I was in tears after seeing this segment on 60 Minutes.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

Gustavo Dudamel was interviewed, new conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, product of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra program in Venezuela. It starts young children on musical instruments and they learn many skills and it keeps them off the streets. He started in the program at age five.
They showed footage of him playing the violin ten years ago and he was quite good (Professional note: I played the violin in my jr. high/high school/college/community orchestras for about fifteen years, I started on piano at age five, took 12 years of lessons).

He started a program in LA called YOLA, Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Same idea. They also mentioned a program started by Marin Allsop in Baltimore.

At the end, they show the last minute or so of Gustavo's debut concert with the LA Philharmonic -- the finale of Mahler's First Symphony.

Well, I was in tears seeing such powerful music made. Such a wonderful program, to bring the arts alive, when our schools cut art and music programs.

When I was a kid, my musical studies, piano and violin, and especially orchestra kept me going. The fact that I was working on a skill that I loved, playing the violin, in a very fine high school orchestra, gave me HOPE. It gave me hope for the future in my teenaged despair. I was picked on for being a year ahead in school; I was picked on for being small; I was picked on for being smart, because girls suffered socially if they were really bright. If you were a cheerleader type and made good grades that was OK. If you were NOT into sports or jocks and were bright, then you never had any dates. I had very few dates, and was convinced I would be an old maid!!

My teachers and parents swore I was not working hard enough and I was "lazy" (actually I was sick--dead thyroid started at age ten). I took enough college prep stuff that I placed out of 20 semester hours of freshman courses in college. I don't think that's being lazy -- not to mention four years of science, and two years of Latin.

I was obsessed with classical music and I didn't care what anyone else thought. The non-orchestra kids were busy picking on me and calling me "queer" about 30 or 40 times a day, or any other insult they could come up with.

The other thing that kept me going was that I knew that one day I would get out and go to college, where I could associate with whoever I wanted to and would not get picked on.

I went to a large suburban high school. I was in a mob. However, the music programs were excellent. Many of the kids in orchestra had first chair in All-State Band. This was a 5A size high school, which was the largest category in University Interscholastic League competitions in Texas. We had 3400 students in four grades. Unfortunately the orchestra director always put his daughter in first or second chair, and she wasn't that talented. Every time we played for chairs and I got stuck in fifth chair, I would start crying at the frustration after they announced the results. This happened every six weeks. This taught me that I cannot win because the game is rigged, or I don't know the right people. But I digress.

The highlight of high school was the summer I spent five weeks at the University of Kansas music camp. Two concerts every weekend, one orchestra and one choir. Played major symphonic works and got to meet the amazing Carmen Dragon. For our last orchestra concert we performed Also Sprach Zarathustra. For our last choir concert we performed the Mozart Requiem. These were one after another on the same day. I was pooped! I even have vinyl records of what I did at age sixteen! :D

When I was a senior in high school and 16 years old, at UIL Competition, we played the Finale of the New World Symphony and made an A. We did it because we had what you need to play it right: A killer french horn section. We did the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin for our overture, and the waltz from the Tchaikovsky Serenade in C for our string number.

I know what studying music can do for a kid. It gave me a purpose and a passion.
I still love music of many kinds.

Gustavo Rocks and I hope this idea spreads even further across the country.

[Jane Austin]

1. I hope there will be a clip of that segment.

I want to show it some of my friends.

It was a real upper.

[ClayZ]

2. Me, too! I have been researching him all evening.

What an amazing man! There are lots of youtube videos. I also found this from MIT http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/769/

I am so happy to learn of this!!!

[ConsAreLiars]

3. Although he never even hints at it, what he does defines the very essential

between the left and the right. He, and past Venezuelan traditions and Chavez, have fostered this empowerment through art and music. There have been some successful small efforts in the US using photography and other arts. Scattered. If he can help this sort of value system spread within the toxic US, he is a miracle worker.

Instead of giving them music, the Reichists would kill and maim them, expecting that they and those like them would be cowards (like the Reichers) and submit, instead of rejecting and resisting.

The power-mad-crazed-that-be, of course, can never understand this.

[CrispyQ]

4. I tuned in to watch the BP segment, which was good,

but the Gustavo segement was absolutely fantastic! My heart soared during the entire segment. What a remarkable man!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. Kick for the Monday evening crowd.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. kik for the night owls