Caracas #1

Two days have already gone swiftly by in Venezuela. We arrived at noon on Wednesday and were greeted by a large banner of the last President Hugo Chavez with pupils of El Sistema. The journey from the airport to the city took us from the ocean and over beautiful mountain passes, then past the favelas (slums) perched on the top of steep hills and hugging the slopes, and then onto the highways of the city centre. 

Rodrigo Guerrero met us at the airport, and will be our guide and translator for most of the trip. He is the deputy director of International Relations for 'Fundacion Musical Simon Bolivar', the foundation that supports the nucleos (music centres) around the country. Although he didn't study music himself, his father was a violinist and is the legal consulant for the organisation. He was also part of an important milestone in El Sistema history, as he wrote the charter that created the Foundation through which the orchestras first received consistent government support and funding for the project.

Rodrigo has been working for FundaMusical Bolivar for 17 years, the last 7 of which have been very different as the orchestras have been gaining more and more interest abroad. Not only does he accompany the orchestras on international tours, but there are also a huge amount of international visitors, music educators, politicians, diplomats, media representatives, etc that he is responsible for hosting.

Guarenas

Our first taste of El Sistema was the nucleo of Guarenas, a large town outside of Caracas. We were able to see a small part of the activity at the nucleo where there are currently 1100 students. The building used to be a police station, so there are many rooms without windows, or the windows are barred. The hallmarks of the program were immediately evident: focus, intensity, joy, stamina, repetition, young leadership, instances of exceptional skill, and an astonishing youthful sound.

We began with a musica lengua (musical language) class where young children where learning the notes on the stave and written rhythms. Following from that, there were two strings classes taking place, the children's orchestra, the choir, and finally we experienced the youth orchestra.  

The strings classes of beginner violins gave us a snapshot of the how the program uses repetition – the children were playing the same melody, whilst focusing on one aspect of technique. In this case the teacher was looking for long bow strokes, and he was moving energetically to model the movement. There was a strength in the sound created was mirrored in the children's and the youth orchestra, and also in the choir. The vibrancy and energy found in all the music-making in the nucleo was almost overwhelming, and we were able to see how it is cultivated from a young age.

This also seems to determines the choice of repertoire with the large symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich taking precedence over more the elegance of Mozart for example. The ensembles dynamic range seemed to vary from forte (loud) to fortissimo (very loud), and instances when the teachers were trying to achieve piano (quiet) were not always successful. But it is the confidence and youthful identity reflected in the sound that is important. I also noticed how the youth orchestra managed to make some passages of dotted rhythms of European music almost sound like a piece of Latin American traditional music.

The youth orchestra of the nucleo was a mix of students from Guarenas and the nearby town of Guatire. The kids had been playing their instruments for three years, and had been playing in this orchestra for two months. They rehearse three hours a day Monday to Saturday and are preparing a concert of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky for next week. We noticed how many of the players had memorised large parts of the symphonies, playing long passages with their eyes fixed on the conductor. The ensemble skills of the orchestra were very impressive - again there was a passion and a joy that gave me goosebumps throughout most of the performance!

In terms of exceptional talents, we saw a ten year old boy playing the cello in the front desk of the youth orchestra amidst children at least four years older than him, and also we met the clarinettist who played in the National Children's Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle in Salzburg.

The young leaders we saw teaching and directing show how the program puts their faith in youth leadership. The nucleo director, Maestro Edgar, is 30 years old and conducts the youth orchestra. He was very eloquent in talking about the social, moral and musical vision of the program, and said that his goal is to make the orchestra as good as the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela. He is a conducting pupil of Maestro Abreu and the previous director of Guarenas, who is now director of all nucleos. He supervises a new set of repertoire each month resulting in one new symphony being prepared for a concert.

Next, the Montalban nucleo...