Abreu Fellow Stanford Thompson works with students in the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program last November.
Back in El Sistema USA, we Fellows You can’t watch the videos of the Simón music including Beethoven’s Serenade for are arming ourselves with the many difBolívar Youth Orchestra … without noStrings, the Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia ferent tools we will need to build our own ticing the joy they are having within the for violin and cello, and the first movement diverse yet unified network of núcleos. Reparameters of Ravel or Shostakovich. Joy of Ravel’s String Quartet. Through music cently, we were interested to find that the and improvisation is simply a lifestyle in and “baby” Spanish, I shared my love of topics of study themselves often encourage El Sistema.” El Sistema and how it creates communithe very balance of freedom and structure ties through orchestras. The kids soaked exemplified in Abreu’s Sistema. For examup every second of it, grabbing our shirts Travel to Panama, Los Angeles, ple, for a week in December, we picked up as we were leaving the classroom, pleadPasadena, Ottawa our instruments during a unit on improing for extra lessons. After I performed and I found a deep appreciation for jazz’s freevisation and composition—a challenging taught Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 (transposed dom through structure during the winter exercise for nervous, rule-bound classical for viola), they begged for copies in order break as a visiting musician and teacher at musicians! Abreu Fellow Lorrie Heagy to play it for me “next time.” When visiting the Panama Jazz Festival, an important exsized up our fears in her blog Juneau Mumusicians are in town, every student within ample of music effecting social change. The sic Matters: “Why so much fear surround50 miles of Panama City makes the trek in festival, located in Panama City, Panama, ing this pure expression of creativity, even to meet them, hungry for good instruction. was founded in 2004 by Danilo Perez, a among accomplished musicians?” Heagy In order to raise their skill level so they are world-renowned jazz pianist who grew answered her own question by citing Ken Robinson’s book Do Schools Kill Creativity?, which says, “All kids have “You can’t watch the videos of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra tremendous talents and we squander without noticing the joy they are having within the parameters of them ruthlessly…. We don’t grow Ravel or Shostakovich,” says Stanford Thompson. into creativity, we grow out of it, or rather we get educated out of it.” good enough for the conservatory, they ask up performing with Dizzy Gillespie and Lorrie Heagy and Matti Kovler, our for lessons, excited to meet us—the strange Herbie Hancock. Perez is now a Grammyseminar facilitator, showed us how to gringos from New England. winner and prominent figure in the Wayne structure a class so that it allows for the While I was getting creative with PanaShorter Quartet, and founded the Danilo students to be creative. But music itself is manian jazz music, Abreu Fellow Christine Perez Foundation and the Panama Jazz expression with rules! Abreu Fellow StanWitkowski explored the supportive strucFestival to provide music education and ford Thompson (Stan) convinced me this ture of one of the most famous models of cultural opportunities for young Panamais implicit in jazz music. Stan said, “CreEl Sistema USA, the Youth Orchestra of nians. I joined three New England Conating a núcleo in the U.S. is like improvisLos Angeles (YOLA), where students, servatory students and alumni in teaching ing over John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps.’ … parents, and teachers in the program inmaster classes and performing chamber
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