised, scales was the foundation of practice and theory. Without scales one can't do anything. Philosophy was anything that wasn't specifically musical, but informed the piece or created "good" human beings.

3) The idea of ser y no ser
It's not that the current work is bad, but there's constantly the question of "What can I do better?" With this in mind, this isn't just applied to the music, but rather to the entire human being of constantly self-evaluating oneself.

4) It's not about being the best musician, but rather the best teacher
The best thing is to have a group of varying levels of musicians. A year ago, I would have thought this was a teacher nightmare, but now I realize that this is the best way to empower the students and strive for collective efficacy, and possibly a teacher's dream.

5) Playing together as an ensemble
Every time the VZ came to work with the students the exercises they did made them listen to each other and count in sections. It's the sum of these individual strengths that make up an orchestra. To build the symphonic sound, the same articulation is essential. This helps in establishing the "soñido corporal." The physical body of the orchestra needs to sound together.

6) Autogogica, translated as self-teaching
One (of many) reasons music is a way to develop human beings is the fact that music can be self-taught and guided. One can challenge themselves to do to the next exercise, discipline oneself to hone in on a particular section, or decide they want to play with their family/friends. It's the choice of that individual.

7) Discipline is not discipline for discipline's sake, but rather as a conduit for achieving goals
 Jesús Sira defined discipline as rules for living together in order to achieve goals. A very different definition than any I had previously heard or thought of myself. I'd love to hear comments on this!

8) Last but NOT least, is the love of your work. VZ for those of you who don't know sometimes do this for 12 hrs straight. There is no such thing as a bathroom break, a snack break, or even a mere 30 second mental break. They work HARD. But it's because they love it. You can't do something to that degree that you don't love. When I asked them what they would have liked to have done more of this week, they all responded, "Work more."

Thank you to Mark Churchhill, CLCS, the Venezuelans, and everyone who generously hosted me this week. It was a wonderful, and very relevant/appropriate way to end my time in Boston. I hope I can visit soon!! They're having an international seminario in Acarigua June 14. Congrats to Maestro Abreu who received an honorary doctorate from Harvard alongside Oprah and Mayor Menino! And thus closes another life chapter.

A Farewell to Boston

Life is full of surprises. This adage never ceases to (ironically) surprise me. Graduation was a whirlwind, but while impromptu, it truly was a beautiful ceremony. Each fellow gave their own unique presentation. Personally, two first things occurred. One was the minority played music and in that music was myself. I don't say this to sound arrogant, but rather as a new moment of self-awareness. Performance has never been something I will willingly do. I usually acquiesce requests when people ask me to accompany or play something with them, but rarely is it my idea. While this still was at the request of my wonderful friend/fellow Monique, it made me realize how important performance is to me. It's just not that in the setting of a concert pianist, but rather as a way to bring people together. When I was playing, I got lost in the music, and expressed myself in a way that only music can. A goal for me this next year is to stay an active performer and know that doing that in an ensemble setting is just as acceptable as a soloist. The other new thing is I gave a speech without any preparation. The words were coming to me while other fellows were speaking, but when I got up there with my outline and all, I didn't glance down once. Looking out to the audience, I realized I, while my blood family was absent, was among family, the NEC/Sistema family, and it was really special to have such an intimate, meaningful graduation, instead of the typical names and pre-determined speeches. It's not too often one gets to plan their own graduation, and we did just that. After then flying to CA to hear my sister's graduation which was essentially a capital campaign speech (and an atrocious one at that), I continued to feel so fortunate for how special our ceremony was.

I'd also like to put a plug for our recently finished Sistema assessment paper: http://sistemafellows.typepad.com/my-blog/2013/05/an-exploration-in-el-sistema-inspired-assessment-practice.html
I'd love to hear your input!

And then, I went to MN for 3.5 days. Mainly so I didn't have to take a 7 hr flight straight back, but also to have some meetings I had initially scheduled over Christmas break that didn't happen then...And in those 9 meetings in 3 days, my future was deemed. I know part of it is honeymoon stage of not having been home in 6 months, but part of it, and the part that counts, is that it just felt so right! The work happened so naturally and I truly felt the potential and support that WILL happen. How can the Twin Cities NOT have a program?!

