Barquisimeto #4

 

Cabudare

The Cabudare nucleo is an example of how a music centre has created a network of its own in seeking to expand its ability to serve the community. The rather complex model was explained to us by the director Emilio. The nucleo has a central site based at a cultural centre with seven other extension sites altogether serving 3,400 chn with 74 teachers. Despite their efforts to reach out to as many willing students as possible, there are still many kids they can’t accept into the program as they are unable to accommodate them all. Again children can’t come every day as there is not enough space. The first site we visit is one of the extension sites, and it serves 500 children with 1 secretary for administration work. There are a lot of parents and relatives around, more so than at other nucleos we have visited so far.

In addition to his duties directing activities at the eight sites, Emilio also conducts the main orchestra. He has spent 26 years working in El Sistema and told us that the experience has been “fun, informal learning – not work!” He started his musical career by learning the cuatro and then studying at the conservatory. Alfredo shortly afterwards offered him a job in El Sistema. Like most of the directors we talked to, Emilio was open and honest about the workings of the music centres. One issue is student retention; a lot of them come regularly to the program for between a year to three years. This makes it difficult to show results of the student’s learning to parents to motivate them to keep their kids in the program. It also means that the level of most children is restricted to beginner and intermediate with more advanced musicians being directed to the nucleo based at the conservatory.

 

At the extension nucleo, we were treated to a presentation by the Handbells Choir and observed the children’s orchestra rehearsal briefly. The rehearsal seemed to be pretty relaxed and not necessarily as efficient as we are used to, with problems not necessarily being addressed straight away. This is a reminder of how much more time the teachers have here, they can afford to allow the students to figure it out during the repetitive rehearsals. The highlight for me was the Cantoria Cabudare, an adult choir made up of parents and other members of the community.

We were then quickly rushed to the main site where a concert of Christmas songs by the Coro Infantil (Children’s Choir) all decked out in Santa hats was taking place in the auditorium of the cultural centre. We were starting to become familiar with the most popular Venezuelan Christmas carols by this point. After a brief peek at the guitar and cuatro class rehearsing in the dark in the art room, we saw the original room where the orchestra first rehearsed at the nucleo. It was not much bigger than your average kitchen. 

 

Barquisimeto #3

Incret

Incret is an eight month old nucleo based in a disused government building, and open from 2.30-5.30pm every afternoon. There are 900 children from between 4-14 years old who come on different days during the week, as the site is not able to accommodate everyone all at once. There are 23 teachers working here, and around 200 children in the beginner orchestra. The students gave their first concert one month ago.  Not all children are able to have private lessons but have access to small group lessons. We saw a cross-section of the activities that are going on here: Coro Guaritos (Kindergarten Choir), Coro Infantil (Children’s Choir), a recorder group, a music theory lesson, a violin sectional and woodwind group.

Our first visit was to the Coro Guaritos; we saw how conducting small children when directing the choir is important as it teaches them how to interpret gestures from a young age. Also the director and her two teaching assistants made sure that the focus of the children was on the conductor as much as possible during their performance. Again it was refreshing after the showcases of the Caracas nucleos to see students in the process of learning the basics of their instruments. The woodwind group played a slow but sure version of ‘Ode to Joy’ and the recorder group’s performance of ‘Joy to the World’ ended at different times, whilst the violin sectional involved a monotonous repetition of one passage.  

We spent most of our time at the beginner orchestra rehearsal. There were different ability levels and age groups in the same orchestra, which we have seen in other nucleos as well, but the kids don’t seem to mind. It struck me how the older kids are not affected at the thought of their street-cred being harmed by playing with younger kids and at the same level, and rehearsing beginner strings music that is simplistic and not always pleasant to hear! They are encountering the same challenges as the younger children and seem just as motivated to master their instrument. Perhaps they have been to concerts of other nucleo orchestras or maybe the name of El Sistema and the celebrity that Dudamel has in Venezuela (he is as well-known as the most popular baseball stars) has given them the motivation to persevere with the program.

The children are arranged according to ability which means that some of the kids get lost way at the back of the cavernous rehearsal room. We hear that in some cases in El Sistema, children are paired with someone of higher ability so they can learn from their stand partner, but we also saw a lot of the traditional arrangements with the more able at the front with better access to direction and feedback, and those struggling at the back. In addition there was a lot of poor posture going on and, in this case, there weren’t any additional teachers to the conductor who would be able to attend to this. A quick flick through the orchestra repertoire folder showed that they were currently working on simple arrangements of Venezuelan Christmas songs and ensemble arrangements of Suzuki Violin Book 1 melodies. The children were so happy to play for us and to interact with us and our not always fabulous Spanish skills! We were glad to perform a couple of songs for them and they responded with pieces they had prepared for their first concert.

