scholarly journals Making music, making language

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-65
Author(s):  
Ofelia Garcia ◽  
Angélica Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Crack Open ◽  
Music Making ◽  
El Sistema

This article reframes how the making of music by minoritized bilingual Latinxchildren is interrelated to their languaging and their literacies’ performances.Taking a translanguaging approach, musicking/languaging/performing literacies are described here as holistic critical meaning-making processes. Focusing on the process by which students make meaning of texts, and not simply on the output or product of such meaning-making, this article shows how a music education programme based on El Sistema and designed for social change transforms minoritized children’s critical sense of their positions and subjectivities as producers of language and literacies. Through music education, long considered only an enrichment activity from which language minoritized students are often excluded, bilingual Latinx children are able to crack open a vision for themselves and others as competent, dignified, and valid meaning-makers—as performers of complex acts of language and literacies.

scholarly journals Harmony or Discord? Understanding children's valuations of a Sistema-inspired initiative

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rimmer
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
System Model ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Children’S Accounts

This article explores children's reflections on the value of their participation in In Harmony, a social and music education programme whose approach and philosophy derives from the Venezuelan ‘El Sistema’ (‘The System’) model. More specifically, through an analysis of participating children's accounts (n=111) and an exploration of the key patterns evident within children's attribution of value to their In Harmony participation, the article highlights a series of ways in which the initiative's approach to music and musical learning threaten to undermine its core aims.

“We will fight Goliath”: Negotiation of space for musical agency in children’s music education

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Karin Kuuse
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
String Orchestra ◽  
Children's Music ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
El Sistema

Following a music philosophy debate deriving from the 1990s, this article puts the extra-musical and social outcomes of situated music educational practices at the fore. The Swedish replica of the choir and orchestra school El Sistema, a programme globally asserting social change and social impact, appeared useful for elaborating such outcomes in practice. Following this, the present study aims to empirically elaborate musical agency as an analytical concept to understand children’s experiences, while at the same time discussing musical agency in relation to a social discursive view on practice. A Swedish El Sistema children’s string orchestra was followed for three months and the material for analysis consists of audio recordings and observation notes from lessons, performances and family events, as well as documents surrounding the activities. Constructions of discipline, empowerment and space are revealed as affecting opportunities for musical agency. The study thus elaborates on discursive constraints and opportunities for agency negotiation while discussing social outcomes with and within music education.

scholarly journals Teaching creative music in El Sistema and after-school music contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 025576142199082
Author(s):  
Sean Corcoran
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
After School ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Creative Music ◽  
School Music ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Teachers Perspectives ◽  
Creative Music Making

El Sistema music programmes have blossomed over the past decade, with the aim of fostering social development through intensive orchestral music instruction. Many scholars agree that creative music making can facilitate student agency development, increase a sense of belonging and promote creative expression by allowing students to bring their perspectives to the learning context. With these benefits apparent, it seems rational that El Sistema should incorporate creative music making into its curriculum. To build understanding of how creative music approaches function in some programmes, I used a multiple qualitative case study to examine eight teachers’ perspectives of creative music making within El Sistema and after-school music programmes in Canada and the United Kingdom. Findings revealed that teachers conceptualized creative music making as activities that develop agency through collaborative music creation, that have the benefit of creating a sense of belonging and that give students the opportunity to contribute to their community. Successful nurturing of creative music making seems to rely on connecting students to their wider community, which is achieved in part through incorporating students’ own musical tastes. Teachers’ experiences with creative music making in their own music education played a crucial role in preparing them to teach creative music.

El Sistema fundamentals in practice: An examination of one public elementary school partnership in the US

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-368
Author(s):  
Jamie Simpson Steele
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public School ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Teaching Artists ◽  
Music Program ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
School Partnership

El Sistema is a Venezuelan program of social change that has inspired a worldwide movement in music education. El Sistema inspires social transformation and musical excellence to occur simultaneously and symbiotically. This study examines: What does El Sistema look like within the context of a public school partnership in the United States? How do the characteristics of this context influence the realization of El Sistema principles? This qualitative case study examines one fledgling music program just two years into its partnership with a public school. The study utilizes ethnographic observations and focus group interviews with the young program participants, their parents, schoolteachers, and music teaching artists. I discuss these multiple perspectives according to the fundamentals of El Sistema: a) social change; b) community; c) access; and d) frequency. Findings indicate El Sistema values are capable of impact, but not without struggle, when allied with a public school partnership.

