Dear Subscriber to
The Ensemble
,
Welcome to our December issue, the third from
The Ensemble
’s new home at Longy School of Music of Bard College.
As with previous months, we send this e-newsletter (easier to read on phones and tablets); with one click, you can get the familiar PDF form. Just click the Download PDF button below, or the “Read More” on any of the articles, and you get the full newsletter, in a form you can easily print. Please enjoy. We hope that providing multiple platforms for readership is beneficial for you.
Send us your news, your questions, your ideas, so we may share with others in the field. Is there a particular feature of your program of which you are especially proud? Let us know so we can spread the word.
TheEnsemble@Longy.edu
Best wishes,
The Ensemble Team
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Download a PDF of this issue of
The Ensemble
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Sistema as School: WHIN’s Ways of Being
By Charles Ortiz, Executive Director, WHIN Music Community Charter School
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As the world has seen El Sistema stretch far beyond the barrios of Venezuela, musicians, educators and citizen artists around the globe have been experimenting with how to use the principles and ideologies of Maestro Abreu in new and exciting ways. In northern Manhattan, that experiment takes the form of the WHIN (Washington Heights & Inwood) Music Community Charter School, an inclusive full-day charter founded on the principles of El Sistema.
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Teaching Habits of Mind
By Lorrie Murray, Director, Bay Area Music Project
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Nearly a decade ago, I helped transform a public elementary school in Alameda, CA into an arts-integrated elementary school, Maya Lin School. Through this, I learned about the Studio Habits of Mind (SHoM), a framework for learning. Developed by a team of researchers and educators at Harvard’s Project Zero, the eight SHoM are: develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand arts worlds.
Bay Area Music Project formed two years later in Alameda, and partnered with Maya Lin Elementary to provide intensive music education after school. Although the principles and practices of SHoM were originally formed in the context of visual arts education, I observed that our teaching artists were instinctively using some of these practices in their ensembles already.
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Editorial
By Christine Taylor Conda, Director of Reach*Teach*Play Ravinia; Chair, Board of Directors of El Sistema USA
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Right on time, after ten years of start-up and growth, Sistema programs in the U.S. are entering a new phase, in which we are ready to embark on an exploration of the “Q” word: quality—an essential building block of excellence.
When El Sistema first came into our collective consciousness, everything about it seemed to answer a yearning we had as music educators and social justice pioneers. We jumped in with both feet, young El Sistema devotees betting their futures on new programs. Established organizations risked reputations and stretched resources on this new and expensive venture. We embraced the totality of El Sistema, the “
Tocar y Luchar” level of intensity that converted us from once-a-week lesson folks to devotees of a four- to five-days-a-week ensemble training model. Inspired by Maestro Abreu and his colleagues, we were able to meet the challenges of the early years while building a strong, congenial community.
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Creative Youth Development (CYD) is a theory of practice integrating creative skill-building, inquiry and expression with positive youth development principles. These principles can fuel young people’s imaginations and assist in building critical learning and life skills. CYD is hosting a free one-hour webinar to share strategies for integrating CYD and social justice practices into your own teaching and programs. The webinar takes place on December 4 at 6:30PM EST/3:30PM PST.
Calling all composers. Noteflight, the online music notation software, and El Sistema USA have partnered on a new call for compositions and a new contest. Noteflight asks composers to provide original compositions and arrangements of public domain works. Five winners will be selected, and the grand prize winner will have their work performed live by an El Sistema ensemble.
Were you one of the many readers fascinated by the lead article in The Ensemble October 2019, about “Attributes of Excellence In Arts for Change?” You can delve deeper in this video webinar, in which author/researcher Dennie Palmer Wolf and members of the Global Leaders Program discuss the crucial importance of creating new kinds of excellence in our work.
Since 2006, The World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) has been committed to advancing arts education for all learners, at all age levels, in formal and informal settings, and across all arts disciplines. This past October, WAAE convened in Frankfurt, Germany, where 180 leaders from 47 nations produced a document that was published a few weeks ago called The Frankfurt Declaration. The declaration calls for “transformative action for arts education as being integral to sustaining communities and meeting the needs of all people in the face of critical global challenges.” This unifying statement of collective purpose marks a new phase in global awareness and social change.
Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project (ChiMOP) launched a new pilot program in partnership with San Lucas Church in the Humboldt Park area. This new program site will focus on Latin and Afro-Cuban musical styles at a beginner level (students ages 8-13). The neighborhood is a musical epicenter for those musical traditions but is gentrifying; on Sundays the park is packed with performances by master elder musicians. ChiMOP will work with local musicians, seeking to preserve the local community music traditions with the new program.
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If you are inspired by the lead article in this issue of The Ensemble and are interested in starting an El Sistema-inspired school, the Walton Family Foundation: Innovative Schools Program grant can help. They support educators who open all types of K-12 schools, particularly schools that look and feel truly different, achieve unprecedented outcomes, serve high-need students, and embrace successes and challenges to share with other schools. You can be awarded a grant of up to $325,000. Deadline for submitting online pre-applications is January 15, 2020.
Lyft is committed to empowering nonprofit organizations doing work to make communities stronger, healthier and more equitable. The company is currently offering Lyft Community Grants, which support nonprofit organizations working in selected locations in the U.S. and Canada. Each quarter through June 2020, the program will provide Lyft ride credits to three nonprofit organizations in all participating locations. The ride credits average $1,000, but in select cities will range from $5,000 to $20,000.
Do you have students interested in electronic music technology? Blackball strives to inspire students in marginalized communities through the music to which they listen and relate. First launched in Toronto in July 2015, Blackball gives students hands-on access to synthesis, beat programming and sampling. Founder John Copping describes Blackball as an all-electronic nucleo and says they are expanding. More questions? Contact blvckbvll@gmail.com.
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“Do your little bit of good where you are;
it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” - Desmond Tutu
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Action for the Month:
Urge Your Congresspeople to Join the Arts Caucus
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On November 6th, The Family Friendly Schools Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate to fund the lengthening of the school day from 3PM to 6PM for low income and working families who cannot afford after school childcare. This act seeks to add “electives in music, arts, athletics, writing, and engineering.” The bill is a rare chance to raise awareness about the importance and opportunity of after-school time learning in the arts. Urge your Senators to co-sponsor this act and show your support for after-school learning opportunities for low-income neighborhoods.
Read more here including sample letter.
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The Ensemble
Masthead
MANAGING EDITOR
Christine D'Alexander
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Ryan Walsh
COFOUNDERS
Tricia Tunstall
Eric Booth
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