El Sistema-New York City -- Documents

[Jeane Goforth]

Giving all access to the wonderful stream of info from Jaime.

[Jeane Goforth]

From "Creative Disloyalty" by Richard Holloway––instigator of
Sistema Scotland:
http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/resources/artforms/creative%20horizo...

[...]
A good metaphor for this approach to living ["contains ecological wisdom"]
and succeeding is jazz. The essence of jazz is making things up on
the spot, improvising, responding instantly to other players, creating
music never heard before without forethought or planning. Meeker
describes this as '…a spontaneous behaviour whose only purpose is to
please its participants and keep them playing. When goals or
objectives appear, or when rules become rigid, play disappears.' He
says that humans did not invent comedy or play.
We are the beneficiaries of millions of years of evolutionary history.
Play entered the
earth's story in the company of birds and mammals in the Jurassic era over 150
million years ago. He makes the point that play and a highly developed brain go
together. 'The brain gives animals an opportunity to expand their perceptual and
behavioural repertoires, and to venture into new and unexpected levels
of experience.
Play may be one of the ways the newly emerged brain developed in order to
accommodate novelty and to explore the unknown.' The reason play has
contributed
to our evolution is that it prompts us to take risks. 'Most play
involves risks of some
kind. Playful curiosity leads us to stick our noses where they've
never been before, or
to test just how far we can crawl on that limb before it breaks…Art, like play,
sometimes takes risks that threaten the tidiness that civilization
values so highly. Art
and play are sources of new experience and they encourage change, so they worry
people who like things to stay put and be obedient. They are not the kinds of
activities that fit into neat categories, and they are both full of
surprises.'7 That is why
tyrants often hate living artists. Art and play are intrinsically
subversive of authority
and the status quo, which may be the root of Graham Greene's anxiety
about artists
allowing themselves to be co-opted by the State, in either its
totalitarian or bourgeois
form.

Bearing all this in mind, it is instructive to watch children at play,
dreaming up new
realities, representing and repeating what they see around them,
singing worlds into
being. Creativity is intrinsic to childhood, though most of us lose it
as the shadows of
adulthood close around us. Robert Hughes says that genius is the
ability to recapture
childhood at will, including its terrors and desires, and not just its
innocence. Since I
do not want to be accused of canonising artists as saints, it is worth
pointing out that
the flip side of their ability to recapture childhood is often a
stubborn refusal to accept
the boring responsibilities of adulthood. This is why W.H. Auden said we should
separate artists' work from their lives. Quoting W. B. Yeats, he
reminded us that the
source of the artist's work was 'the foul rag and bone shop of the
heart', but what
mattered was the poem, not the squalid life of the poet from which it
sprang. It has
been pointed out that you can never trust writers, because dedication
to their art is
their primary loyalty, and you can never tell when you might appear in
one of their
fictions in a less than flattering light.

[Jeane Goforth]

Another

[Jeane Goforth]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jose bergher
Date: May 13, 2008 11:03 AM
Subject: Abreu in the Royal Philharmonic Society
To: jaime austria

EL NACIONAL - Martes 13 de Mayo de 2008

MUSIC

He is the only Latin American

Abreu in the Royal Philharmonic Society

The Venezuelan musician received the honorary distinction because of
his work as leader of FESNOJIV.

[photo caption — Abreu will receive the award in London on May 15th]

As of Thursday, the Royal Philharmonic Society, one of the world's
most prestigious music organizations, will gave José Antonio Abreu as
a new honorary member. The decision was communicated to FESNOJIV's
founder-director by Graham Sheffield, president of the board of the
English institution.

The Society's representative informed Abreu — the first Latin American
who joins as a member — that the verdict was unanimous and that Abreu
will receive the recognition because of "the extraordinary work he has
developed through the system, something that has motivated the
creation of a similar model in Scotland."

The Royal Philharmonic Society was founded in London on January 24th
1813 and is one of the world's oldest musical societies. It was
conceived by a group of professional performers at a time when there
were neither permanent orchestras nor organized series of chamber
music concerts. Its goal was to promote the most perfect performance
of instrumental music.

This institution has had as academic music prominent members from
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, Carl von Weber, Igor Stravinsky, Gioacchino
Rossini and Sergei Rachmaninov.

With this honorary membership, the institution acknowledges
significant services to music and, just as it happens with the gold
medal, it is awarded with little frequency. The first time the
honorary membership was given was in 1826 and till 2007 only 118
people received it. According to its governing board, the Royal
Philharmonic Society seeks "a future for music, through the motivation
of creativity, the recognition of excellence and the promotion of
understanding."

This award will be given José Antonio Abreu on May 15th, during the
ceremony of the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, at the
Dorchester Hotel in London.

[Jeane Goforth]

On 5/26/08, José Bergher wrote:
.......................................................................................
> > EL NACIONAL
> >
> > Sunday, May 25th 2008

> > PROJECT

> > The Penitenciary Symphony Orchestra has students in three reclusion center

> > The jails' conservatory

> > FESNOJIV plants classrooms in prisons
> >
> >
> >
> > LEIDYS ASUAJE
> > [e-mail]
> >

> >
> > Photo caption.-

> > "The women of INOF [Instituto Nacional de Reorientación Femenina, or
> > National Institute of Feminine Reorientation] learn with string instruments.
> > At the other 2 jails [of the pilot project], where the [prisoner] population
> > is both men and women [I don't know the English term], they rehearse with
> > winds and percussion."

