Music changes lives
Anyone who watched the CBS broadcast of 60 Minutes this past Sunday will have seen the full spectrum of human potential from its most base to its most noble. Viewers were treated to stories about government corruption in the new Iraqi, about a humble man who may have invented a breakthrough treatment for cancer, and about a classical music program that brings hope to thousands of poor children in Venezuela. Unrestricted greed, heroics of ingenuity and triumph of the human spirit, all in one hour.
As an artist and a board member with the York Youth Symphony Orchestra, I found this last story particularly interesting, it was titled “El Sistema: Changing Lives Through Music.” It turns out, El Sistema or “the system,” is a music education program in Venezuela started by a
68-year-old retired economist named Dr. José Abreu. Abreu, also a trained musician, had the crazy notion that kids from poverty stricken areas could be helped by classical music. His idea was to use classical music to instill self-esteem and confidence. Why classical music? The
feeling was that popular music is heard all the time by these kids, they needed something different. One of the people interviewed put it this way, “When they sit in one of these chairs in the orchestra, they think they’re in another country, in another planet. And they start
changing.”
Has “the system” worked? According to the program — eight hundred thousand children have passed through the system in 32 years, there are hundreds of orchestras, ensembles and choirs. The sound of children playing classical music is everywhere in Venezuela. “Music produces an irreversible transformation in a child.” Said Abreu. “This doesn’t mean he’ll end up as a professional musician. He may become a doctor, or study law, or teach literature. What music gives him remains an indelibly part of who he is forever.”
We don’t have a “system” here in York, but we do have the York Youth and Junior Symphony Orchestras, featuring our own talented young people. The principal is still the same, music transforms their lives. Unfortunately there are far too many empty seats at their concerts. This is certainly discouraging, but it also a threat. The reality is, that having these programs pay for themselves is becoming more difficult. With the rising costs of performances, flattening donations and hard to secure corporate support, both of these orchestras stand on the precipice of extinction. Hopefully this won’t happen. Hopefully individuals and businesses throughout the York area will step-up and recognize the value these young people bring to our community. Then, we can all reach for what is best in us and celebrate the triumph of the human spirit.
Rick Blasdell
West Manchester Township
Leave a comment