2013 Skype Link 3 - El Sistema

Skype link by Viva Venezuela Bradford, from the Shipley Kirkgate Centre 10^th November 2013 to Marvic, Orlando, Beatrice, José and Isabela in Mérida. Venezuela. Facilitated in Bradford by Bob Sproule using questions from the audience, translated in Mérida by Tamara Pearson.

Greetings from a very cold, dark Bradford.

Hello, my name is Marvic, I am the viola teacher. We appreciate being able to do this meeting with you and we hope we will be able to respond well to your questions. There are various musical groups here in the Merida nucleus, and we form part of the system of orchestras (El Sistema). There’s the large orchestra, there’s the kindergarten, the primary school level and the youth orchestra. The children participate and play all types of academic music. We play all types of instruments, wind instruments, piano, stringed instruments and percussion. We also have a section for people with mental and physical disabilities, the special teacher Orlando is here and he is going to talk about that.

Good afternoon. I’m Orlando, the director of the Special Education programme; we have around 150 children participating in the programme who are deaf, blind, autistic, or with learning disabilities and physical disabilities. We have a range of different groups; we have the White Hands choir for the deaf students who communicate with their hands, and the percussion, viola, violin, flute, rhythm group, and bells. In the mornings and in the afternoons they come here. Every couple of weeks we do a performance. The technique that we use is one where we adapt the teaching and the music practices to the needs of the child.

To demonstrate this we have a child José Gregorio who is 7 years old, who is blind and who will play the bells.

José plays Sugar Plum Fairy and March of the Kings on the bells.

Bravo!

My name is Isabela Rojas. I am 11 years old and I have been playing the viola for 3 years.

Isabela plays Damas y epigrafo. Omar Puente, a Cuban violin player who lives in Bradford, then joins Isabela for a Skype duet. Omar works with Opera North for In Harmony – like El Sistema it works with children in a Leeds school. He also asks some questions of Isabela.

How many hours do you practice the viola? One hour and a half or two hours each day. Every day.What else do you like doing? I like singing too.

And in life? I don’t like to lose time in life, I like to practise. I saw an advert on the television about the El Sistema programme, and that’s how I started. If it wasn’t for the programme, I wouldn’t be here.

What would you like to do in the future? My dream is to travel, and learn from other teachers. And I would like to be like the teacher Marvic, so I can teach others to play that way.

Thank you very much, I think your teachers are very good, you played very well, and so did José. My name is Omar Puente, I am from Cuba, and one day I would hope we can play together, not just on the computer! Yes, and thank you. And José Gregorio would like to play another piece.

I am José Gregorio, from Calle Uno in Campo. I am seven years old. When I grow up I would like to be a musician. José plays Silent Night

And now back to some questions from the audience. How does the White Hand system work for deaf children?

The teacher Beatrice Morales is in charge of translating into sign language. The White Hands choir has an oral part and a gestural part and they are adjusted to each other. The teacher Beatrice is going to explain how they translate from words into gestures.

To translate a piece into gestures we make a poetic study, a metric study and a musical study. We translate it into 3 things, the sign language, the body language and the facial expressions. We also look at the spacing of the sign language and the timing which has to be at a certain distance or height but framed within the face. The spiritual purpose of the choir is twofold, to integrate deaf children into the choir so they can express themselves through sign language but also secondly to raise the awareness of the general public of sign language and to break down the barriers between the two groups.

We are aware of the experience of Evelyn Glennie, a British percussionist, the most influential percussionist of our times who is also deaf. She has inspired us so that the students don’t just learn the sign language but also study the music itself.

How does El Sistema manage to capture the hearts of beginners? How do you persuade them to do all the hard work initially?

The important thing is to motivate through the family. At El Sistema we believe that we need to work with the child and the family. The three pillars are the teacher, the child and the family, and that way we can transform the child, transform the family, and transform society.

How do children initially get involved in the orchestra – are there any limits on joining?

Any child can participate in the system of orchestras, there’s no discrimination of any kind, it depends only on their interest, their capacity to learn, the music that they have inside of them. Here in this building there are over 2,000 children participating, of different ages, from different social strata, with different learning abilities and they are all treated in the same way and given the same opportunities.

Parents can bring their child along to the building and say the child wants to study here, but also the orchestras perform in different communities and the little child might see one of these performances and be inspired and say to their parents ’Mum, I would like to do that’.

Where do the instruments come from? They are expensive over here

The instruments come from different sources - El Sistema lends the instrument to the child. Also when we give concerts there are individual private donations from members of the public who listen to the concert and are inspired. The investment that the government makes in instruments is very high, but the cost to an average Venezuelan family of an instrument is very difficult. So it’s important that the government has made that investment, so that El Sistema can lend the instruments to the children for as long as they need them.

The orchestra also has a range of different quality instruments, it has instruments that are designed for children who are beginning, then as the children learn and advance then there are instruments that are more professional.

How has El Sistema changed under the revolution?

El Sistema began in 1975 and since then has received support from all the governments. Under the Chavez government that support has been unconditional and enormous in terms of expanding the orchestra and the acquisition of instruments. This has meant that a lot more children have got involved. The aim for this year is to involve 1 million children.

The film we have just watched showed many orchestras playing classical music. Does El Sistema encourage the playing of other types of music, such as Salsa or other genres from Venezuela?