I have mentioned in a couple of settings lately that I was pleased to be part of the El Sistema USA East Coast Seminario on the weekend of May 3. I thought it would be appropriate just to say a few words here about the event and the impact that these programs are having in the lives of so many children.
The East Coast Seminario is a gathering of students and teachers from El Sistema USA programs up and down the East Coast of the United States. The event was hosted by KidZNotes in Durham and included programs based in Miami, North Palm Beach, Atlanta, Newport News, Durham, Raleigh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley PA, and Connecticut. There were around 200 students involved. They spent the weekend rehearsing and getting to know each other as musical colleagues and friends. El Sistema USA is, at its core, a social change program. Classical orchestral music is the vehicle for that social change and opportunity.
The event was simply awesome. Many times throughout the weekend I found myself profoundly moved by various little things. I know that in many ways, I am a musician as a result of the amazing social experiences that I had as a kid with classical music as the driver for the experience. I loved going to District, Regional, and All State Orchestra. I loved summer music camp at Edinboro University of PA and Westminster Highlands. I couldn't wait for the Indiana HS/Holidaysburg HS Orchestra exchanges. I loved the Indiana Youth Orchestra, lessons with Mrs. Johnson, and IUP symphony rehearsals. All of these great musical and social experiences shaped me. At the East Coast Seminario, I could see this happening for all the kids that were there. There were smiles, laughter, games, running, jumping, wonderful meals spent together, practicing, rehearsing, jamming, and beautiful music that was being made by all the students. There was, in a nutshell, a flurry of interaction, learning, and expressing. It was awesome.
I was also stuck by the instructors. First, I am reminded almost daily that I am not getting any younger. These programs are all being run by an impressive set of young adults. (I am proud to say that two of the organizations are being led by former students of mine, Calida Jones for Bravo Waterbury, CT and Katie Wyatt for Kidznotes in Durham.) I was certainly struck throughout the weekend that these folks who are leading all of the organizations that were in attendance have so much going for them. They are passionate young musicians, educators, and humanitarians. They work unbelievable hours and have a true sense of mission in their work. They live the program. I have always said that music education is a mission. The El Sistema USA programs take that concept to a new and different level. These programs give kids love, hope, and a sense of the greater good. How fortunate are the kids that are in their charge and their families.
These programs are really mostly in their infancy. They are a few years old and still working to gain and keep their financial footing. Through El Sistema USA, lives are being changed. In encourage you to consider donating either your time or money to one of these programs. They are headed in the right direction and you will be blessed by supporting this fine cause.
Peace,
Scott
Thoughts of a String Educator
Showing posts with label El Sistema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label El Sistema. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Priorities
Last weekend, I was privileged to conduct for the El Sistema USA East Coast Seminario. This was a gathering of students and teachers from El Sistema USA programs up and down the East Coast of the United States and featured students from Miami, North Palm Beach, Atlanta, Newport News, Durham, Raleigh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley PA, and Connecticut. Kidznotes in Durham served as the host and I did a bit of conducting and rehearsing with the large group as part of the weekend.
At one point, I was speaking with a couple of the instructors and was asked about my priorities in rehearsal when working with a group of students that are just coming together for the first time in a festival setting like this. I thought it was a great question and it provided me the challenge of distilling my thoughts into a brief conversation. I thought I would share my thoughts here as well.
My first priority, in any short term festival setting, it to establish the necessity for young musicians to visually communicate with me. What I am saying, in a nutshell, is that I want them to watch the conductor! This in turn, provides me the opportunity to visually communicate with them throughout the festival and, hopefully, for them to go home with a new found appreciation for the skill of visual communication in the ensemble. It might sound surprising, but most young musicians need to more fully develop this skill. Our human nature is to look at the written page. In orchestral music, that is just the first step. Players must know the music well enough to lift their eyes and attention to the conductor in order to receive valuable, imperative information. They also need to know when to look to the conductor. It is not always during difficult passages or changes in tempo. I ask students to establish visual contact during static moments in the music as well; to look to the conductor for pulse during repeated rhythmic sections, for style and phrasing during sustained passages, for information during rests. And, when a conductor knows that his musicians are looking for information, he/she will usually give more information in turn.
