Teaching music as team sport
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter mihejirika@suntimes.com May 22, 2011 11:16PM
Youngest performer Emily Vazquez, 8, (center) and the rest of the string section practices Thursday, May 19, 2011. The orchestra at Hibbard School in Albany Park, started three years ago after winning an application process to be one of a select few American schools to become part of a symphony orchestra program for its students, many of whom are disadvantaged and learning disabled. On May 8, they won the Chicago Public Schools elementary school orchestra competition. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times
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Updated: August 28, 2011 12:22AM
It’s after school at Hibbard Elementary in Albany Park, and the crisp strains of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony reverberates so in the halls, that you wonder why a teacher would be playing a recording or movie so loud.
It was just that perfect — the performance one afternoon of the talented YOURS orchestra of 8- to 13-year-olds at this Northwest Side school where 97 percent of students are low-income and a third are limited English learners.
This three-year-old upstart orchestra built on a music methodology originating in Venezuela recently earned “honors superior” — a perfect score — at the 19th Annual Chicago Public Schools Elementary School Music Festival, from among some two dozen of the best orchestras.
“I knew we were going to win,” said violinist and third-grader Emily Vazquez, the youngest member at age eight.
“Compared to the other groups, there was no comparison,” agreed proud Hibbard orchestra director Milan Miskovic.
What sets Hibbard’s apart from any other orchestra in any other school is that it is based on “El Systema,” a music education method founded in Venezuela in the 60’s and now supporting at-risk children all over the world.
“It’s different from traditional Western music education,” said Bob Fiedler, executive director of the People’s Music School, the renowned, Uptown-based institution which brought the program to Hibbard in 2008.
“In Western music education, a kid must gain a certain amount of proficiency with their instrument before they’re deemed good enough to make music with other people. El Systema is the complete opposite,” said Fiedler, who runs what’s touted as the only totally free community music school in the country.
“The El Systema method takes a group of kids who are complete beginners, gives everyone an instrument, and they all learn together in an orchestra. It’s teaching music as a team sport rather than an individual sport.”
The brainchild of People’s Music School instructor Deborah Dos Santos, the fledgling orchestra began with 35 students who blossomed at Hibbard,a school with a predominantly Hispanic student population. Hibbard staff started to see benefits away from the instruments, like special education teacher Shirley Shechtman, who saw self-esteem and academics improve significantly among her learning disabled and emotionally troubled students.
The program soon came to the attention of the Ravinia Women’s Board, long interested in exploring the method. Today, Ravinia provides major funding and other resources, with 170 kids involved in three levels of orchestras.
It was the advanced YOURS orchestra that blew judges away at the all-city festival, with its rendition of the Beethoven piece and John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. On a recent afternoon, if you closed your eyes, you could see the marching band coming down Main Street as they played the latter.
“It has been such a blessing,” said parent Mike Roman, whose 11-year-old daughter Eva is a member. “She used to listen to the radio all the time, but now she listens to classical music and gets excited everytime she learns a new composition. She is so much more motivated in other things. It’s been an amazing opportunity.”
The kids have played everywhere from Harvard University to Turin, Italy, with Ravinia scheduled this summer.
“I can’t say enough about the People’s Music School, or about Milan, who has poured his heart and soul into these kids,” said Principal Scott Ahlman. “They meet every day after school for two hours, an hour before school, and even on Saturdays. It’s a very intense program, but the kids love it, and it’s opened many doors for them.”
“Before, I used to be a ‘C’ student, now I’m an ‘A’ an ‘B’ student, and I used to get distracted and get into trouble,” said oboist and seventh-grader Alejandro Luna, 13, who traveled to Turin last October to play in an international festival of the El Systema movement.
“It’s taught me discipline and responsibility, and I couldn’t believe I went to Italy! It’s changed my life.”
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