The Musician of the 21st Century

Last week the other Abreu Fellows and I attended a panel discussion at Harvard University entitled Discerning New Visions For Music Conservatories: Lessons From El Sistema. Jack Megan, director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard, gave some opening remarks. One thing he mentioned was the "ethical dilemma" that conservatories face in training "too many musicians." There are so many of us, and so few jobs. A handful will win orchestra jobs, many will start private teaching studios, some will get a DMA with the hope of joining the faculty of a university, a few will form successful chamber music groups or tour as a soloist. What is out there for us as conservatory-trained musicians? Will we get our dream job, something that is musically fulfilling after the thousands of hours we have all spent in the practice room? How many more hours will it take? How many more years?

The title of the panel discussion is pertinent, because it acknowledges that there are lessons conservatories can learn from El Sistema. What does it mean to be a musician in the 21st century, and how can conservatories prepare their students to become those musicians? We need to look to the El Sistema model for the answer.

One program based on the El Sistema model is Community Music Works in Providence, Rhode Island. A professional string quartet has woven its way into an urban community through frequent performing and teaching. Students receive free or low-cost music instruction while at the same time being exposed to live, high-quality classical music. This quartet is creating beautiful music and providing a public service. Does that mean that creating beautiful music is no longer enough? Are we sacrificing our ideals? No. We are elevating them. Classical music should be for everyone. On top of that, professional musicians are benefitting in two ways. First, using the El Sistema model, a quartet (following the Community Music Works model) can create a niche for themselves, rather than wait for a position to open up. There are many quartets out there trying to get noticed. Every group must ask, "why us?" when there are many groups playing at a very high level. El Sistema offers a way for every group to be relevant. The second benefit is that by reaching out to more communities in a deep and meaningful way, we are making an investment in creating a bigger, younger audience who will love and appreciate classical music.

With that in mind, back to the original question: What does it mean to be a 21st century musician, and how can conservatories prepare their students to become those musicians? The 21st century musician should take into account both artistic and social considerations. They should be ambitious in believing that art can transform them, their communities and even society as a whole. They should strive toward the ideal that art is for everyone. They should aim towards the highest level of human and musical excellence, and expect it in others.

How can conservatories train musicians who, in the words of Jose Antonio Abreu, "are passionate about their art and social justice?" The first step is to break down the wall that has been built between music educators and music performers. 21st century musicians should see themselves as CATS (a term coined by El Sistema USA): Citizens, Artists, Teachers, and Scholars. We can no longer afford not to fill all four of those roles. So together, tocamos y luchamos to keep our art alive and relevant in our quickly changing world.

Remedy for a Passion Hangover

This morning in class, our wonderful mentor/teacher Erik remarked that the 10 of us looked like we had "passion hangovers." In my case at least, he was right. From the moment I found out that I would be an Abreu Fellow, I could barely wait to get to Boston and meet the other fellows so we could begin our not-too-modest quest to learn how to develop El Sistema programs in the US. We all arrived bubbling with excitement and enthusiasm, full of ideas, questions, and expectations.

Then, half-way into the third week, the immensity and reality of our task hit me. How in the world are we going to do all of this with only one year of preparation? We had already heard from nine speakers, each of whom brought with them a wealth of new ideas and great advice, leaving me with even more questions. I knew I didn't want to have a passion hangover, but how could I sustain the same level of passion for El Sistema, while having to focus on the nitty-gritty, nuts-and-bolts details of how to start a nucleo? I decided to look to El Sistema for an answer.

I am amazed, according to what I've learned about El Sistema so far, at how seemingly contradictory elements are incorporated with ease into each nucleo. There is a huge focus on ensembles, yet each child's individual needs are treated with care and sensitivity. The highest standards of musical excellence are always the goal, but every child is made to feel like an asset, regardless of their ability. There are set schedules and curriculums within each nucleo, but also the flexibility to change them at a moment's notice if there is a concert opportunity or a guest artist in town.

How can I stay passionate about El Sistema while at the same time trying to learning everything I need to know about how to start my own nucleo? The answer can be found in El Sistema's synthesis of what appear to be opposing elements. Just as sensitivity towards each child strengthens the ensemble, an enthusiastic and accomplished ensemble aids in the musical development of each child. Similarly, it is my passion that will give me the energy to make sense of the endless information I'll need to absorb this year, and the information itself which will allow me to follow through with what I am passionate about.

On the Bus

After an intense week of classes, presentations, introductions, long conversations and meetings, I found myself stuck in Friday-before-long-weekend traffic on the bus to New York. Only one hour out of Boston and barely moving, I knew it would be a long trip. I lay back and took a deep breath. It felt like the first one I had taken since Monday morning, my first day of the Abreu Fellows Program at New England Conservatory. As the bus inched forward it seemed that time had suddenly slowed down, giving me a chance to try to wrap my mind around everything that had happened and everything I had learned in the past five days.

What is El Sistema? Why do we believe so passionately in it? What will its role be in the United States? These questions and many others were spinning through my head in an incomprehensible jumble along with everything I had learned that week. In order to begin to sort out my thoughts, I decided to look back in time to when I first became aware of El Sistema. Why it had drawn me in so quickly and completely?

While teaching cello at a small, family-run music school in Cuenca, Ecuador, I had begun to think about the impact that classical music can have on the lives of the children who study instruments. When the director of the music school showed me the film “Tocar y Luchar” I was in disbelief. Here was the very idea that I had just barely begun to grasp, developed and thriving in Venezuela. Classical music was transforming the lives of children, their families, and their communities. This music program, called “El Sistema” was better than anything I could have imagined. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuela’s most underprivileged children, many growing up in unthinkable poverty, were given free music lessons six days a week from a very young age, and it was having an affect not only on school attendance and crime rates, but on people’s enthusiasm for classical music.

At the core of el Sistema is a symbiotic relationship between classical music and social justice. This relationship fascinates me. In the US, classical music is often assumed to be something for the elite. In Venezuela, there are over 200 orchestras, and classical music is heard everywhere by everyone. El Sistema holds the key of how to reach out to a larger public through classical music. Going into a community that might not have had much exposure to classical music and giving outreach concerts only works to a certain point. Classical music needs to stem from within these communities, thereby allowing them to take ownership of it.

As the bus was pulling into New York, I realized that I had barely made any progress in distilling my thoughts about El Sistema. I was looking forward to a short vacation, but knew that I wouldn’t be sad when it was time to go back to Boston and continue classes…. as long as there was no traffic.