> > The figures.-

> > 250 inmates receive music instruction

> > 3 jails were chosen for the pilot project. At year's end, 5 of the country's
> > penitentiary facilities will be integrated into the project

> >
> > The first students have been prepared for the past 11 months

> >
> > 40 teachers, including those of singing, participate
> >
> >
> >
> > 3 million dollars were granted to support the first 3 núcleos, through an
> > agreement between FESNOJIV, the Ministry of Justice, and the Interamerican
> > Development Bank.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3 lutherie [instrument making] workshops for making cuatros [a small
> > Venezuelan plucked-strings instrument from the guitar family] and guitars
> > will be built inside the jails
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "When I first arrived here, I thought, 'I put a lock in my life, I screwed
> > myself. But one begins to live music, discovers its echo, and the moment
> > arrives when you do not so much feel the music score so much but the harmony
> > one has with the instrument." Thus, rehearsing with a shining violin at a
> > hallway that resembles more a conservatory's than a jail's, speaks a
> > 24-year-old woman inmate who is serving a term in INOF, Instituto Nacional
> > de Orientación Femenina de Los Teques.
> >
> >
> >
> > Violins, violas, cellos, and one doblebass play in tune the Ode to Joy [from
> > Beethoven's 9th symphony] behind the walls of this center, one of the three
> > in which the pilot project of the Orquesta Sinfónica Penitenciaria is being
> > implemented. To María, a tall and hale 31-year-old woman, the classes have
> > served as a safety valve, which once in a while takes her out to the street.
> >
> >
> >
> > "This is a window. A way to get out with music. The profe [familiar for
> > "professor"] used to fight with me a lot because of the long fingernails,
> > but this is part of the effort, dedication, and discipline this means," she
> > points out.
> >
> >
> >
> > The plan to humanize jails through music began eleven months ago under the
> > tutelage of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and FESNOJIV, which
> > this week was awarded the Príncipe de Asturias Prize because of "its deep
> > ethical conviction applied to the betterment of social reality."
> >
> >
> >
> > During the classes, María does not talk about the transgression she
> > committed, neither do her companions. It is a norm in the Orquesta
> > Penitenciaria not to inquire into the causes that brought the person to
> > prison.
> >
> >
> >
> > "My sister is a violinist in the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barquisimeto, but I
> > had never handled her violin. I did not think that at this age I would be
> > able to feel this harmony with music," says Maria.
> >
> >
> >
> > Besides this Los Teques detention center, music classrooms have been
> > installed in the Santa Ana Jail, in Táchira State, and in the Penitentiary
> > Center of the Andes Region, in Mérida.
> >
> >
> >
> > In each of the prisons, the System of Orchestras follows a method identical
> > to that of conservatories. The difference is that, at this first stage, the
> > orchestra was divided up by locations. At INOF, for instance, there are only
> > string instruments; at the Mérida jail, winds; and at Santa Ana, percussion.
> >
> >
> >
> > On April 29th, [in the morning of] the same day when [starting at 4 p.m. and
> > lasting a couple of hours] there was an energy blackout in 17 of the
> > country's states, the three núcleos performed for the first time as an
> > [unified] ensemble in a concert at the Teatro Teresa Carreño. Before then,
> > they used to interact by listening to CD recordings during the practice
> > sessions in each jail.
> >
> >
> >
> > "We were kind of scared, but after ten months' training there is some
> > self-confidence. It was fantastic! In spite of the handcuffs and two guards
> > per inmate, I did not feel like a prisoner," comments another woman inmate.
> >
> >
> >
> > After the first concert, in which 123 male and female inmates took part, the
> > scope of the dreams increased. It is not Gustavo Dudamel or Edicson Ruiz who
> > are being talked about the most in the penitentiary núcloes; most of the
> > inmates would like to follow in the footsteps of Henry Ávila, an inmate who
> > learned to play percussion and, after being freed, was employed by
> > FESNOJIV.
> >
> >
> >
> > Ysmel Serrano, general director of Inmates' Custody and Rehabilitation,
> > explains that the goal is to incorporate to the activity 40% of the
> > population of the jails where the project is implemented. According to the
> > plans, there will be five the pilot jails [sic] by year's end, including
> > Tocuyito's jail and the new penitentiary in Coro.
> >
> >
> >
> > The goal, of course, is to reduce the number of quarrels. "Many tough things
> > happen here. When one thinks he can rest he hears shouts, insults, and
> > fights. Music is a way to leave behind the bad. Furthermore, this is
> > brilliant; my only musical reference used to be King Changó," says another
> > young woman.
> >
> >
> >
> > In the jails music has no schedule. The inmates go to rehearsals after they
> > work in the kitchen or in the workshops. However, Lenín Mora, the project's
> > general coordinator, stresses that the teaching demands certain discipline
> > codes. "They are treated for what they are, talents [talented people], and
> > therefore they have to brush [groom] themselves, clean themselves, and keep
> > a [good] physical appearance. The changes have been incredible," he says.
> >
> >
> >
> > Freddy Ibarra, the Los Teques group's director, did not resort to the
> > classical scores by Beethoven or Chopin to motivate his women students. He
> > composed two songs for them, and these are never missing from the
> > repertoire: Algún Día [Some Day] and Las Campanas Sonarán Por Mí [The Bells
> > Will Sound for Me]. "The last one is my favorite. With the music we realize
> > that we are worthy human beings, and we want to sound the bell that is
> > struck before being freed."