Da Capo: Social Transformation through Music by Kelsey

Da Capo: Social Transformation through Music by Kelsey - July 2017 Scholarship Essay

I would talk about the impact music has on the lives of young students. How music and music education has the power to transform the lives of others and everyone around us. I would start with a small journey, partially mine,and partially the life of an non-profit organization in Miami and Venezuela. How the combination of a simple idea became the cornerstone of a project that still needs work, but can make a difference. The programs described here have made an impact in the Hispanic community of Miami, Florida, and continue to make growth everyday.

There is a music program in Venezuela called El Sistema. Founded in the 1980’s-90’s by Jose Antonio Abreu, a clarinet player, organized a group of young kids and started to teach them orchestra music, teaching some violin, cello, bass, the clarinet, and so on. The idea was to take these kids out of a life of poverty and crime and integrate them into a life of music, performance, or passion and discipline. The idea exploded and soon created a movement all across Venezuela, soon creating hundreds of orchestras of students from impoverished means, but learning how to play the violin or bassoon.Eventually, the orchestras became so incredibly good, they performed all around the world, performing difficult pieces like Shostakovich's 10th symphony. Many of those young musicians grew up and immigrated to other countries like the U.S., following this movement. One student eventually came to the U.S. and established a small idea in Miami, Florida. One of which I became one for the first 15 students in the Miami based chapter.


I would continue this speech explaining my own journey within the program, that now is entering its 8th year. We call ourselves Miami Music Project. Over the course of my journey I experienced opportunities to explain my musical abilities and see how the social transformation came about through me, and through the new students I see. Eventually, I would dive into the creation of leadership seminars and opportunities I have discovered by integrating sociology and social- psychology into the lives of the students within these programs. My speech would involve pictures and videos of this entire movement, of the theories and ideas students have been able to come up with as a result of participating in this program, in programs like these.


A little of my speech would include this excerpt

“The best part of being a member of an orchestra is the moment right before everyone begins to play. There is a grand pause in which all musicians, almost synchronized, take a deep breath. With one flick of the baton, we immediately begin to play Arturo Márquez's Danzón No.2, watching everyone's body language and making sure the different sections of the orchestra come in at the appropriate times. We are a group that never needed to speak to each other in order to play in unison and harmony. I soon realized that an orchestra was a society just as any other institution. I would learn about a sociology term like functional analysis and see it played out in one of my orchestra ensembles. Musicians were required to individually have a piece prepared in order for the orchestra to perform in unison. Functional analysis explains that without all functioning parts, in this case the musicians knowing the music, society cannot function properly or the orchestra will not play correctly.”