Some Video Footage- 2 films of classes I enjoyed at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston and two videos of El Sistema@Rainey in Cleveland

EL SISTEMA@RAINEY in CLEVELAND LAUNCHED!!

ES@Rainey Conductor and Violist Darnell Weaver teaches orchestra today.


EL SISTEMA@RAINEY LAUNCHES!!

3 short weeks ago, we started daily classes at Rainey Institute in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland with 30 very excited children that we teach 90 minutes per day on violin. Progress is quick and the energy high when you teach every single school day!! The staff of 5 wonderful teachers are so dedicated and willing to go millions of extra miles to make this program the best it can be for the kids we have. Highlights of these past 3 weeks have been our many mini-graduations, at which students try to reach the next harder level by performing a skill, whether a beautiful bow-hold bunny, or a perfectly bowed V-I-O-L-A (adaptation of BINGO song to teach bowing with a wooden stick in a dowel tube).

STUDENT TRIES A VIOLIN AND BOW FOR THE FIRST TIME!

The difference of teaching exclusively in groups, without most any family involvement (we briefly see them at pick-up) is HUGE, for we have to create engagement directly in the children themselves. This happens when everything is a game and the children want to come back the next day to achieve the next little level. A constant feeling of success and joy must be present in the room.

I have never been this tired and at the same time, each day, I cannot wait to see the kids and try the next ideas we have. I love teaching EVERY DAY! There is no time to get bad habits!


We are SOOOO excited to graduate next week to REAL WOODEN violins, donated to our program by The Cleveland Orchestra and its partner ConnSelmer Inc, the official providers of Sherl and Roth violins to El Sistema@Rainey.

Student holds her dowel "bow" equipped with a wonderful "BowMate" (generously donated to many El Sistema programs in the US by the inventor himself!),a pencil holder with hole punched for pinkie nest, plus a thumbnail shaped groove in the stick, in which to place the tip of their (bent!) thumbs (my idea). Kids are liking these Beginner bows and are mostly boasting really relaxed bow positions.

Here is a class we had today, in which students learned GDG on their paper violins, led by the wonderful ochestra director, Darnell Weaver.


Our other teachers are: Brittany Kubiak, amazing educator, Courtney Bonifant with her huge heart for kids, Titus Golden, who wants to work every minute of the day, and Marque Davis, who has the gift of getting any group of kids from here to there in no time flat! I feel so lucky that we have this VERY committed team.

The Bigger Picture of El Sistema

TWO WEEKS, TWO CITIES: MERIDA AND BARQUISIMETO

Without a shadow of doubt, to see "El Sistema", you have to see more than Caracas. At every stop anew, I find myself trying to answer for myself that question I came to this year for:

WHAT IS EL SISTEMA??

Obvious quick answer:

TRULY MAGICAL

Beyond that??

It is the idea that every single child in Venezuela and beyond deserves access to free outstanding music education.

How exactly this is done is quite different in different places, as it will be in the US or anywhere else we introduce this idea. In an attempt to show you how many facets this concept has, I will post videos this time, and outline a talk given to us by the main violin teacher in Barquisimeto, Prof. Francisco Diaz

Here's a video of:

BABY CORO in BARQUISIMETO, the Conservatorio where Gustavo Dudamel trained.

I would like to join this choir!!

RAVEL's BOLERO performed at MERIDA SPECIAL NEEDS YOUTH PROGRAM

Merida's Special Needs program is dedicated to serving about 35 Special Needs kids every day, morning. The sensitivity, musicality and esp. the DESIRE TO PERFORM at a high level were so obvious and also made showed an El Sistema trait we see everywhere:

CHILD APPROPRIATE, HIGHLY ENGAGING AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TECHNIQUES

You do not see chalkboards, or notebooks, little theory, no teacher I have seen talks a lot, no criticism in the foregound.....But the kids are DOING---playing singing, dancing,...in classes or on their own in a loud corner, or with a teacher, who is solfeging along.....calmly positive, there is never a rush, rarely a schedule, generosity of time and spirit...and there is

MUCH JOY!