Barquisimeto #2

Most afternoons during our time in Barquisimeto found us visiting a nucleo. Here are my thoughts on four very different music centres:

Santa Rosa Nucleo

We were already sold on this nucleo when we heard the poetic story of how the courtyard in this village fills with musicians every afternoon practicing in the shade. It’s a beautiful and serene place next to a large Catholic church. The nucleo  is two years old and serves 900 children with a variety of choral and orchestral ensembles including the two orchestras (Children’s and Youth) with 80-110 children in each. There is also an extension nucleo nearby in a very poor area which some of the Fellows visited.

I first went to observe the Pre-Infantil Choir with children from 1-7 years. About 35-40 children were all standing relatively still and on-task in three long rows, with an adorable toddler waddling up and down in between! This was the first time I observed team teaching in a choral setting: the roles of director, vocal coach, pianist and teaching assistant are apparent, and they do not necessarily fulfil the same role with each group they teach. The first half of the session was spent on warm-up activities which dealt with many aspects of vocal technique through fun exercises and games. The second half of the rehearsal involved singing some Venezuelan Christmas songs the children had already memorized. There wasn’t any obvious teaching input going on in terms of describing a new concept or explanations, but instead the activities included lots of repetition and modelling from the teachers. This modelling involved prompting the children with the correct lyrics, leading the melody, and demonstrating the hand gestures accompanying the song, as well as correct posture and behaviour. I have experienced a similar kind of team teaching with younger children, being assisted by class teachers and teaching assistants whilst preparing for musical productions, but this experience reminded me what a useful tool it is to have so many adults demonstrating the same abilities to guide the children’s learning process.

Later, we observed the Infantil (Childrens) Choir; this was a small group of seven children (9-11 years) whose warm-up activities has an emphasis on posture and technique, and the assistants were moving around, correcting posture and mouth shape. The vocal coach was delivering instructions on how to stand in a balanced posture, whilst the assistants helped the singers to copy what was being demonstrated. Team teaching at this level is absolutely fascinating to watch, as the children benefit from group teaching and individual attention at the same time (obviously made easier here by the small group). It was fantastic to see these young singers get to grips with vocal technique, and it highlighted how El Sistema gives its participants the opportunity to fulfil their potential in all aspects of the singing experience. None of what we saw was particularly revolutionary, however, but consistent dedication to excellent and unified team teaching.

 

 

Barquisimeto #1

We are based in Barquisimeto for the next seven days of our trip. Most activity is centred around the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory, whilst we have the opportunity in the afternoon to visit some of the 10 nucleos in the wider city. We are met by Gary Nunez and Alfredo D’Addona who are both trumpet players in Simon Bolivar A, the first generation of the orchestra originally formed and conducted by Maestro Abreu. Gary supervises the curriculum for Lara state and Alfredo is the director of all the nucleos in Lara. The Conservatory was built 20 years ago by the government, with the building also being host to an El Sistema nucleo – 3000 kids coming from all nucleos in Lara. The Conservatory and nucleo often work together on concerts and programs.

Also taking advantage of the facilities here is the Lara Symphony Orchestra, a professional organisation that is not part of El Sistema, and rehearses every morning at the conservatory. It is made up of many of the teachers from the nucleos. This is mirrored by the professional choir, the Camarate Larense, which is made up of children’s choir directors and vocal technique coaches who also work in the nucleos.

A well-known part of the nucleo's activities, the Special Needs Department are pioneers in making music-making accessible to all; those with learning difficulties, physical and mental disabilities, sight and hearing problems. There are also doctors on site who attend to the students needs, and one who is an ear specialist. We were treated to a presentation of the department´s activities later on in the week.

The conservatory has great pride in its most famous pupil; Gustavo Dudamel. This mural is painted along the wall opposite the conservatory, and the new concert hall that will be built here will be named after him. Dudamel studied violin here from the age of 14 with the branch of the Violin Academy onsite, which includes more teachers from the first generation of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra.

My questions about the nature of training provided by the Conservatory were answered by one student called Jesús Alejandro. He has studied here for 8 years and still has a year and a half to go! His musical journey began by learning the cuatro outside of El Sistema, and then joining the Cabudare nucleo at 16 to learn the violin. His further training shows a great interdisciplinary approach to musical studies: advanced violin studies, music theory, composition, conducting, psychology of education and sociology, research methods, child development, teacher training and mentoring, and practical teaching experience at the Incret nucleo for the last two and a half years.

I was also struck by how he described El Sistema as a “system of sharing”. All members are engaged in discovering their musical identity in a mixture of different roles, which has been described by previous fellows as CATS (Citizen, Artist, Teacher, Scholar), and there is a humility, openness and sort of educational democracy in being aware that all members have something to teach another. For example, Alfredo (director of all Lara nucleos) continues to study in classes with Jesús, learning more about instrumental technique. This is such a refreshing and challenging way of seeing ourselves as musicians.