Merida #1

We were pretty excited to be in the gloriously beautiful Andes mountains! It was a great surprise after the initial plan was to go the plains of Guarico, and we were not disappointed by the change in schedule. Breathtaking views. Our travels gave us a sense of the scope of the Venezuelan landscapes and the difficulties of providing services to the communities in the mountains. The settings where we saw El Sistema programs were very different to the cities of Barquisimeto and Caracas, and more like I had been expecting. The nucleos have many more challenges here in the face of a lack of teachers, instruments and resources, and in some cases, clean water supply for their facility. It could be said that El Sistema was propagated in these mountains as the families of Dr. Abreu (founder), Roderigo (our guide and International Relations Director) and Eduardo Mendez (Executive Director) all come from the towns in this area.

We were based for the week in the town of Merida, which is nestled in one of the stunning valleys. The nucleo director Jesús Perez is quite a formidable character, and gave us a very detailed picture of the activities at his nucleo:

There are 12,000 children in 12 nucleos across the state of Merida with 15 directors. Activities at the main nucleo started in 1978 and there are now roughly 2000 children in total at the site: 140 children in the youth orchestra, 120 in the children's orchestra, 120 in the beginner's orchestra. Other ensembles include children's youth, symphonic, and parents's choirs, percussion ensemble, special needs programming and kindergarten classes (3-5 years).  Students generally start with choir, kindermusik, percussion and recorders. There is a traditional music ensemble of teachers at the nucleo but more involvement with the Alma Llanera project is happening at some of the other nucleos. There are 35 composition students, and theory classes twice a week. The members of the Youth Orchestra and Coro Sinfonico receive a stipend.

The staff at the nucleo include 6 administration staff (one was newly hired to oversee the state's contribution to the Simon Bolivar Project), and 100+ teachers and monitors (student teachers). Few of the teachers have been to university to get qualified, but several have studied abroad. There is also a partnership with the teacher training program at the Universidad de Los Andes in the town. Jesús told us that he has plenty of teachers - students start teaching at 12/13 years, everyone in the youth orchestra teaches, and also every member of the percussion ensemble have students.

The families that are involved with the nucleo are +80% from low-income backgrounds. Jesús was passionate about how music is the vehicle for social change, which is sees as getting the best out of the students in the orchestra, and giving children access to music education and a sense of a family environment. He also quoted a study by the regional university (de Los Andes) that parents are also encouraged to learn to play and are inspired by their kids - they can do it too! This banner below hangs in the entrance to the nucleo and shows Jesús conducting the mass orchestra and choir of Merida state.