Further preparations....
Joe Tulchin - We had a great visit from an expert on Latin America, who was able to give us a bit of background on Venezuela: the history, economy, society and thoughts on El Sistema. What a fount of knowledge!http://www.joetulchin.com/
A former fellow Marie Montilla, along with her husband Jorge, taught in El Sistema for some years before the fellowship. They visited us along with their charming daughter who sings, plays the flute and violin. Our challenge was to practice teaching her only in Spanish. Great lessons we learned about the virtues of hand signals and demonstrations to make up for our less-than-fluent Spanish skills...
Marie works in Boston with the Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) music program http://www.yofes.org/oamecprogram/teachers-bios2/ and she is the founding director of Kids4Harmony in Pittsburgh: http://www.berkshirechildren.org/bcf_elsistema.html
Another alumni of El Sistema came to talk to us about his experiences. Now a freelance performer and teacher (he plays the cello in the Boston Phil), he spent 12 years studying the cello after starting his music education learning the cuatro. It was easy to tell how Aristides believes in the power of music to save lives - most of his contemporaries in the neighbourhood he grew up in have either been involved in shootings or imprisoned. He taught us this beautiful song 'Como llora una estrella':
http://www.aristidesrivas.com/
Aristides was also involved in a trip to a village near the Angel Falls in Venezuela, where a group of four musicians taught and prepared a concert with a local music project. The project was started by the daughter of a missionary who wished to form a choir at the village church, which later grew into a large string orchestra at a standard where they were able to perform Bach. See this great video documenting their trip: http://vimeo.com/34528353
Joe Tulchin - We had a great visit from an expert on Latin America, who was able to give us a bit of background on Venezuela: the history, economy, society and thoughts on El Sistema. What a fount of knowledge!http://www.joetulchin.com/
A former fellow Marie Montilla, along with her husband Jorge, taught in El Sistema for some years before the fellowship. They visited us along with their charming daughter who sings, plays the flute and violin. Our challenge was to practice teaching her only in Spanish. Great lessons we learned about the virtues of hand signals and demonstrations to make up for our less-than-fluent Spanish skills...
Marie works in Boston with the Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) music program http://www.yofes.org/oamecprogram/teachers-bios2/ and she is the founding director of Kids4Harmony in Pittsburgh: http://www.berkshirechildren.org/bcf_elsistema.html
Another alumni of El Sistema came to talk to us about his experiences. Now a freelance performer and teacher (he plays the cello in the Boston Phil), he spent 12 years studying the cello after starting his music education learning the cuatro. It was easy to tell how Aristides believes in the power of music to save lives - most of his contemporaries in the neighbourhood he grew up in have either been involved in shootings or imprisoned. He taught us this beautiful song 'Como llora una estrella':
Aristides was also involved in a trip to a village near the Angel Falls in Venezuela, where a group of four musicians taught and prepared a concert with a local music project. The project was started by the daughter of a missionary who wished to form a choir at the village church, which later grew into a large string orchestra at a standard where they were able to perform Bach. See this great video documenting their trip: http://vimeo.com/34528353
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