Yesterday, I went to the HUGE Conservatorio in Barquisimeto. I was told to come teach at 1. I finished at 6 pm, no breaks, had given 8 "lessons" to very very good players...and there were 4 more. I was hungry and tired, so we agreed to meet again today.

(I was so tired that my eyesight was blurry...)

Two advanced children had begun violin 3 years ago! The 15 year old was playing Lalo and a 9 year old boy played Mozart #3, so elegantly and like a little man. Amazing what you can do when you play 4 hours a day, which is the time they spend here, playing orchestra and preparing for lessons with what must be an

AMAZING VIOLIN TEACHER:

FRANCISCO DIAZ

He took us to his office, an average little room without air conditioning, an old plastic recliner, some plastic chairs, and he launched into an impassioned and impressive speech on what EL SISTEMA is:

A) INCLUSIVE ORCHESTRAL PROGRAM,

MAIN FOCUS IS ON CHILD BECOMING A MEMBER OF A MODEL SOCIETY= ORCHESTRA

B) INDIVIDUAL GROWTH- SECONDARY

He spoke of 4 levels of instrumental learning:

1) IMITATION
-from the first day, the child sits down in orchestra and PLAYS by imitating
teacher.

2) CONTROL
-learning to be coordinated with others and with written text

3) PRECISION
- fine-tuning individual skills

4) AUTOMATION
-Endless repetitions , (yes, we see this A LOT) bring automation and mastery.

How else to explain the Infantil Orchestra of 350 children ages 8-12 that played
unabridged MAHLER 1 for Sir Simon Rattle last year FROM MEMORY! No music stands!!

In terms of teaching violin, it is very interesting to me that the children are first taught to play the way it feels natural to them and other aspects come later. These refinements are conveyed by traditional methods: much emphasis on correct MARTELE

which, we were told, forms the cornerstone of the violin teaching here. Galamian Sevcik, and all the Wieniwaski's, Lalo's, Bruch's Kreislers are studied by teenagers here. Interestingly, there is no piano playing anywhere, so these pieces are simply performed alone, so far as I have heard.

For Beginners, Barquisimeto uses the

Method Book "All For Strings"

and adds wind parts. He told us that we will either become good arrangers or need good arranger friends! The book is on the stand from the first day, but kids cannot use it for awhile, but they HAVE it and try to read.
Beginning stages are ALL GAMES.

TEACHER SELECTION

For the Young Musicians, the teacher is chosen solely based on his ability to MOTIVATE THE KIDS of the age group you need him/her for. He feels there is no need for academic training or music ed. degrees, but the ability to motivate and engage with kids. If a child shows talent for playing, they can later be with teachers that are more skilled and trained themselves.

This makes a lot of sense, as there is no parent involvement beyond coming to concerts or bringing them in. Once at the school, you see only musicians: young kids, teenagers that double as teachers and Conservatory students and then the adult "master" teachers, like Francisco, that also play in the professional orchestra.

TEAM BUILDING

I asked how this unity of purpose is created that I feel among the faculty, children, parents and staff.

He thought a long time, went deep inside himself, and said:
(this was very moving to me:)

"IT'S ABOUT THE MYSTERY--


Because the most IMPORTANT feature of El Sistema is the

INCLUSIVITY

every child that comes to you is served,

you need to believe IN YOUR HEART that each and every child you teach can be a member of your orchestra. And when you hear the orchestra that contains members that are imperfect, that no one thought could contribute to the sound, and they make beautiful music, and the parents are amazed at what their kids can do, then you know that your work was not for money or for fame, but is paid from Above.

If you can create this dream in yourself and your teachers, if it makes the hair stand on your back, then you will be able to get through the tough times, because they will come. You are dealing with people and you will face challenges, but you keep this Mystery in your mind and you will have strength."

Lastly:

Video of a Special Needs Band in Barquisimeto

Drumset and Piano players both are blind, two members are wheelchair-bound, plus some non-special needs children and their teacher playing Marimba.