I must also add that for me, it goes a bit deeper than this. If students are looking to me for information, I can also establish a visual relationship with them. I can smile at them. I can acknowledge their active participation. I can "make friends" without ever saying a word. This, to me, is so important as a vital part of music-making. It is so relational in every way and in a festival setting I can't always speak with every student before or between rehearsals. So, those smiles, affirmations, and acknowledgements go a long way.
My other priority that must be established is the need for a complete understanding and commitment to the various roles of each voice of the ensemble throughout every moment of music to be performed. In other words, students much have a strong understanding of who has melodic material, rhythmic material, harmonic material, obbligato lines. I often refer to this as the teacher/student relationship. In other words, in any passage, some voice has to play the role of teacher. That voice is the one that is giving information that the others need in order to play accurately, musically, or expressively. That may include rhythmic material or melodic material. Regardless, the others are learning something vital from that voice. The others, then, are the students. They are learning from the teacher voice. And, they are, in turn, responding to that information appropriately. It is essentially a chamber music concept in large ensemble performance. Too many conductors simply instruct young musicians to "watch the stick." That directive, in my opinion, falls way short. Do they need to watch the stick? For that answer, refer to the previous paragraph. But, in addition, real music-making involves listening to all of the voices and reacting to not only the visual information that the conductor is giving, but also the sonic information that the musicians are continually receiving from each other.
For me, both of these values must be established early in the rehearsal process in order to develop a musical and expressive ensemble. I believe that students of all ages and playing levels can be instructed in these concepts.
In the end, it boils down to communication. Music making is communication at many levels: conductor to player, player to conductor, player to player, voice to voice, ensemble to audience, audience to ensemble. If we establish and affirm clear tools of communication for our ensembles early in the rehearsals process, everything works at a much higher level.
I hope that these thoughts are helpful. It has been interesting for me to consider and articulate my thoughts on this topic.
As we move into the spring concert season and summer, I wish you all the best.
Peace.
Scott
At one point, I was speaking with a couple of the instructors and was asked about my priorities in rehearsal when working with a group of students that are just coming together for the first time in a festival setting like this. I thought it was a great question and it provided me the challenge of distilling my thoughts into a brief conversation. I thought I would share my thoughts here as well.
My first priority, in any short term festival setting, it to establish the necessity for young musicians to visually communicate with me. What I am saying, in a nutshell, is that I want them to watch the conductor! This in turn, provides me the opportunity to visually communicate with them throughout the festival and, hopefully, for them to go home with a new found appreciation for the skill of visual communication in the ensemble. It might sound surprising, but most young musicians need to more fully develop this skill. Our human nature is to look at the written page. In orchestral music, that is just the first step. Players must know the music well enough to lift their eyes and attention to the conductor in order to receive valuable, imperative information. They also need to know when to look to the conductor. It is not always during difficult passages or changes in tempo. I ask students to establish visual contact during static moments in the music as well; to look to the conductor for pulse during repeated rhythmic sections, for style and phrasing during sustained passages, for information during rests. And, when a conductor knows that his musicians are looking for information, he/she will usually give more information in turn.
I must also add that for me, it goes a bit deeper than this. If students are looking to me for information, I can also establish a visual relationship with them. I can smile at them. I can acknowledge their active participation. I can "make friends" without ever saying a word. This, to me, is so important as a vital part of music-making. It is so relational in every way and in a festival setting I can't always speak with every student before or between rehearsals. So, those smiles, affirmations, and acknowledgements go a long way.
My other priority that must be established is the need for a complete understanding and commitment to the various roles of each voice of the ensemble throughout every moment of music to be performed. In other words, students much have a strong understanding of who has melodic material, rhythmic material, harmonic material, obbligato lines. I often refer to this as the teacher/student relationship. In other words, in any passage, some voice has to play the role of teacher. That voice is the one that is giving information that the others need in order to play accurately, musically, or expressively. That may include rhythmic material or melodic material. Regardless, the others are learning something vital from that voice. The others, then, are the students. They are learning from the teacher voice. And, they are, in turn, responding to that information appropriately. It is essentially a chamber music concept in large ensemble performance. Too many conductors simply instruct young musicians to "watch the stick." That directive, in my opinion, falls way short. Do they need to watch the stick? For that answer, refer to the previous paragraph. But, in addition, real music-making involves listening to all of the voices and reacting to not only the visual information that the conductor is giving, but also the sonic information that the musicians are continually receiving from each other.
For me, both of these values must be established early in the rehearsal process in order to develop a musical and expressive ensemble. I believe that students of all ages and playing levels can be instructed in these concepts.
