THE ABREU FELLOWS AT TED 2010

TED 2010!

This trip lasted barely two days and it went by very fast. The reason the Abreu Fellows (5 out of the 10 of us) were in Long Beach, California was to perform a number on the TED Stage during the TED Prize session. Here's a little background.

TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design is a non-profit dedicated to promoting "Ideas Worth Spreading." The organization holds conferences all over the world where they gather some of the best and brightest from all fields to speak for about 18 minutes on their area of expertise. No matter who they are none of the speakers are paid and they all get about 18 minutes. Past speakers have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, conductor Benjamin Zander, poet and spoken word artist Rives and of course our own Jose Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema.

The TED Conference is the main conference and it is held once a year in Long Beach, California. In theory anyone can attend but there is a pretty serious application and a $6000 attendance fee. Despite this the conference sells out very quickly. Founders, CEOs, politicians and celebrities are generally in attendance. Below is a picture of one TED session I attended where they simulcasted the talk of Britain's next Prime Minister (if all goes as planned), David Cameron.

So why the heck were we invited to perform? Well as you all know by now, the founder of El Sistema, Jose Antonio Abreu, won the TED Prize in 2009 and as a result he receieved $100,000 and a wish, which was to launch the Abreu Fellows Program. It is at these yearly TED Conferences that the TED Prize is announced. But before they announce the new TED Prize winner, they look back at previous winners and through speeches, videos and performances they show the audience how the previous winners' wishes are coming along. To show how Abreu's wish was developing they invited the Abreu Fellows do a skit/music performance.

It was a quick six-minute performance and I think it went really well. We got a standing ovation from the audience and lots of great feedback afterwards. I'd like to think that our performing skills are the reason for the positive reception, but I know it has much more to do with the fact that people believe in Abreu's wish.

I've spoken to so many people who tell me something special happened last year at the TED Conference when Abreu gave his TED Talk. TEDsters (people who attend TED) are generally brilliant and successful and they've seen and done it all, but apparently Abreu's talk and wish really made an impact on them last year. Fortunately for the Abreu Fellows Program, people are really behind this wish and want to see it unfold.

So now that I've given you the background here's how it all went down:

Tuesday Feb 9

9pm: We land at LAX. It's my first time in California and I'm happy to see palm trees instead of snow.

11pm: I meet up with my colleague, former school-mate and TED Fellow Robert Gupta for a drink at the hotel.

11:45pm: I walk around Long Beach looking for food. I see TEDsters everywhere.

Wednesday Feb 10

7:30am: I wake-up and head to the Long Beach Performing Arts Center to watch the TED University Talks session.  I'm excited to see Gupta speak and perform there.

8:45am: Gupta's TED Talk. Have you seen the movie "The Soloist" starring Jamie Foxx? The protagonist is the real-life Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who develops schizophrenia and becomes homeless. Gupta is now his violin teacher so his TED talk is about his experience working with Ayers. Gupta also performs some Bach after his talk. Out of all the TED University speakers, Gupta is the only one that gets a standing ovation. He deserves it as he is fantastic. His talk should be available online in the next few months. Bravo Robert!

      Gupta performing some Bach at the TED University Talks session.


10:50am: I'm walking to meet the other fellows. From afar I see a beautiful blonde walking towards me by herself. As she gets closer I glance at her nametag. It says Cameron Diaz. She walks right by me and like an idiot, I say nothing, not even hello.

12:45pm: Rehearsal on the TED stage. The acoustic piano we were supposed to use turns into an electric keyboard. Most of our 30 minute rehearsal time is taken up by the techs trying to get this keyboard to work. Our run-through is mediocre at best so we'd like another go at it. The answer is "sorry, but no." Great...no pressure guys.

4:00pm: Hair and make-up. No seriously, hair and make-up. The make-up artist tells me I have good skin.

4:30pm: Meg Ryan walks by us backstage.

5:00pm: TED Prize session starts. I'm a little nervous but Mark Churchill the director of the Abreu Fellows program is sitting with us in the audience. Seeing a familiar face helps.