Venezuela At Last!!!

Click here to see why the world celebrates El Sistema!

To be here and see how this all happened is the culmination of this great Fellowship year!!

We have been in CARACAS,VENEZUELA observing

EL SISTEMA

for

4 days

and I am

COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!

For anyone interested in RELEVANCY questions surrounding the art-form of music:

WELCOME TO A LAND OF TRULY GREAT MUSIC-MAKING BY 1000'S OF KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS!!

300,000 TO BE EXACT...

HOW DOES THIS WORK SO WELL???

HOW DID THIS GO FROM 12 KIDS IN A GARAGE TO THIS?

BELOW: THE SIMON BOLIVAR B ORCHESTRA:

PROGRAM:

BARTOK MUSIC FOR STRINGS CELESTE AND PERCUSSION

DVORAK 8

CONDUCTOR: (a name to remember, she is a strong, musical and deeply committed Leader. She had 6 rehearsals ONLY with this program and a young orchestra that had never played this difficult Bartok before)

ALLONDRA DE LA PARRA

New York born and trained, of Mexican descent-

she gets my highest recommendation.

Our Caracas host has been Rodrigo Guerrero, the ANGEL of our trip. He is FESNIJOV's Deputy Director of International Affairs, he picked us up at midnight and stayed with us through airport customs and Hotel check-in by 2:30 am, came back for us by 9 am to go to the US Embassy for our kind but very scary security briefing....

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Rodrigo, a very generous man, deeply committed and passionate about the growth and future of El Sistema world-wide, is currently our closest connection to the inner workings of El Sistema. On his amazing Blackberry, he also arranges all of our work and travel plans and answers all of our deep questions about El Sistema, or as they call it here: Foundation for Social Action Through Music.

NOTICE THE AGE-DIVERSE AUDIENCE BELOW. MANY KIDS COMING IN WERE CARRYING THEIR OWN INSTRUMENTS SUPPORTING MY

THEORY ON RELEVANCY:

IT IS VERY VERY EXCITING TO WATCH SOMEONE EXCEL AT SOMETHING YOU ARE TRYING TO DO. IF THESE "MASTERS" ARE YOUR FRIENDS and TEACHERS

(AS WAS EVIDENCED BY THE BEAUTIFUL CHEERING AND CLAPPING AFTERWARDS),

THEN THE

COMMUNITY OF PASSION

IS COMPLETE.

THIS IS RELEVANCY,

BECAUSE EACH MEMBER OF THIS COMMUNITY

IS IMPORTANT.

(THIS IS NOT UNLIKE ANY SPORTS CLUB, WHERE THE PROS FIND FANS TO TEACH AND THE FANS FIND TEACHERS TO ADMIRE AND ENJOY BEING CONNECTED TO)In VZ, THIS SAME ENERGY IS

SIMPLY ABOUT MUSIC ON A VERY GRAND SCALE.

FESNOJIV IS THE ACRONYM FOR THE "FUNDACION", AS PEOPLE SAY HERE.

THEIR BRAND NEW FACILITY "FOR SOCIAL ACTION THROUGH MUSIC" SERVES AS THE HEADQUARTERS FOR FESNOJIV and SERVES AS A NATIONAL GATHERING PLACE

FOR THE MUSICAL EFFORTS in the WHOLE COUNTRY.

IMPORTANT: THE YOUTH ORCHESTRA "NETWORK" IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THESE TOP ORCHESTRAS, ALTHOUGH CONSIDERABLE RESOURCES GO THERE AND THE NATION'S PRIDE IN SHOWING THESE ORCHESTRAS TO THE WORLD AS A SYMBOL FOR VENEZUELA, IS IMPORTANT.

CURRENTLY, there are 300,000 children enrolled in daily music programs in Venezuela. To Rodrigo this number is ONLY so many, (!!) as there are 24 million Venezuelans. There are plans to raise this number to ONE MILLION children. To this end, 6 more buildings of this size are in planning stages, throughout the country. El Sistema has grown UPWARDS for 35 years, making this center in Caracas symbolic for what has been achieved: a network of youth music programs that give free outstanding music education to any interested customer for the purpose of

SOCIAL CHANGE.