In the end, it boils down to communication. Music making is communication at many levels: conductor to player, player to conductor, player to player, voice to voice, ensemble to audience, audience to ensemble. If we establish and affirm clear tools of communication for our ensembles early in the rehearsals process, everything works at a much higher level.
I hope that these thoughts are helpful. It has been interesting for me to consider and articulate my thoughts on this topic.
As we move into the spring concert season and summer, I wish you all the best.
Peace.
Scott
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The CATS Method of Learning
Many of you know that in recent months, I have become more and more involved with KidzNotes ( www.kidznotes.org )the Durham-based non-profit that is part of El Sistema USA and modeled after the well-known Venezuelan Youth Orchestra Program, El Sistema. The primary goal of this organization is to bring children out of poverty through classical music training in an intensive after-school program. Kidznotes will be launching this weekend in East Durham and I am thrilled to be involved. I am a member of the Board of Directors of Kidznotes and have been working on a variety of fundraising efforts as well as doing some teacher-training and performing to promote the cause. I am also proud to say that my corporate partner and sponsor, D’Addario Bowed Strings, has also jumped on board and has generously participated in preparing instruments for our young students to use. The will certainly be set up with wonderful instruments as a result of D’Addario’s generosity and the generosity of many other organizations and individuals.
One of the models that El Sistema uses is the concept of each student being part of the “CATS” model of teaching and learning. “CATS” stands for Citizen, Artist, Teacher, and Scholar. When I heard the acronym for the first time, it resonated with me on so many levels. In many ways, this has been the model that I have used with my students for almost 25 years of teaching. But, it was never stated so clearly and succinctly for me before my work with El Sistema USA.
For my students at NCSSM, I want you to take some time to think about the challenges that this model offers us. It is easy to think your job as a member of an orchestra or a class is fairly one-dimensional. That is, to assume that you are to come to class, participate fully as a musician and student, and move on to the next class. But here at NCSSM, we want to challenge you to be so much more than that. We want you to be engaged in class. We want you to own the environment. And we want you to pursue scholarly excellence in all that you do. So, let’s look at each word in the acronym and consider them individually and collectively.
First, we encourage you to be a CITIZEN. We expect you to own your citizenship. With citizenship comes responsibility. We expect you to care about the environment from start to finish. What does that entail? Citizenship, to me, equates to affirmative community membership – encouraging others, leading when appropriate, following when appropriate, caring for the injured, supporting the weak, loving the unloved. It requires a lack of self and a concern for others. In short, ask not what your organization can do for you. Ask what you can do for it and the good of the whole.
Next is ARTIST. It may seem like a reasonable expectation that a member of a musical organization or class be expected to act and think like an artist. Personally, I never really became comfortable with the notion that I was an artist until well into my adult musical years. I am not sure that I was ever really encouraged to think that way. Or, if I was, it was never really articulated in a way that I understood or incorporated into my life in a meaningful way. What is it to be artist? One definition claims that an artist is one who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value. So, an artist must be imaginative, talented, skillful, creative, and aesthetically inclined. One who is interested in aesthetics is interested in the creation of beauty. I believe it is my job to encourage you in all of these ways. When you are truly using your imagination, talents, skills, and creativity with a goal towards creating beauty and moving people’s emotions, you are on your way to being an artist.
TEACHER: On the surface this is a curious one. After all, you are, by definition, a student. First off, trust me when I tell you that I have learned ten times as much as a teacher than I ever did as a student. When we teach, we really must understand process. We have to much more clearly define objectives and goals. We have to exhibit patience, too. When students teach, they develop much deeper understandings of the processes that they are going through. Students teach every day. Just ask my seniors. I look to them to set a tone in the classroom. A section in an orchestra is always better when there are a strong front couple of stands. They are modeling for the rest of the section. They are, for all intents and purposes, teaching. And every player can in some way, teach their stand partner from time to time. We teach when we do it right and we can also teach when we do it wrong. I have learned a great deal from less-than-exemplary models in my lifetime. We must all be teachers.
Finally there is the aspect of being a SCHOLAR. I would seem to be a no-brainer that we should be scholars. But, I want you to bring true scholarship to everything that you do, including orchestra. Again, how often I see students that come to class just expecting to go through the motions on a given day. That is not true scholarship. Scholarship requires a thirst for knowledge that has been accumulated by many over the years. It includes a desire for accuracy, an appreciation for history, a respect for the science, and understanding of the mathematical principles, a desire to comprehend the theory of everything that we undertake. True scholarship requires academic curiosity and academic enthusiasm. Do you bring scholarship to every rehearsal that you attend?