The Tipping Point

I'm aware it's been awhile. To be frank, aside from the busyness excuse, aside from further cultivation of development skills, there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about with next steps being uncertain. But after a complimentary registration of the League conference and some wonderful conversations with colleagues,  life is going to happen regardless of if I plan it or not so I'm riding with it and not overanalyzing the possibilities, but rather actively pursuing the options. Here's a book that I thought worthwhile.

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Perhaps some of you will recognize the title of this blog from Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller The Tipping Point. If you haven't read it, regardless of your field (but especially if you're in the Sistema world), I HIGHLY recommend it. Psychology is a subject I did not take in school and something that fascinates me and to which I have learned a great deal this year. The book talks about a lot of different instances, but let me choose two and apply them to the Sistema field and why I feel they are so relevant. All information is accredited to the aforementioned book. As always comments are welcome!

1. Contagiousness vs. Stickiness
The former term is a factor of who receives the message and how many different groups of people that person knows; notice I did not say how many people that person knows because if all those people are in the same circle, it will not spread. The latter term has to do with the product itself. How impressionable is it? There's a Law of Few meaning it doesn't take a large group of people to spread something. Find those passionate people and invest time in them!

The stickiness factor will have to do with the impression you leave on people at events, your website, and the difference your program makes (the reason why logic models, assessment/evaluation are so important. Stay tuned for a paper on this from our cohort!). Some people may not have a lot of friends, but they're incredibly persuasive and when these people tell others about an idea, they're sold.

The combination of these two types of people is what the Sistema field needs! I learned from the book there was a guy that did the same thing as Paul Revere, but he didn't know people outside his social circle so riding outside of Boston was pointless.

2. Nature vs. Nurture
The book also discusses the fact that children who are from troubled neighborhoods, but good families are worse off than troubled families and good neighborhoods. The studies discussed show that in fact, it's not parents who have a large influence on the kids (done through comparing adopted children with their adopted parents and finding no resemblance whatsoever). It's rather the peer environment that influences children significantly.

Expanding this thought, it's also not what you do in the environment ("the convictions of your heart and the actual contents of your thoughts are less important in guiding your actions than the immediate context of your behavior" (165), but rather creating that environment. This is to say that it is more important psychologically speaking to create a safe, nurturing, supportive environment than produce musical excellence, stimulation or concentration on X skill. In my mind, THIS is why nucleos are effective.

I just heard an anecdote from ACME pertaining to this. ACME students are the only ones saying thank you for their snacks out of all the afterschool program children (that's 13 out of 100+). Some could say this is just a correlation, but the fact that it is such a small number tells me otherwise or that it is in fact a strong correlation. In my mind, this is producing the nebulous "social change" everyone discusses, one baby step at a time. And it's because the environment to do so is created, not the fact that they're playing musical instruments.

I also just read ACME's first Evaluation report that showed ACME kids were more creative and showed more empathy than the control group. And this is in under a year with a mere thirteen first graders! I can only imagine the long-term outcomes a program like ACME can have in vast communities all across the world!!



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As I end this year, my next steps are still uncertain, but the immense amount of skills I have begun to develop and the connections that have been built give me the confidence to go out into this world and do the work. I've also decided that as I learned this year in group discussions, an objective must be set before every meeting to be as efficient as possible. I now actively use this same principle in life. Just think if we set out each day with a Purpose in mind (the P is upper case on purpose). Instead of going to a job with the purpose of "making a living," think if we went to that job for the purpose of making a difference, and in turn MADE A LIFE! What does it really mean to make a living? Perhaps I am among few who think this and I'm sure I can be called unrealistic, a dreamer, stuck in a bubble and not in the "real world," but after the recent Boston marathon events I am continually reminded that each day is a blessing and an opportunity. An opportunity to do what YOU want. For me, that is to make this world a better place in the best way I know how. In the words of Switchfoot, "This is your life. Are you who you want to be?"

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

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.

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

► 4:20► 4:20

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

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."

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

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

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

Pre-Venezuela Thoughts: Bad Luck. Good Luck. Who Knows?

And now for some last minute thoughts and revelations before taking off to Venezuela. This time tomorrow I will be (hopefully) asleep in transit on an airplane to Caracas!!

To go off Rachel's blog post (http://rachbrakes.blogspot.com) on grey space, so few things in life are an immutable, static black or white. I think some things in life are black and white, but can easily fade to grey, which made me have a revelation, even if perhaps obvious. 

