El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth by Geoffrey Baker (review)

“Due to the nature of this research, I am unable to thank my collaborators in Venezuela by name”—these words head the acknowledgments of Geoffrey Baker’s study El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth. They hint at a singular work of journalism and scholarship that builds on interviews with El Sistema associates—conductors, administrators, students, teachers—whose names Baker omits or changes because of informants’ fear of retaliation from José Antonio Abreu. Baker’s aims go “beyond an examination of the Venezuelan program to encompass a broader critical analysis of the youth symphony orchestra as a vehicle for a rounded, inclusive education in music and citizenship” (5). The study is structured around education-centered themes; chapters feature ten to fifteen short subjects of criticism in which the author pits observed and informed aspects of El Sistema against examples of alternative projects of music education and research that critiques classical paradigms. A few photographs from the author’s portfolio are included, and the prose is only occasionally jargoned, making the book accessible to a broad readership.

Abreu’s controversial reputation in Venezuela, the corporative organizational features of El Sistema, the centralized, insulated power dynamics at the core of Abreu’s “state within a state,” the poorly remunerated teaching jobs in the núcleos, the disproportionally high salaries of the conductors are among the many subjects Baker tackles in the first part, to problematize the idealized image of the program and its leader. Parts 2–3 explore critical themes in music and social education through El Sistema. Authoritarianism, the sacrifice of individuality, the unilateral vision of the conductor, grueling practice schedules and psychological distress, a musicianship based on repetition and drilling are among the negative aspects of orchestral practice Baker traces in the general literature of music education and in the accounts of dissatisfied informants from the program. Practices that betray a competitive, musically (and by extension, socially) stratified environment appear prevalent in the teaching world of El Sistema and give Baker the opportunity to explore alternative options of equality and inclusion in music education. Part 4 critiques El Sistema’s use of the politics of impact and spectacle as a substitute for evaluation of actual impact. It also discusses a number of examples of music education projects in other countries of South America, North America, and Europe, which are pursuing socially oriented goals and ostensibly practice more transparent self-evaluation.

Exposing deep dissatisfactions that lurk under El Sistema’s beatific facade and producing an uncompromising critique of a presumably revolutionary pedagogy of music and social justice are among Baker’s accomplishments. Compelling in particular are informants’ testimonies about the struggles of provincial núcleos against centralization and for regional autonomy over the curriculum (e.g., the Santa Ana núcleo, 79–80). Baker also offers a persuasive analysis of El Sistema’s approach to musical and social education, one that, to the chagrin of many teachers and students, lacks a platform for providing critical thinking skills (chapter 6). To a lesser degree, Baker builds on Venezuelan journalism, scholarship, and archival research as well, and these sources help him produce important insights. Controversial views of Abreu are well documented in the voice of notable Venezuelan journalists spanning a wide political spectrum (e.g., Joaquín López Mujica on the left, and Roger Santodomingo from the opposition); informants and members of the first generation of El Sistema further problematize the hagiographies of Abreu favored in the international media. Baker discusses key archival documents that illuminate El Sistema’s historical prioritization of musical excellence and competitiveness (chapter 7). The methodological shortcomings and irregularities surrounding the few external evaluations that have justified millions of dollars in funding for El Sistema are carefully scrutinized by the author as well (263–276). Baker familiarizes the reader with many interesting and important projects in Venezuela and abroad (e.g., Venezuela’s Escuelas para las Artes y Tradiciones Urbanas, or EPATU; Brazil’s Pontos de Cultura; London’s Animate Orchestra...