I understand that these are lofty goals. They are all-encompassing. They are a challenge. But why would one want it any other way. You are here to “accept the greater challenge.” So here it is. Adopt a fundamental commitment to the “CATS” model of learning. Every day, in every class, in every endeavor, I encourage you to be a Citizen, Artist, Teacher, and Scholar. Let me know when you succeed. I will celebrate with you!
Peace.
Scott
One of the models that El Sistema uses is the concept of each student being part of the “CATS” model of teaching and learning. “CATS” stands for Citizen, Artist, Teacher, and Scholar. When I heard the acronym for the first time, it resonated with me on so many levels. In many ways, this has been the model that I have used with my students for almost 25 years of teaching. But, it was never stated so clearly and succinctly for me before my work with El Sistema USA.
For my students at NCSSM, I want you to take some time to think about the challenges that this model offers us. It is easy to think your job as a member of an orchestra or a class is fairly one-dimensional. That is, to assume that you are to come to class, participate fully as a musician and student, and move on to the next class. But here at NCSSM, we want to challenge you to be so much more than that. We want you to be engaged in class. We want you to own the environment. And we want you to pursue scholarly excellence in all that you do. So, let’s look at each word in the acronym and consider them individually and collectively.
First, we encourage you to be a CITIZEN. We expect you to own your citizenship. With citizenship comes responsibility. We expect you to care about the environment from start to finish. What does that entail? Citizenship, to me, equates to affirmative community membership – encouraging others, leading when appropriate, following when appropriate, caring for the injured, supporting the weak, loving the unloved. It requires a lack of self and a concern for others. In short, ask not what your organization can do for you. Ask what you can do for it and the good of the whole.
Next is ARTIST. It may seem like a reasonable expectation that a member of a musical organization or class be expected to act and think like an artist. Personally, I never really became comfortable with the notion that I was an artist until well into my adult musical years. I am not sure that I was ever really encouraged to think that way. Or, if I was, it was never really articulated in a way that I understood or incorporated into my life in a meaningful way. What is it to be artist? One definition claims that an artist is one who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value. So, an artist must be imaginative, talented, skillful, creative, and aesthetically inclined. One who is interested in aesthetics is interested in the creation of beauty. I believe it is my job to encourage you in all of these ways. When you are truly using your imagination, talents, skills, and creativity with a goal towards creating beauty and moving people’s emotions, you are on your way to being an artist.
TEACHER: On the surface this is a curious one. After all, you are, by definition, a student. First off, trust me when I tell you that I have learned ten times as much as a teacher than I ever did as a student. When we teach, we really must understand process. We have to much more clearly define objectives and goals. We have to exhibit patience, too. When students teach, they develop much deeper understandings of the processes that they are going through. Students teach every day. Just ask my seniors. I look to them to set a tone in the classroom. A section in an orchestra is always better when there are a strong front couple of stands. They are modeling for the rest of the section. They are, for all intents and purposes, teaching. And every player can in some way, teach their stand partner from time to time. We teach when we do it right and we can also teach when we do it wrong. I have learned a great deal from less-than-exemplary models in my lifetime. We must all be teachers.
Finally there is the aspect of being a SCHOLAR. I would seem to be a no-brainer that we should be scholars. But, I want you to bring true scholarship to everything that you do, including orchestra. Again, how often I see students that come to class just expecting to go through the motions on a given day. That is not true scholarship. Scholarship requires a thirst for knowledge that has been accumulated by many over the years. It includes a desire for accuracy, an appreciation for history, a respect for the science, and understanding of the mathematical principles, a desire to comprehend the theory of everything that we undertake. True scholarship requires academic curiosity and academic enthusiasm. Do you bring scholarship to every rehearsal that you attend?
I understand that these are lofty goals. They are all-encompassing. They are a challenge. But why would one want it any other way. You are here to “accept the greater challenge.” So here it is. Adopt a fundamental commitment to the “CATS” model of learning. Every day, in every class, in every endeavor, I encourage you to be a Citizen, Artist, Teacher, and Scholar. Let me know when you succeed. I will celebrate with you!
Peace.
Scott
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