Nothing is constant. You think you have X job, but who's not to say you won't be offered a more appealing one or have a circumstance that requires you to relocate. Relationships..we won't even go there with the divorce rate now being well over 50%. And places..well this is really where it applied. I realized today how transient of a place Boston is and how much I truly love Boston for the place, not the people. The only other place this has happened is MN. You can't base how much you like/dislike a place on the people because those can (and will) change. Next year, most if not all the Fellows will be out of Boston, but what does Boston provide regardless of people? I am reminded of my other homes: Decorah where I loved the place and people, though will admit I could never live there now that the people are gone, Tanzania-where I didn't like the place and didn't know the people so it was a bad fit but certainly a wonderful experience, and Chile-a great place, but not my favorite people. 

All this makes me realize that perhaps the reason the whole "settling down" thing is appealing to so many, is this desire to have constants, and decrease the unknown (grey space). If I bought a house, were married, and had children, it would be pretty hard for the major building blocks of life as I know it to change. I heard a friend today said, "I really like where I'm at, my housemates and network I've built, but I'm sure something bigger and better will come." We as Americans certainly like this idea of "bigger and better." But may I posit is bigger always better? And is better always bigger? The way we think is very linear. A career path parallels a ladder, our life cycle and timelines are lines from beginning to END. This word causes so many problems because it is a fixed point, eliminates grey space, but also eliminates new possibilities. For some, this is a good thing because it allows one to raise a family in a stable environment. But for me, that sounds like "stuck," "trapped", or any other rooted word. The beautiful thing about the majority of life decisions is because there is no constant, you can change. You can change your job, significant other, friends, apartment/housemates, schools, and anything else that is not owned. But when you start to own a car, house, or have a life partner or child, these types of decisions are close to impossible to undo. Ideally, this would be a good thing because you love it/him/her, but I like the idea that I can make a mistake, learn from it, and alter my path if needed/desired. It makes decisions far less daunting (and goodness knows how good I am at making those) because I know I can change it if need be. 

Which brings me to my final revelation, which relates back to the mantra of you creating your own reality, or rather how you perceive your situation greatly affects your reality. Today I heard the two dichotomous words creeping up in conversation: "good" and "bad." We as humans or at least Americans love labels. "That was such a BAD decision." "I really made the RIGHT decision." But I want you to reflect on something that, at the time, you probably thought was a "bad" decision. I'm sure there was a post-rejection period from a job, crush, or other life opportunity where you didn't feel so great. But, then reflect on what happened after that, it could be a few months or years down the road, and it could be several. What opportunity presented itself that wouldn't have presented itself had that rejection not occurred? That second decision that you actually executed/experienced, was a "better" decision in that you were a better match for that position than the initial pursuit even if you desired that. It makes me think of a Zen story I heard a few weeks ago about a farmer. 

An old Zen story goes like this: An old Chinese farmer had a mare that broke through the fence and ran away. When his neighbors learned of it, they came to the farmer and said, "What bad luck this is. You don't have a horse during planting season." The farmer listened and then replied, "Bad luck, good luck. Who knows? A few days later, the mare returned with two stallions. When the neighbors learned of it, they visited the farmer. "You are now a rich man. What good fortune this is," they said. The farmer listened and again replied, "Good fortune, bad fortune. Who knows?" Later that day, the farmer's only son was thrown from one of the stallions and broke his leg. When the neighbors heard about it, they came to the farmer. "It is planting season and now there is no one to help you," they said. "This is truly bad luck." The farmer listened, and once more he said, "Bad luck, good luck. Who knows?" The very next day, the emperor's army rode into the town and conscripted the eldest son in every family. Only the farmer's son with his broken leg remained behind. Soon the neighbors arrived. Tearfully, they said, "Yours is the only son who was not taken from his family and sent to war. What good fortune this is..." 

If we write a decision/experience off as "good" or "bad", we usually miss the opportunity to learn, grow, challenge, and change. I challenge you, to see the growth opportunity next time a "bad" thing happens. Of course I am not stating there is no such thing as tragedy, catastrophe, or that everything happens for a reason. Only that, we can more fully live life to the fullest (and probably waste less time and hopefully fewer unproductive emotional states) if we take each thing in life as an opportunity. 

This is my mindset for the upcoming trip to Venezuela. No expectations. Only an opportunity to learn, question, grow, and hopefully with time, influence change on the US Sistema field as needed.