Something that is not said enough about El Sistema in Venezuela is the arduous work ethic and limitless potential that stems from that hard work. I observed the percussion sectional at the NYC seminario.
Victor, a percussionist from the Simon Bolivar Symphonic Orchestra, was working with three students: one student who was seven years old and had just started two weeks ago, a twelve year old who had played for five years, and one student somewhere in between those two benchmarks. He treated them all in the same way and had the same expectations of them. He asked each student what types of notes they liked. The oldest student said sixteenth notes, and Victor drew a sixteenth note on the board. Then he asked the newest student which was his favorite. The teacher of the newest student was also present in the room and intervened, telling Victor that he had just started a few weeks ago so he only knows quarter notes and thus those were the notes he liked.
Victor must have realized this wasn't going to achieve success and so he changed activities. He had them play different instruments, giving the newest student the novelty of the timpani and putting the other two students on the more pedestrian snare drum. The oldest student received a semi-complex rhythm while the newest student was meant to beat every four counts between the low and high timpani drum, and all were counting together aloud. The newest student continued to speed up or get off beat, but instead of reprimanding him, lowering expectations, or excusing him because he had only been playing a few weeks, Victor did something to make it more challenging: he turned off the lights.
Continue reading on my personal blog.
Sara Zanussi
Sistema Fellow '13
Victor, a percussionist from the Simon Bolivar Symphonic Orchestra, was working with three students: one student who was seven years old and had just started two weeks ago, a twelve year old who had played for five years, and one student somewhere in between those two benchmarks. He treated them all in the same way and had the same expectations of them. He asked each student what types of notes they liked. The oldest student said sixteenth notes, and Victor drew a sixteenth note on the board. Then he asked the newest student which was his favorite. The teacher of the newest student was also present in the room and intervened, telling Victor that he had just started a few weeks ago so he only knows quarter notes and thus those were the notes he liked.
Victor must have realized this wasn't going to achieve success and so he changed activities. He had them play different instruments, giving the newest student the novelty of the timpani and putting the other two students on the more pedestrian snare drum. The oldest student received a semi-complex rhythm while the newest student was meant to beat every four counts between the low and high timpani drum, and all were counting together aloud. The newest student continued to speed up or get off beat, but instead of reprimanding him, lowering expectations, or excusing him because he had only been playing a few weeks, Victor did something to make it more challenging: he turned off the lights.
Continue reading on my personal blog.
Sara Zanussi
Sistema Fellow '13
Comments