Luck, In Launching The Atlanta Music Project

The Atlanta Music Project Logo

After the Abreu Fellows graduated, my plan was to continue blogging as the Atlanta Music Project started coming together. I thought it'd be interesting for people to come along for the ride of the developments and ups-and-downs of launching an El Sistema program outside of Venezuela. Well obviously, those blogs never happened and I'd like to blame it on the fact that I was just too busy trying to start the program.

By now you may know that the Atlanta Music Project, the El Sistema-inspired program that I co-founded with our board chair Al Meyers, was successfully launched on October 4, 2010 in Southwest Atlanta, in partnership with the City Of Atlanta Office Of Cultural Affairs. I don't want to bore you with the all the details involved with starting a non-profit. Obviously it's a lot of work and requires a great team, which we have. But what I feel really helped us - and I'd be kidding myself if I didn't admit it - was quite simply, luck. A lot of it. Here's just a few examples from many.

As the new Mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, started his term in January 2010, he announced plans to re-open all the recreation centers so kids would have somewhere to hang out after school. In July 2010, I got a phone call from Camille Love, the Director of the City Of Atlanta's Office Of Cultural Affairs. She wanted the Atlanta Music Project to be one of the after-school programs taking place at the Mayor's recreation centers, starting in September 2010. The Atlanta Music Project now runs out of the Office Of Cultural Affairs' Gilbert House, where we're given the space, administration staff and infrastructure to run our classes. It's a great partnership, that partly comes down to luck and great timing, because if it wasn't for the Mayor and Ms. Love's vision, the Atlanta Music Project may not have launched this quickly.

Me, Camille Love (Director of Cultural Affairs), Al Meyers (Co-Founder and Board Chair of AMP) at a press conference where Mayor Kasim Reed announced the launch of the "Culture Club: An After-School Experience".
The Atlanta Music Project is the provider of music classes in this after-school program.

Here's another one. In April of 2010, the 2010 Abreu Fellows left Caracas to go back to the United States. The first leg of the trip was from Caracas to Atlanta, so I opted to spend our spring break in Atlanta, where I would keep trying to get things going with the Atlanta Music Project. Showered, but unshaven and in need of a haircut, I rented a car at the airport and drove straight to the Woodruff Arts Center, home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where students of the Talent Development Program were performing.

Students of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony's Talent Development Program at the Gilbert House, giving a performance and demonstration of string instruments to the students of the
Atlanta Music Project.

At the reception for this concert, Melanie Darby, who is on our board of advisors, introduced me to Dr. Stanley Romanstein, the new President of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. I asked Dr. Romanstein if we could meet so I could talk to him about my plans for El Sistema in Atlanta. The meeting went great and at the end he asked "So, what do you need?" On the advice of my Abreu Fellows Program mentor, Don Jones, I was prepared for this question. I asked Dr. Romanstein for office space within the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra offices (I was tired of spending my days at coffees shops for their wifi and my evenings going to FedEx to print documents, spending money I didn't have). His exact response was "done." I was actually kind of confused for a second because I had prepared a bunch of reasons why I the office space was needed, but I never had to explain. I believe we were lucky that Dr. Romanstein, who is a former Executive Director of the Baltimore School For The Arts and a champion of music education, joined the Atlanta Symphony literally a few weeks before I arrived in Atlanta from Venezuela. Dr. Romanstein and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra have been strong supporters of our program from the beginning and I couldn't be more grateful for their support. The timing couldn't have been better.

 In February 2010, I went to TED2010 with some of the 2010 Abreu Fellows. I blogged about performing on stage, meeting Will Smith and Sheryl Crow etc. What I didn't tell you then, because I didn't know where it would lead, is that on the last night I walked into the elevator at our hotel and met two TEDsters who happened to work for Coca Cola in Atlanta. They had just seen me perform with the Abreu Fellows on the TED Stage and so they knew all about El Sistema, El Sistema USA and the Abreu Fellows Program. I told them I was planning El Sistema in Atlanta and asked if there was a Coca Cola Foundation I could apply to for funds. They put me in touch with the Coca-Cola Foundation and I met with them later in April. The foundation folks said it sounds like a good idea, but please come back when you have more traction. Fair enough, but not the answer you want to hear when what you need to get traction is, funding. But with the City Of Atlanta partnership developing, we were finally able to secure funding from Coca-Cola that essentially enabled us to launch the program. The Coca-Cola company is still our biggest sponsor to date and I'm thankful for them having taken a leap of faith to support our music for social change initiative. To see all our sponsors and collaborators, please visit this page and this page on the Atlanta Music Project website.

The Abreu Fellows performing at TED2010. 

The City Of Atlanta Office Of Cultural Affairs, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Coca-Cola Company are three of our partners, without whom, the Atlanta Music Project couldn't have launched. When I talk about us being lucky, people often tell me it's not luck but the result of hard work. I certainly believe that is true. We have a board, volunteers and enthusiasts who work tirelessly on our behalf. But I think the two biggest factors in our successful launch are that we have a good mission and we've been lucky. So far, no one has told me (at least not to my face!), that what we're doing here is not both needed and positive. I believe that what El Sistema has done in Venezuela and what the Abreu Fellows Program has become in the United States, is extremely credible, and we at the Atlanta Music Project are just a small part of a huge movement to save lives with music. With all these elements supporting us, time and time again, my planning team and I found ourselves in the right place at the right time, with good fortune that helped advance our launch.

AMP students in a trombone group lesson with AMP teaching artist Ed Nicholson.

In the end it is most important that our luck as a planning team has found its way to the community. Our students now have the opportunity to learn an instrument, sing in a choir, learn musicianship and play in orchestra, right in their own neighbourhood everyday of the week. They're great kids and I'll tell you a little bit about them in my next blog. Comments, concerns and questions about my blog or the Atlanta Music Project are always appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Check us out at www.atlantamusicproject.org.

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.