5:45ish pm: Our performance. We kill it. The TED audience is great. I'm relieved it went well. People such as Al Gore, Meg Ryan and Bill Gates are in the audience. Our performance was videotaped by TED and I'll post it as soon as we get it.

6:15pm: Jamie Oliver does his TED Talk and announces his wish. Personally I think it's a great wish: "To create a strong and sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." Check out his TED talk here.





6:45pm We're backstage. Sheryl Crow, who has just performed after Jamie Oliver, congratulates us, the fellows, on our performance. I ask myself what I'm doing here.

7:00pm The fellows and I head to a restaurant for a reception.

7:15pm We meet various people, all ridiculously good at what they do: a co-founder of Skype, a writer/producer for Grey's Anatomy, the President of this and CEO of that. I remind myself to take it easy on the drinks so I don't say something stupid.

8:00pm As we're standing around a table, a rather tall, black guy comes right up to me, shakes my hand and congratulates us on our performance. It's Will Smith. I tell him I'm a big fan. I decline to tell him that I know every line from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  He asks what the long, brown thing was that I was playing. He introduces himself to all of us and chats with us for a few minutes. He is very humble and easy-going. As he leaves, I immediately post to Facebook about the encounter. It pains me to admit it now, but I felt giddy, like a 5-year old in a candy store. I again ask myself what I'm doing here.

11:30pm Block party on the street. I run into a few TEDsters who support the Abreu Fellows program like Carl Haney and Michael Melcher. The band is awesome and people are dancing...as best as a bunch of CEOs and Founders dance.

        With Christine, Stan and Rebecca at the block party.


Thursday Feb 11

7:00am Abreu Fellows Breakfast with TEDsters and supporters of the fellowship. Gupta attends too. I sit beside the President and CEO of Gibson Guitars.

Gupta and I at the Abreu Fellows' Breakfast.

9:00am I start writing emails to all the people I've met to thank them for their support.

12:56pm Catch flight at LAX

My TED experience was unbelievable and I feel priveleged to have been invited. Thank you to Rives, who helped us put together our performance, to Amy Novogratz and Anna Verghese who looked after us from the moment we landed at LAX and to everyone in Boston that watched our practice run-throughs and gave us feedback.

We depart for Caracas, Venezuela this Thursday where the real adventures will start. El Sistema, I'm constantly told, is the real deal and will not dissappoint. I hope so, because I've been bragging about it all year now...You'll hear from me soon.

Thanks for reading.

Past, Present and Future

Abreu Fellows and students from Youth And Enrichment Family Services at Menino Arts Center.
Boston, 01/24/10



Video of Abreu Fellows' first semester:






WELCOME BACK TO MY BLOG ON THE 2009-2010 ABREU FELLOWS PROGRAM!

Since I haven't blogged in almost two months, this post is a little long. But so much has happened that I don't want to leave anything out. And don't worry, it's mostly pictures.

As most of you know, after this year of training the fellows are expected to spend one year (and hopefully longer!) as part of an El Sistema-inpsired program somewhere in the world. So you'll begin to notice that everything that's been happening is helping to propel us towards next's year goal.

Let's go back to December of 2009.

My roommate Stan and I had the opportunity to go to Atlanta, Georgia to discuss the possibility of an El Sistema-style program there. We met with several people from the music performance, music education and non-profit world. We also attended a TED conference, TEDxPeachtree, hosted by Al Meyers.

For those who don't know what TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is, it is essentially a non-profit organization that promotes "ideas worth spreading." TED holds their annual conference each year in Long Beach, California. It is at this conference that they announce the TEDPrize. The winners of this prestigious prize win $100, 000 and "one wish to change the world." In 2009, Jose Antonio Abreu, the founder of Venezuela's El Sistema won the TEDPrize and his wish was to start a special training program in the United States for musicians to spread the El Sistema idea to all parts of the world. The Abreu Fellows Program is his wish coming to fruition.

