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Ritornello: El Sistema, Music Education, and a Centuries-Long Narrative of Socio-Musical Activism
- Source :
-
Music Education Research . 2022 24(1):18-30. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Between 2007 and 2017, El Sistema -- Venezuela's national system of youth orchestras -- enjoyed a seemingly unexplainable meteoric rise, followed by an equally spectacular sunset. Although it would be easy to dismiss this Sistema decade as being no more than a peculiar aberration of music education history, I assert that El Sistema more accurately represents a poignant return -- or ritornello -- to one of the recurring rationales for music education, namely social activism. By situating this brief but notable decade of Sistema enthusiasm amidst a wider historical context of Venetian Ospedali, British Brass Bands, and American Settlement Music Houses, I highlight and critique the use of social activism as a rationale for music education. Ultimately, I argue that the societal importance claimed by El Sistema and derivative music education initiatives is not tenable, especially in consideration of the unremarkable legacies of similar socio-musical endeavours. I also argue that a stronger socio-musical lens would be advantageous for the field of music education to adopt. Thus, in addition to establishing a centuries-long pattern of socio-musical ritornellos, the purpose of this paper is to use a rise-and-fall dialectic to further explore the complexity of music education and its capacity for directly addressing society's inequities.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1461-3808
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Music Education Research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1332088
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Evaluative
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2021.2014432