scholarly journals Classical Music as an Instrument to Foster Leadership Skills for Social Change: The Case of Venezuela’s El Sistema

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Aponte Moreno ◽  
Lance Lattig
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Social Change Model ◽  
Youth Orchestras ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Free Network ◽  
To Receive

<em>El Sistema</em>, the Venezuelan system of youth orchestras, is a program aimed at teaching and performing classical music through the development of a free network of symphony orchestras and choruses nationwide. Since its creation in 1975 by its founder José Antonio Abreu, <em>El Sistema</em> has given thousands of Venezuelan children, who often come from unprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds, the opportunity to receive free classical music education while promoting their personal, intellectual, spiritual, social, and professional development. The purpose of this article is to analyze <em>El Sistema</em>’s potential to foster leadership skills for social change. After providing an overview of the program, we will apply Astin & Astin’s social change model of leadership development to shed light on <em>El Sistema</em>’s capacity to foster leadership skills for social change among its young musicians.

scholarly journals Can student interdependence be experienced negatively in collective music education programmes? A contextual approach

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Sarazin
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
School Context ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
Mixed Methods Case Study ◽  
Music Making ◽  
And Training

Many studies and accounts argue that collective music-making can contribute to building social cohesion and training social skills, and particularly that student interdependence in collective music education programmes can foster this. I argue that this implies two assumptions: first, that students mostly experience interdependence in music programmes positively, and second that their experiences of interdependence are not significantly affected by their experiences in other settings. To address these assumptions, this paper reports on findings from a mixed-methods case study of a French in-school collective music education programme targeting disadvantaged students. The findings suggest that students could experience interdependence negatively in the music programme, and that this was informed by the tendency for interdependence to be framed negatively in the school context. Further, the study suggests that the school's pedagogical notion of the cadre led students to frame negative interdependence not as an encouragement to act cohesively, but rather as an adult imposition. The paper ends by discussing the implications of these findings and arguing for further studies investigating the mechanisms that link different collective music-making and educational settings with positive outcomes.

The Arts and Social Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-63
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Political Purpose ◽  
The Social ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Music Education Policy

This chapter analyzes the relation of the arts, and particularly music education, to social change. The first section discusses what social change is, presenting important research and ideas. It situates the notion of social change within the framework of utopia and connects it with human flourishing as its ultimate goal. The second section is concerned with the social impact of the arts, discussing important notions such as their relation to cultivation and to moral intentions, and their political purpose. The third section is explicitly focused on music education’s relation to social change, presenting general considerations and examples such as El Sistema or developments in international music education policy.

A Consumer Behavior-Influenced Multidisciplinary Transcendent Model of Motivation for Music Making

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie L. Vaccaro
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Psychic Energy ◽  
Self Transcendence

This chapter reviews multidisciplinary research from the fields of consumer behavior, humanistic and positive psychology, music education, and other areas to develop a new Transcendent Model of Motivation for Music Making. One’s “extended self” identity can be defined partly by possessions and mastery over objects, and objects can “complete” the self. Music making involves a person’s investment of “psychic energy,” including attention, time, learning, and efforts, and is a creative path which can lead to peak experiences and flow. Music making can help satisfy social needs, achieve self-actualization, experience self-transcendence, enhance well-being, strengthen spirituality, and improve the quality of life.

Could There Be Deleuzian Assessment in Music Education?

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Lauren Kapalka Richerme
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Contemporary Education

Authors of contemporary education and arts education policies tend to emphasize the adoption of formal, summative assessment practices. Poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s emphasis on ongoing differing and imaginative possibilities may at first glance appear incompatible with these overarching, codified assessments. While Deleuze criticizes the increasing use of ongoing assessments as a form of control, he posits a more nuanced explanation of measurement. This philosophical inquiry examines four measurement-related themes from Deleuze’s writings and explores how they might inform concepts and practices of assessment in various music teaching and learning contexts. The first theme suggests that each group of connective relations, what Deleuze terms a “plane of immanence,” demands its own forms of measurement. Second, Deleuze emphasizes varieties of measurement. Third, those with power, what Deleuze terms the “majority,” always set the standard for measurement. Fourth, Deleuze derides continuous assessment. His writings suggest that music educators might consider that assessments created for one musical practice or style should not transcend their own “plane of immanence,” that a variety of nonstandardized assessments is desirable, that the effect of measurement on “minoritarian” musical practices must be examined carefully, and that it is essential to ponder the potentials of unmeasured music making.

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