If extraordinary talent and interest arise in a child, there is a road to Caracas, where children can be trained BY THE BEST to be performers and teachers. As teachers, it is their obligation to go back to the "Interior" where they mostly come from, and bring back what was learned in Caracas.

Here some pictures of this gorgeous space. It is full of life yet so relaxed....I feel so very happy there!

3 OF THE 11 FLOORS

FELLOW FELLOW ADRIENNE TAYLOR, ANOTHER 3 FLOORS...

This Fundacion building is 11 stories high, with COUNTLESS REHEARSAL AND PRACTICE SPACES, EACH ROOM CAREFULLY DESIGNED ACOUSTICALLY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF ITS CUSTOMERS.

THERE ARE 2 CONCERT HALLS IN THIS BUILDING, ONE FOR 400, ONE FOR 800 PEOPLE. I LOVED THE SEATS:

COOL COLORS!!

TODAY, AHOY, VIAGAMOS A MERIDA, UN CUIDAD EN LOS ANDES!!!! IT IS A 12 HOUR TRIP ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS.....GORGEOUS!!

FELLOW FELLOW

PACO AND ME,....

THE NEXT WEEK IN MERIDA IS OUR CHANCE TO SEE THE INTERIOR WORKINGS OF THIS COUNTRYWIDE NETWORK OF MUSIC SCHOOLS FOR YOUTH. WE WILL SEE AT LEAST 3 DIFFERENT "NUCLEOS" (MUSIC SCHOOLS) IN THIS MOUNTAIN REGION.

I WILL BE BACK TO BLOG MORE SOON!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT BE CURIOUS ABOUT!

I AM IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO ASK FOR YOU....

GOOD BYE FROM A VERY HAPPY ISABEL

THANK YOU TO ALL WHOM MADE THIS JOURNEY POSSIBLE.

IT IS EXTRAORDINARY!

LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY!!

Occasionally what you do coincides with what the Universe would like to get done.

This blog is a tribute to all the wonderful people who have contributed to the amazing fact that in 3 short months we have been able to create firm plans for:

EL SISTEMA @RAINEY ,

starting September 2011

with 30 children,

grades 1-4!!!!!

I give full credit to the momentum gathered around the ideals of El Sistema: to give ALL children a chance to develop skills they need to succeed in life by offering them a membership to a joyful community of passionate child and adult musicians.

Since the last posting, 5 (FIVE) major Serendippities have happened:

SERENDIPPITY 1:

FINDING RAINEY INSTITUTE

December 23rd:

Thanks to the suggestion by Joan Katz, and continued prodding by David Mayo, I finally visited the Rainey Institute in Cleveland's Hough Neighborhood (E. 55th and Payne), met Lee Lazar , the inpressive Executive Director of the Institute, and within 5 minutes partnered with him to create El Sistema@Rainey. You can check Rainey out at:

raineyinstitute.org

I was so impressed.

Their mission: Changing Lives Through The Arts.

El Sistema (as I would say) : Changing Lives Through Orchestra Playing

Serious overlap!!! It has been an institution of 107 years (!!) , older than The Cleveland Orchestra (which was started as an EDUCATIONAL initiative in 1918, to serve the music educational needs of this growing town!! Cool....)/

In December I walked into Rainey's old building, knowing that they were one month from unveiling a proud new facility! You see it on the website above:

Gorgeous spaces, a theater for 200 people, practice rooms, rehearsal rooms, dance studio, outdoor performance space, a KILN, a sewing room.....a large and welcoming community gathering space, and a state of the art industrial kitchen to feed hungry artistic kids.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

An incredible spirit! I felt comfortable there the first minute I walked in. This is a place of caring and nurturing. I have not heard a harsh word to a child yet, time moves slowly without haste. It is about growing in your way, about having calm supportive adults around you as you spend a joyful, peaceful, art-filled afternoon or Saturday.

