TED Talk Video

https://youtu.be/-X90MZE4szM

Ted Talk draft

Many people like you and I have had the opportunity of receiving a good education and live in financial stability, and the luck of having a home to live in. However there are people in the world who do not have access to these luxuries and live in poverty with no chance of escaping that reality.

What if I told you that there was an organization that has the purpose of giving the children that live in these situations a way out, and gives them a chance in the real world through music. This organization is called El Sistema and was created by Jose Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan musician. His main ambition was to introduce the instruction and collective practice of music through symphonies and orchestras as instruments of social organization and human development.

The most important of the projects that El Sistema has created has been the Nucleos, which are free to join centers where children as early as 3 years old attend and are taught how to play an instrument, and later on, in an orchestra. Many of the instructors at the Nucleos are former students of the program. These Nucleos allow the children to take their instruments home with them so they can practice. El Sistema's approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation from the earliest stages, group learning, peer teaching and a commitment to keeping the joy and fun of musical learning and music making ever-present. The learning sequence begins when the children are still at a preschool level, picking up their first instruments at the age of 5. Later on, the children learn through performing in front of audiences as much as possible, reducing the pressure of formal performances in the future. In Venezuela there are over 200 Nucleos around the country, with about 500,000 current students enrolled, with plans to expand to 1,000,000 by next year. 

El Sistema has allowed many musicians to become successful artists in the professional world, the most famous being the composer Gustavo Dudamel, who is now the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gustavo joined one of the Nucleos when he was a young boy and had acquired a newfound interest in music. My mother was actually one of the people who taught Dudamel when he was at the Nucleo. He had an unremarkable amount of talent, which helped him achieve his goal of becoming a composer. He later became the lead composer for the Venezuelan national orchestra. Success stories like Dudamel's are very common, with many of the teenagers able to acquire scholarships for some of the best arts schools in the world.

Jose Antonio Abreu presented a TED Talk himself about El Sistema in 2009, and was awarded a prize by the TED Organization which allowed him to bring El Sistema in the United States in cohesion with multiple music conservatories, creating programs in schools, community centers, and other venues. Just like in Venezuela, lower class children living in the U.S. can use music to create a pathway to new opportunities to become successful. 

El Sistema creates a growing community that supports the foundations of loving children first to loving music second, creating a place where children feel safe and challenged. El Sistema graduates leave with a confidence to take on the enormous challenges in their lives and how to engage these with professionalism.

El Sistema TED Talks links

My mom

https://elsistemausa.org/#ATHS

https://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music?language=en

https://www.fundamusical.org.ve

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/arts/music/el-sistema-venezuelas-plan-to-help-children-through-music.html?_r=0

El Sistema TED Talk

El Sistema is a Venezuelan non-profit organization with the goals of teaching underprivileged children how to play music, in order for them to have a chance in the professional world. El Sistema was created in 1975 by musician Jose Antonio Abreu, with aims to introduce the instruction and collective practice of music through symphonies and orchestras as instruments of social organization and human development.

The basis of the organization is to get children off the streets and the crime heavy environments they would normally be drawn to, especially in the poor areas of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has financed the orchestra since 1976.

- Is the result of  35 years of uninterrupted  constant effort of work and ethic in which Maestro José Antonio Abreu  has been  example of what constant effort and dedication can accomplish.

- Jose Antonio Abreu did a TED Talk in 2009 and with the money earned from the presentation, the El Sistema project created a U.S. based orchestra.

 •221 Núcleos operating in many cities and towns of Venezuela, thus integrating a complex and systematic network encompassing more than:

•112 initiation orchestras

•83 children’s orchestras

•156 pre-youth orchestras

•145  youth orchestras

•342 youth and children’s chorus

•302 chorus ensembles

•363 chamber music groups

•20 workshops for instrument craftamanship

•7 Latin American Academies ( violin, cello, base, flute, percussion, clarinet and piano)

•25 Programs for special needs

•Saving 270.000 individuals

•El Sistema's approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation from the earliest stages, group learning, peer teaching and a commitment to keeping the joy and fun of musical learning and music making.

•The backbone of El Sistema student training is preparation for participation in orchestral ensembles as earliest as possible.

•There are three levels of practice every week: full ensemble work, section work and private lessons. Students often encounter the same teacher in both their group and personal lessons. This allows students to progress quickly, as bad habits are quickly corrected and good habits are regularly enforced.

•Students play in front of audiences as much as possible and performing in public becomes a natural part of their musical life.

•Students frequently watch their fellow students play in concerts, allowing them to both see and be inspired by the accomplishments of their peers.

•The majority of El Sistema teachers and Núcleo leaders are former students of the program.

•They understand the social and musical mission, nurturing both the individual person and the musician at the same time.

•El Sistema takes considerable time working with the parents of students.

•As the students begin to learn and take care of their instruments, which gives them a sense of pride of their belonging and being responsible for it, the teachers instruct parents on how best to support their child's practice schedule at home, giving feedback and encouragement.

•Parents know when registering a young child that they can count on this chain of musical education throughout the school years.

•Helps create a society based in excellence, quality, acknowledgement and unity.

•The new generation brings new students and new teachers. It is a positive circle.

Ted talk critique video

https://youtu.be/m_OWoo3tydU

The reason the video took so long to upload was due to my computer being to slow, and once it was uploaded, the video on YouTube was private and the file was corrupted, I exported the video to my iPad this weekend and fixed the upload.

TED Talk Topic Ideas

- The El Sistema program, a program that focuses on giving music to underprivileged children, giving them a chance in the competitive world.

- The problems with student debt

- How schools don't prepare students for the real world (life skills)

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What makes a good TED Talk?

A good TED Talk is a presentation where the speaker manages to engage the audience and catch their attention with a specific subject. The speaker has to know a great deal about the subject and must be comfortable with it. One of the fundamentals a TED Talk must have is a good amount of visuals, in order to explain the topic more clearly to the audience. However, there cannot be an excessive amount of visual aids due to the effect of the presentation feeling more like a movie. Every TED Talk must end with a takeaway that the speaker wants the audience to learn, which is basically the core principle of the talk.