El Sistema: How Music Saved Lives

I know I kinda left everyone hanging last week about what I was so excited about because I had to leave for my orchestra fall camp, but I'm back now. It was pretty fun and I'm looking forward to the whole season. This years theme is "the genius of Shakespeare" so besides learning music, some of which is from Hamlet, we will be studying, analyzing, and memorizing a little bit of Shakespeare. Eek!

Now I'll let you in on my revelation. It seems as if lately all my friends have been traveling out of the country, something I've always wanted to do. For example, an eight year old in my German class went to Germany this summer by HIMSELF, one of my sisters has been to England, and the other to Costa Rica. So I'm feeling a little left behind...next time take me with! Last missions Sunday at church focused in on jobs out of the country. They basically said do whatever you like, except do it somewhere else. If you want to be a plumber, be a plumber but go do it in Europe or something. Now I don't want to be a plumber, but I think I've found something just right for me and it's so funny I've only just realised it because I heard about it months ago and it never occurred to me that it would be something I might like to do.

For a while now my viola teacher has been hinting at what a good music teacher I'd make but I mostly laughed at it. Me a teacher? Forget it, I thought. Yet here I am, thinking it would be awesome. I don't know if you got the chance to watch the documentary link from my last post, if you haven't I'd suggest doing that before continuing. I first heard about El Sistema from my viola teacher when she picked me up from the airport (I was coming back alone from vacation in order to get to my orchestra concert!), sometime in June I think. She brought me out to lunch and showed me this book she'd just gotten- "Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music."
 She seemed pretty excited so I feigned interest and skimmed through the pictures while she chatted away happily about how it began, how it worked, and her dream for its spreading. It was actually pretty intriguing, though not nearly as much as now as I consider what it would like to be a part of it. Basically there was this music program started in Venezuela for children in poverty which would hopefully keep them off the streets and give them a future. Then one of the kids that went through the program became the conductor of it and somehow made it famous, or perhaps that came with the publishing of the book. You can tell I haven't exactly researched this...go watch the video.
Either way, it is a very successful program. The kids have rehearsals six days a week 3-4 hours per day. This means it takes up almost the entire day if you count in the fact that this all happens after school. And it's completely free! They can start as young as 3 and as they get older and join the youth orchestra they are even payed so they don't have to quit in order to get a job to help the family. For many it's probably the only income they have.

So what got me pumped is that it's starting point was Venezuela. And it's still spreading--including to England. So  last week I made the connection. What if I was a music teacher, but somewhere in need? I would so be willing to do that. I guess I was waiting for something that was really abstract I could do because I didn't want to get stuck here all my life doing what the majority of kids in the states do: go to college, end up with a lot of debt, and be forced to get a job you don't want in order to pay it off. But let's face it, music is really one of the only things I'm okay at. Sure I do a whole lot of other things but my world really revolves around rehearsals, lessons, concerts, and music in general. Why waste it? This is a chance to take what I love and be able to combine it with places I love. I couldn't have planned it better myself.

You needn't burst my bubble by telling me this is highly unlikely. Obviously it could be way off track of where I'll really be within the next few years but I can always dream. If I could plan it all out I would go study this program directly where it began in Venezuela over the summer so I could see how it is run and then I would go teach with the one in England. This is something I really want to be a part of. South America here I come!