SERENDIPPITY 2:

Coincidentally MEETING RAINEY DESCENDANTS IN B O S T O N

Feb. 3rd: I am in Boston, playing a fund raiser for NEC at a beautiful Club downtown.

I tell the audience that I have hopes to start an El Sistema program in Cleveland at a place close to Severance hall, (renamed for El sistema purposes: perSeverance Hall) that is located in a very distressed neighborhood.

Afterwards, a woman approaches me with a quizzical look and says: Are you talking about the Rainey Institute? Eleanor Rainey was my great great grandmother!

Patty Plum lives close to Boston, is a passionate believer in music education, (taught herself the cello at age 60 and plays very beautifully!), and is truly one of the coolest people in the world. Down to earth, direct.....we hit it off. I have been lucky to spend time walking with her getting to know her. She loves Schubert as much as I do, she loves nature and dogs.. I feel very fortunate for this new friend!

We are hoping to invite her and her 3 brothers, and their wives and children to Cleveland soon and show them Great Great Grandma's new house!

As a result of that bizarre coincidence, Patty invited the director of Rainey and their board member of 51 YEARS! (who still knew Patty's father well), my hero Ted Horvath to come to Boston. We met quite a few of the Rainey descendants, and we saw the Conservatory Lab Charter School together. Half of our party started crying when the kids played "My Funny Valentine".

A truly amazing weekend.

SERENDIPPITY 3:

Our First Grant

in March our grant writer angel submitted and received a grant for us from the

GUND FOUNDATION

---we will receive $60,000 over 2 years. I am so grateful. This helps ongoing fundraising so much!

SERENDIPPITY 4:

Eric Booth, Senior Advisor, El Sistema USA

coincidentally hired by Cleveland Orchestra Musicians!

A few weeks ago, we are sent an email from the orchestra committee of The Cleveland Orchestra. They have done a very cool thing: they felt we need a vision as a musician body. In order to truly shape and define our role as artists in our community, we need to come together and hear our thoughts and dreams on the topic.

I am very proud to be a member of an orchestra that is thinking actively about our future in this way.

A grant was applied for and received (BRAVO) from the Mellon Foundation. With these funds, a facilitator was hired. Who was chosen? None other than Eric Booth, Consultant and also, Senior Advisor to El Sistema USA!! We have had many seminars from him here in Boston and I love his thinking, energy and joyful sparkle.

AMAZING!!

Eric came to Cleveland last week to talk with many orchestra members, and in the evening I kidnapped him and brought him to Rainey to show him around. He LOVED it and has since been feeding us with great ideas on getting a great start to the program.

SERENDIPPITY 5:

MAA offers to provide instruments for Year One

After a very positive meeting with MAA about how we will collaborate on this project, they offered to be the official sponsors for our instrument needs for year one! This is a very meaningful and generous gesture and stands for so much, also for the Rainey Community.

The list of supporters that we have gathered in 3 short months for El Sistema@Rainey exceeds even my wildest dreams. I am so grateful for this new path in leading me to be able to meet and discuss ideas with some of our incredible community leaders.

And how could I EVER thank enough the volunteers of our advisory board for the help in these hectic months (ongoing):

Nancy Osgood and David Mayo---You Two have been remarkable through a million meetings with your generosity of time, spirit (and funding!!)

My joy at working on this project with Rainey's quietly forceful Executive director

Lee Lazar grows by the day. We are polar opposites, and it is a good thing this way.

This is an incomplete POST....I will finish later......hopefully you now know that I have not been doing my nails these months.....it is the beginning of a joyful and high energy ride!!!

Did I mention that most of my time is spent (online) in Boston?

Thank you to EVERYONE who has made this beginning possible!

AND to The Cleveland Orchestra for giving me the opportunity to pursue this wonderful Abreu fellowship!

More on that fellowship work next time......a whole other new long post!!

By the way:

We Fellows ARE going to Venezuela soon for 5 weeks! April 25-May 30!!

We are so excited!