At TEDxPeachtree, organizer Al Meyers, gave Stan the opportunity to do a sort of mini TED Talk on the possibility of starting an El Sistema-inspired program in Atlanta. This is quite an honor. Stan did great (see Stan's talk and presentation here) and we managed to get a few people interested in helping move the process foward.

If you've never seen TED Talks, take your computer, find a comfortable seat and check them out. The talks are given by world's most creative, innovative and inspiring people (like Abreu). Some of them will blow your mind.



Stan and Me, with Melanie Darby and Reggie Brayon at TEDxPeachtree.

Stan is from Atlanta and his mom is a music teacher in the public school system, so we took that as an opportunity to coach some students at her high school.






We also attended a great concert combining the Spelman College and Morehouse College Glee Clubs.


Glee Club concert at Spelman College, Atlanta

Our professional meetings in Atlanta were very productive and it looks like Atlanta has the right combination of a strong arts community (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, ten youth orchestras and marching bands galore!) and plenty of youth to serve. Defintely furtile ground to start an El Sistema-inspired program.

Back to the pedagogical side of things now.

One of the biggest issues with starting a new music program is deciding what age group and which instruments to start with. Throughout our studies it seems that two instruments are consistently a safe bet: voice (choirs) and percussion.

Therefore this past week we had percussion seminars, led by Jerry Leake and Marcus Santos.


Abreu Fellows, Christine and Alvaro during percussion seminar with Jerry Leake

We learned percussion techniques and rhythms from North and South India, West Africa, particularly Ghana, and Brazil (Samba Reggae, Samba and Samba Funk).

The reason for having percussion be a part of a music program from the beginning is that it's makes it easy for everyone to be involved right away. Hitting the bucket, djembe, repique or surdo makes an immediate sound and incorporating things like call and response, dynamics, singing and dancing provides an exilirating ensemble experience, much like playing Mahler or Brahms in a symphony orchestra. Most of the time you don't need to know how to read music to do it and it'll teach one of the most important aspects of playing music: rhythm.



This is important for kids because sometimes, especially in elementary school, to start having fun on the violin or the clarinet, it takes a long time. Producing a satisfying sound, learning the fingerings and how to read music can be a slow process at first and a child may lose interest if they are not encouraged daily. By having a percussion ensemble, they get access to a musical group performance right away. It gets them "hooked" from the get-go while they slowly build their skill on their orchestral instrument.

Speaking of percussion and Brazil, I will divulge that last semester, with the encouragement of my mentor, New England Conservatory Viola Faculty, Martha Katz, I spent a weekend amongst Brazilians in Boston. I took a Samba class, (in which I required much assistance) and the next day I took a Samba percussion workshop, (which went much better).


At Samba class with my roommate Rebecca (on the right).

I am convinced the reason that Brazilians are so good at soccer is because they dance Samba. Quick feet, a neccesity for both Samba and good ball control in soccer. I have slow feet, which is why I'm good at neither...

The Samba percussion workshop was lead Meia Noite, who hails from Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil, where Carnaval (the biggest street party in the world) happens every year.

Shout out to my good friend Jan who should be making his way to Salvador for Carnaval in the next few weeks.



Now back to Meia Noite. Quite simply, he is amazing. He has been Sergio Mendez' principal percussionist for years and has played with Madonna, among others. Check out this video I took from his workshop. In the video he is playing the "Caixa" with a drumstick in his left hand and using his right hand to also strike the drum. Take note of all the different sounds he gets with only one drum and also watch for the call and response between him and the class towards the end of the video. How could any kid not enjoy doing this?








We have also continued our outreach activities with different music programs in the Boston area. You'll remember that last November we visited Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) which targets the Haitian community in Boston. Yesterday, January 24, 2010 we returned to do an outreach gig with their students. They have a Suzuki string program involving more than 50 kids.



We had set up the outreach date back in November, but in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, it seemed even more important for us to do this gig.


