El sistema is a unique programme of musical education founded in Venezuela in 1975 by

the visionary former economist Jose Abreu. The idea of acquainting still very young children
with music originated from the coordinator of this project, when one day his three-year-old
daughter could not sleep. Then he turned on the CD with the classic melody, and the baby
immediately fell asleep. Mendez realized that music helps children relax.

Since then, the program, which has been subsided by 10 politically divergent governments ,
has added 800 000 children to music 90% of them from impoverished backgrounds and
some as young as 2 or 3 years old. The goal of this program is not to educate internationaly
renowned performers and conductors, but rather to make a positive social impact to child
with the help of music. It also has been linked with a marked reduction in drug addiction
and juvenile delinquency and improved school attendance.

The slogan of the national program was two words: “Play and fight!”. He calls for this: “Let's
open the beauty of music to our children, and the music will open the beauty of life to our
children”.

This emphasis music-making represents a complete inversion of the established music

training paradigm, in which private lessons constitute the primary learning experience. Each
method has its value, but the Venezuelan model would have little or no effect were it not
paired with a level of frequency virtually unheard of outside the country. Children arrive at
the núcleos after school and proceed to spend four to six hours a day, five to six days a
week in rehearsals, and group or private lessons, thus acquiring habits of discipline and
perseverance from the outset. The immediate advantage of this intensity is that instructors
can oversee much more effectively their students' activity and progress, which means that
lapses one day can be corrected before they become ingrained habits in the days after.
Private lessons are then introduced much more strategically and resource-efficiently for
those most able to benefit.

A participant in the El Sistema program said: “Music is always a good incentive. This is what
opens the mind, gives it a rhythm and many advantages. ” Thanks to an educational music
project, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra appeared in Venezuela. He won recognition
not only in his own country, but also in the USA and in Europe. Another star of "El System" -
Gustavo Dudamel - a talented young conductor. The successful experience of the
Venezuelan project, which gave musical education to hundreds of thousands of children,
was adopted in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Scotland and Sweden.