|
| |
Second National
Preventive
Health Research Programme
Defined Terms - Bohemian
Teenager Symphony Orchestra Programme
Bohemian Teenager Symphony Orchestras
Programme
Three Famous Orchestras
And
Choirs Which
Have Successfully Targeted
Homeless and
Marginalised
means:
(a) Latin American country of Venezuela
has
delivered, over the last 34 years
The National Youth Orchestra System,
colloquially known as
El Sistema, successfully steering more than a million kids, many from slum areas, away from a
life of drugs/crime, into the world of classical music, and conducted
orchestral performances at esteemed concert halls which include the
BBC Proms and
The Lincoln Centre.
The fundamental tenet of
El Sistema is not musical, but social.
The ABC documentary series
Foreign
Correspondent
telecast
Bravo! Encore!
on 30 June 2009.
(b)
ABC production
Choir of Hard Knocks,
based on
Sydney
Street Choir of circa 2001,
which
drew upon the musical talents of
Jonathon Welch
to assemble a choir in
Melbourne which morphed into the
Melbourne Street
Choir, Inc.
(c)
Montreal's Accueil Bonneau Homeless choir
which won accolades and hearts from its
diverse repertoire from 'The Mamas and the Papas'
California Dreamin' to Beethoven's
"Ode to Joy" -- not just in Quebec but across
Canada and worldwide -
-
recording six albums over a 6 year tenure,
-
performing more than 1,000 live concerts in cities as
far away as Paris,
-
eventually disbanded due to the members elevating
their orchestral skills and
QOL.
The fact that
the
Montreal's Accueil Bonneau Homeless choir
ultimately disbanded "due
to the members elevating their orchestral skills and QOL"
is patent testimony to the scope of
the
BTSO SPV
to deliver its
Five Functions to
achieve the
Four Purposes
of the
Second National
Preventive
Health
Programme
whilst maintain
an
Orchestra Performance
Focus.
The below
explains other countries which have adopted the
Venezuela Model notes in (a) above:
A
BBC TV
documentary
programme in the
Imagine
arts series, first shown on 18 Nov 2008,
examined the history and ethos of the
Venezuela Model and
its role in tackling the social problems of
Venezuela and its success in transforming the lives
of some of the nation's poorest children, including
interviews with Gustavo Dudamel, key members of the
orchestra, and current and former students.
Hosted by
Alan Yentob,
the film took a detailed look at the unique music
education system of Venezuela, of which the
orchestra is an integral part, and described the
recent attempt to imitate its success in a deprived
part of Scotland.
Below are extracts from
the article
"Sistema Scotland Adopts Venezuelan Musical Miracle"
which explain the programme,
Big Noise, delivered by the organisation
Sistema Scotland.
The fundamental
principle of El Sistema, which is that the main aims of
Big Noise
are not musical, but social. “We use the orchestra as an engine for
social change,” “If we produce great musicians then that will be
great, but it’s not our principle purpose. Existing children’s and
youth orchestras do a great job producing excellent musicians. We
are not seeking to replace any of those or make them Sistema
orchestras. But we hope that the children we work with – children
who would not previously have joined existing youth orchestras –
will now do so after coming to music through Sistema.” Furthermore,
Sistema-inspired orchestras can work in more than one type of social
circumstance. “Wherever you go in the world, there will be
communities suffering from feelings of exclusion, which lead to poor
health, crime and substance abuse. It might take some adapting to
local circumstances, but we think a Sistema-like orchestra could
play a big part in bringing about generational change in areas like
that anywhere. We could look at Sistema as being the regeneration
that goes on inside people’s head, in order to match the
regeneration that has gone on in the streets.”
The initial
Big Noise youth orchestra is in
Raploch, a community that is “comparatively at the bottom of the
economic scale in Scotland,” ranked in 2004 as “one of the top 5% of
areas of multiple deprivations in Scotland.” The average income in
Raploch is £6,240, and 22% of the community experiences incidents of
the ‘Big 3’ (coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer). “In our
program,” says Killean, “over 50% of the children who attended the
Summer School in 2008 came from families who were or had been
involved with social services.” Comparatively, deprivation in
Scotland ranks nowhere near that found in Venezuela. “Absolute
poverty is worse in Venezuela where people live in shanty towns, may
well have difficulty finding enough to eat, and where we know of
children who have been shot on the way to orchestra practice.
Scotland is a typical post-industrial society, and while there is
general prosperity, many urban areas suffer from depravation, crime,
substance abuse, and poor health.”
Generated by the
instructors at Big Noise, the repertoire played by the children is
primarily based upon fun songs and games. As Killean explains, “the
curriculum is progressive, so in nursery you may learn a song, walk
it, sing it, clap it, and in Primary 1 you may also use this song,
but progress in how you work with it. Then, in the after-school
programme, you will be learning how to play this song on the
instruments. All of the repertoire we use is pitched appropriately
for both the children’s voices, and for beginning work on the open
strings.”
With a budget
provided by the
Scottish Arts Council as well as numerous private donations,
Big Noise
hopes to start up orchestra centres in Glasgow and Aberdeen by
2013, bringing the total of Big Noise centres to three. A good
deal of support and inspiration has come from FESNOJIV (National
System of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela), who in
their thirty-plus years of experience have demonstrated the
value of orchestras as “engines for social change.” Big Noise
is in fact the UK representative for FESNOJIV. Killean adds
that they have “supported us with a good deal of information,
and hosted visits where the organizers of Sistema Scotland and
our musicians have been able to see and learn from El Sistema in
action. We are very proud that they have officially accepted us
into the Sistema family.” Further support has come from the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Scotland, which is
currently working on a documentary about the efforts being done
at Big Noise.
See also
“North American
Counterparts: El Sistema Inspires Projects in Ottawa & New York,”
| |
|