Rich Nations Copy Venezuela's Anti - Gang Music Schools
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From The New York Times [Reuters], Monday, June 23, 2008. Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-venezuela.html .Abstract appeared on the SmartBrief listserve, Wednesday, June 25,2008.
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Rich Nations Copy Venezuela's Anti - Gang Music Schools
By REUTERSCARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's youth orchestras and choirs havehelped thousands of children resist thug life in some of SouthAmerica's most violent slums, and now wealthy countries are lining upto emulate the system.Last year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic named Venezuelan conductorand the classical music world's brightest star Gustavo Dudamel, 27,as its next director, shining a spotlight on the remarkable networkof music schools in which he was trained.About 300,000 Venezuelan children, many from deprived city barrios,others from distant Amazon towns, now choose violins and trombonesover guns and drugs, proving Mozart and Berlioz can be as fresh asrap beats even to 21st century youths.
"This is seen as the cutting edge project of classical music,"Dudamel said. "To give children a future mixed with the sensitivitythat music offers is unique."Dudamel, who grew up in a provincial city and started playing theviolin at 10, joined the music school system a few years later tolearn to conduct and at 18 he was already the national youthorchestra's music director.Governments from Los Angeles to Scotland may not much like PresidentHugo Chavez's brand of Cuba-inspired socialism but they will soon tryto replicate Venezuela's achievements on their own streets.The music center in the Carapita neighborhood of Caracas is a primeexample of the Venezuelan program at work in a city where each weekdozens die in gunfights between rival gangs.
music classes are taught in a crowded community center amid amaze of narrow alleys and precariously built red block houses. About200 children gather for four hours of music and choral practice sixdays a week in what Venezuelans simply call "The System.""The orchestra is my family, nothing has ever grabbed me like thisbefore," said Francisco Henriques, 14, practicing trombone on theroof of his hillside home, accompanied by his cat, Trumpet. "Music iseverything I have ever wished for."As well as instilling discipline and self-esteem, the orchestrasinsist the children and teenagers attend regular school, and teacherssay the system markedly reduces truancy in slums with some of thehighest murder rates in the world."We are giving the children goals," said Carapita director ReinaldoJusto. "We don't know if they will be great musicians or not, butwhat is important is that we are saving them from dead time, which inplaces like this can be hugely damaging."WHITE GLOVESThis idea of battling delinquency with a generation of highlycultured musicians has a growing number of adherents in countriesmore used to treating classical music as the reserve of a well-to-doelite.Britain pledged on Friday to give poor children instruments and teachclassical music in a group environment in a scheme that is inspiredby Venezuela, led by world-renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber andbacked by $600,000 in state financing.Scotland last year began a similar pilot project and Los Angelesplans its first such youth orchestra for October.It wasn't always this way. When economist and musician Jose AntonioAbreu began the system in 1975 he was met with skepticism from theestablishment, wary of his preference for group-teaching overtraditional one-on-one classes."In the beginning it was somewhat criticized because it broke withtraditional music-teaching schemes. It wasn't taken very seriously,said Eduardo Mendez, who organizes the music centers from offices ina tall, battered concrete building.But the system expanded from just one school to 181 today, extendingfrom violent corners of Caracas to a chilly Andean villages and ariver-port at the edge of the Amazon jungle.There are now orchestras being formed in Venezuela's almost lawlessprisons and a choir made up of mute children who wear white gloves tosing in sign language.
government's yearly budget for the music program is $35 million,excluding the cost of thousands of instruments imported from Chinaand Europe every year and given to the musicians.
The System is still growing.Chavez, whose government widely promotes state-financed sports andcultural achievements, is launching a major new music project to beled by the orchestra foundation and hopes to involve a millionchildren within five years.************************************
From The New York Times [Reuters], Monday, June 23, 2008. Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-venezuela.html .Abstract appeared on the SmartBrief listserve, Wednesday, June 25,2008.
**********************
Rich Nations Copy Venezuela's Anti - Gang Music Schools
By REUTERSCARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's youth orchestras and choirs havehelped thousands of children resist thug life in some of SouthAmerica's most violent slums, and now wealthy countries are lining upto emulate the system.Last year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic named Venezuelan conductorand the classical music world's brightest star Gustavo Dudamel, 27,as its next director, shining a spotlight on the remarkable networkof music schools in which he was trained.About 300,000 Venezuelan children, many from deprived city barrios,others from distant Amazon towns, now choose violins and trombonesover guns and drugs, proving Mozart and Berlioz can be as fresh asrap beats even to 21st century youths.
"This is seen as the cutting edge project of classical music,"Dudamel said. "To give children a future mixed with the sensitivitythat music offers is unique."Dudamel, who grew up in a provincial city and started playing theviolin at 10, joined the music school system a few years later tolearn to conduct and at 18 he was already the national youthorchestra's music director.Governments from Los Angeles to Scotland may not much like PresidentHugo Chavez's brand of Cuba-inspired socialism but they will soon tryto replicate Venezuela's achievements on their own streets.The music center in the Carapita neighborhood of Caracas is a primeexample of the Venezuelan program at work in a city where each weekdozens die in gunfights between rival gangs.
music classes are taught in a crowded community center amid amaze of narrow alleys and precariously built red block houses. About200 children gather for four hours of music and choral practice sixdays a week in what Venezuelans simply call "The System.""The orchestra is my family, nothing has ever grabbed me like thisbefore," said Francisco Henriques, 14, practicing trombone on theroof of his hillside home, accompanied by his cat, Trumpet. "Music iseverything I have ever wished for."As well as instilling discipline and self-esteem, the orchestrasinsist the children and teenagers attend regular school, and teacherssay the system markedly reduces truancy in slums with some of thehighest murder rates in the world."We are giving the children goals," said Carapita director ReinaldoJusto. "We don't know if they will be great musicians or not, butwhat is important is that we are saving them from dead time, which inplaces like this can be hugely damaging."WHITE GLOVESThis idea of battling delinquency with a generation of highlycultured musicians has a growing number of adherents in countriesmore used to treating classical music as the reserve of a well-to-doelite.Britain pledged on Friday to give poor children instruments and teachclassical music in a group environment in a scheme that is inspiredby Venezuela, led by world-renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber andbacked by $600,000 in state financing.Scotland last year began a similar pilot project and Los Angelesplans its first such youth orchestra for October.It wasn't always this way. When economist and musician Jose AntonioAbreu began the system in 1975 he was met with skepticism from theestablishment, wary of his preference for group-teaching overtraditional one-on-one classes."In the beginning it was somewhat criticized because it broke withtraditional music-teaching schemes. It wasn't taken very seriously,said Eduardo Mendez, who organizes the music centers from offices ina tall, battered concrete building.But the system expanded from just one school to 181 today, extendingfrom violent corners of Caracas to a chilly Andean villages and ariver-port at the edge of the Amazon jungle.There are now orchestras being formed in Venezuela's almost lawlessprisons and a choir made up of mute children who wear white gloves tosing in sign language.
government's yearly budget for the music program is $35 million,excluding the cost of thousands of instruments imported from Chinaand Europe every year and given to the musicians.
The System is still growing.Chavez, whose government widely promotes state-financed sports andcultural achievements, is launching a major new music project to beled by the orchestra foundation and hopes to involve a millionchildren within five years.************************************
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