With Geralde Gabeau, Director of YOFES and Ms. Heidie J. Jean, Violin Instructor

We started off by watching their violin and viola students playing Lightly Row and Twinkle, Twinkle, which are two standard beginner pieces from the Suzuki Method. All the kids played from memory with great big sounds and solid rhythm. Credit to their teacher Ms. Heidie J. Jean.



Following this the Fellows demonstrated our instruments and played a few solo and duo pieces. We then premiered a wonderful new piece titled Puesta Del Sol, composed by New England Conservatory composition student Albert Oppenheimer. Nicely done Albert! And to finish off, the fellows and students took the stage together to play some Haitian folk tunes. The parents joined in singing the words, while one parent even played percussion on a chair. For me this was easily the highlight of the night.


Playing "Haiti Cherie" with the YOFES students.

YOFES then graciously invited us to stay for a dinner of delicious Haitian food including the classic rice and beans and fried plantains.



A big thank you to Geralde Gabeau, director of YOFES, for having us. YOFES has their own Earthquake Relief efforts aimed at Haiti and the Haitian community in Boston. Please go to the YOFES' website to find out how you can help.



Switching gears back to TED for a moment.

Last December an announcement was made that five of the fellows had been invited to Long Beach, California to attend the TED Conference in February 2010. And not only that. But as a group, the five us will be speaking at the 2010 TED Prize presentation.

Unfortunately they could not invite all ten of us and I assume it probably has something to do with the $6000 it costs to get into the conference...

Along with me, TED has invited Christine, David and my roommates Stan and Rebecca. I don't want to give away exactly what we'll be doing on stage but obviously it will be related to Abreu's TED Prize wish. Tune in online at 5pm Pacific Time on February 10 to watch live!



Here's a sneak peak at our rehearsals in Boston which were directed by artist and TED veteran, Rives:


L to R: Me, Dave, Christine, Stan and Rebecca (off camera) for our TED Conference presentation.

I'll admit I'm feeling a bit of pressure with this thing since public speaking is not my background and apparently the TED Prize is watched live online by millions around the world, not to mention the 1500 people sitting in the audience. I've played concerts at Carnegie Hall...no problem! But this? Yikes...







Also coming up quickly is our residency in Venezuela to study El Sistema in person. We're finally starting to get some details surrounding the trip.


We will be leaving on February 18th and will be there for two months. We will be spending the first week in Caracas and then breaking up into groups to go teach, study and perform at various nucleos in different parts of Venezuela. The latest word is that during this first week we will be attending a gala in Caracas celebrating the 35th anniversary of El Sistema Venezuela where we will meet Abreu and watch Gustavo Dudamel a conduct the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. We're told that we will also participate in rehearsals with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestras so we can get a feel of what it is like to play in their orchestra.



I'm looking foward to teaching and performing with the El Sistema kids. My spanish is not bad, as long as I don't have to speak in the future tense. I'm especially looking foward to not having to wear boots, coats and tuques. Mid-February, the best time to head south from the winter weather...

Kudos to Dan Berkowitz, one of the ten original Abreu Fellows. Over the holiday break Dan was offered and accepted the position of Manager of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, the LA Philharmonic's El Sistema-program. Dan is already out in LA working hard, but will be with us when we arrive in Caracas in February. Congrats Dan!

And to finish up, shout out to my friend and Yale School of Music classmate Robert Gupta. I still remember the conversation we had the day of graduation:



Gupta: hey Dantes, so what are you up to next year?
Me: Oh, I'm going to do more graduate work in Pittsburgh. How about you man?
Gupta: Oh, I won the Los Angeles Philharmonic violin audition a fews days ago.
Me: (gulp)

Gupta won his first audition, at the age of 19, with one of the best orchestras in the world. But of course, if you knew him you wouldn't be too surprised. In any case, Gupta has been named a 2010 TED Conference Fellow, quite an honor, so he'll be in Long Beach, CA at the same TED Conference we'll be. Gupta, see you soon.


More from the Abreu Fellows Program in about a week. It's been a while and I'd love to hear from you, so please leave your comments or questions down below.

Thank you for reading.