L.A. Philharmonic to hold instrument drive, host symposium on El Sistema-inspired programs

Wondering what to do with that old violin stored in the bedroom closet? Or the clarinet left over from your daughter's middle-school music class?

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is seeking donated instruments to help support the expansion of Youth Orchestra LA, its initiative to establish ensembles in under-served communities.

Donations will be accepted Thursday through Saturday at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Orchestral instruments of all sizes as well as metronomes, music stands and tuners will be collected at a table in the Grand Avenue lobby, starting two hours before each day's Philharmonic concert. Instruments should be in working condition, although certain repairs can be made.

The YOLA initiative was launched in 2007 and its first ensemble, the YOLA EXPO Center Youth Orchestra, began to rehearse a year later at the EXPO Center near the Coliseum. Membership in the orchestra -- which was created by a partnership among the Philharmonic, the city Department of Recreation and Parks and the Harmony Project -- has swelled to more than 200 kids.

This fall, the Phil plans to expand to a second site by launching an intensive orchestral education program for more than 100 first- and fourth-graders at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), a community center in Lafayette Park.

YOLA is one of many programs inspired by El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education movement that has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel -- a product of El Sistema -- maintains a close relationship with YOLA and led the EXPO Center orchestra in part of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony during his debut concert at the Hollywood Bowl last fall.

Beginning Thursday, the Phil will host a three-day symposium that offers a global perspective on El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. "Composing Change: YOLA and the El Sistema Movement" will include round-table discussions, an EXPO Center orchestra rehearsal -- conducted by Dudamel -- at Disney Hall and a conversation between Dudamel and Deborah Borda, the L.A. Philharmonic Assn. president and chief executive.

The symposium will be presented by the Philharmonic, El Sistema USA and the League of American Orchestras.

--Karen Wada

Photo: Musicians in a rehearsal for the YOLA EXPO Center Youth Orchestra. Credit: Mathew Imaging

Related:

An orchestra by open invitation

Pride, joy and playing with Gustavo Dudamel

 

Comments

[Anthony Fidelio]

I'm baffled with such flaccid enterprise. The best "el sistema" were the days when we had music in all schools as part of the curriculum: bands, choirs, jazz combos, school orchestras are all gone. My companion taught a couple of years music appreciation classes for a couple of high-schools in the LA area. No textbooks, no music board, no keyboard, no stereo. In a different school, a closet full of instruments, from the days when the school did offer music. And in the closet they still are. No kid in that school has ever heard the sound of a live instrument,
Now, we're happy that it "has swelled to more than 200 kids" provided that once a year we'll get together for one hour and take pics with el Maestro. It sure looks great when printed. And it even looks better for grant writing.
LAPO's interest in all this can only be to tap on easy money from federal and state educational grants to pay handsomely their own. The rest is fireworks for the visually impaired.

[MarK]

According to Anthony Fidelio's logic: if one can't save the entire world, one shouldn't even attempt saving one person.
Of course, music instruction in every school would be a wonderful thing, but this kind of achievement is way beyond LAPO's capabilities. After all, it is a performing - not an educational - non-profit organization.
What we are and should be happy about is the fact that the lives of over 200 children - and consequently those of over 200 of their families - are improved thanks to this program. This is a very worthy cause and a truly good deed. If you think that anyone got rich because of it, you are incredibly naive.
If you believe that more children should be involved, contact LAPO's educational department and find out how you can help make this program grow. Or contact an organization like The Harmony Project (easily found on the web) that is specifically dedicated to this cause, and help them.
Here is a guarantee: you will not be paid "handsomely", because no one in these programs is, but your true reward will be seeing the kids' faces light up with excitement and happiness.