The Story of Carora: The Origins of El Sistema

Method

Based in the small-scale humanistic genre of historical research, this study employs a combination of oral history and historiography, combining newspaper sources with personal interviews in order to provide a richness of perspective in analyzing the events in the mid-1970s (Phillips, 2008, p. 50).

During 9 months in 2009–2010, I conducted interviews with key figures related to El Sistema in the cities of Carora, Barquisimeto, and Caracas. Jaime Martínez, son of Juan Martínez, was instrumental in serving as a subject and connecting me with his family in Carora. The Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar provided me with contacts, and many local people I met referred me to additional sources. I individualized interview questions based on the relationship of the subject to the key historical figures, keeping handwritten notes while interviewing and transcribing following the interview. I took field notes and photographs in Carora and the Casa de la Cultura, where the Orquesta Infantil rehearsed, today a núcleo [community orchestra center]. This research continued with interviews conducted remotely via email and phone.

Newspaper articles from the first years of the two orchestras and interviews with key figures illuminate the ensembles’ origins, repertoire and concerts, and funding sources. Importantly, they trace the relationship between the projects in Carora and Caracas. I collected data and relevant newspaper articles, mostly from the papers El Diario and El Nacional. Many of these came from personal collections. Concert programs from the archive at the Casa de la Cultura verified information about dates, repertoire, and orchestra personnel. Video recordings of concerts and speeches from the period, which I watched and transcribed, complement these sources. As the recordings are owned by the Audio Visual Archives at the Centro de Acción Social por la Música, central to today’s El Sistema, these recordings focus on the orchestra in Caracas and the work of José Antonio Abreu.

Background and context

Venezuela’s musical development in the 20th century is defined, on one hand, by the establishment of cultural institutions and increasing government support for the arts, while, on the other, as unable to provide music education for citizens outside the upper class. The lack of music education on a national scale created the opportunity for José Antonio Abreu and Juan Martínez to extend music’s reach to children with their respective orchestras.

Venezuela’s scant colonial settlement and early political instability prevented the country from developing a richness of Western art music institutions and traditions that many other Spanish colonies experienced. In fact, few institutions existed prior to the 20th century (Labonville, 2007, p. 4). Beginning in the 1920s, Venezuela experienced a cultural renovation and economic boom that increased interest and funding for the arts. Key figures such as Vicente Emilio Sojo, Juan Bautista Plaza, and José Antonio Calcaño were composers, conductors, and educators who promoted Western art music culture in Venezuela by founding national orchestras, choirs, and conservatories in addition to composing a national canon of music with autochthonous roots (Ramón y Rivera, 1988, p. 6).

Despite the rapid proliferation of arts organizations throughout Venezuela, music education for children continued to exist exclusively outside educational institutions. Similar to many other Latin American countries, music was learned in tuition-based conservatories. Attempts to increase students’ access to music as part of their school experience were overall ineffective due to scarce resources and faulty implementation. A 1945 “Reforms of Music Education” law decreed that music appreciation and singing would be included in elementary school education, with the hope of “inspire[ing] increasing interest in quality music across all social sectors, creating a public of concert-goers more numerous and educated each year” (Sanchez, 1949, p. 30). However, the reforms were impossible to systematically implement (Sanchez, 1949, p. 31). A series of coups resulted in military dictatorships from 1948 to 1958, temporarily arresting educational and cultural development. The hope that a national education decree in 1964 would increase music education in schools was unrealized due to lack of resources (Asuaje de Rugeles, Guinand, & Bottome, 1986, p. 77). At the end of the 1960s the Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, the country’s leading orchestra, was still comprised almost exclusively of foreigners. An oft-repeated tale is that the frustration of lack of future work compelled one Venezuelan conservatory graduate to set his bassoon on fire (Kaufmann & Piendl, 2011, p. 37).

In the 1970s, cultural institutionalization resumed and fortuitously coincided with increased revenues from the state-controlled oil industry. Extra funds prompted the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974–1979) to organize educational scholarships, and his successor Luis Herrera Campíns (1979–1983) to found new universities and construct the Teresa Carreño Theater, a site still used daily by Venezuela’s orchestras (Tarver Denova & Frederick, 2005, p. 132). By the time José Antonio Abreu and Juan Martínez formed their orchestras in 1975, many other institutions had laid the foundation for cultural development: a conservatory and music school in Caracas, professional orchestras throughout the country, national ballet companies and choirs (Borzacchini, 2004, p. 46). President Pérez established the CONAC (Consejo Nacional de la Cultura [National Cultural Advisory Board]) that same year to promote culture and the arts in Venezuela. It was in this context that José Antonio Abreu and Juan Martínez dedicated themselves to creating musical opportunities for Venezuela’s children.

The Orquesta Infantil de Carora: “An extraordinary cultural achievement”

The Orquesta Infantil de Carora evolved out of the work that artistic visionary Juan Martínez began in the 1960s to develop Western art music institutions outside Caracas. Martínez founded the first professional choir outside Caracas in 1964, established a cultural center, the Casa de la Cultura, in 1969, and, alongside three Chilean teachers, created the country’s first children’s orchestra in 1975.

A practicing dentist, Martínez was a founding member of a Venezuelan choir, the Orfeón Universitario, while a student at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas (Blanco Sanchez, 1975, p. 1). Upon settling in the small and culturally vibrant city of Carora in Venezuela’s Lara State, he created and directed a similar choir in 1964, the first of its kind outside Caracas. The Orfeón de Carora quickly became the premier ensemble of the region, offering frequent concerts and tours. The choir frequently worked with Venezuelan composer Antonio Estévez, and its performance in Caracas in 1966 was described in a local newspaper as a “triumph” (El Diario, 1966). Martínez organized an exchange with the University of Wisconsin at Madison, whose choir, conducted by Robert Fountain, traveled to Carora in 1973. Fernando Briceño, the coordinator of Carora’s Fundación Alirio Diaz, remembered, “When the choir from Wisconsin came, Carora had no hotels. Everyone in town got together to house the students” (F. Briceño, personal communication, March 5, 2010). Carora demonstrated its interest in artistic creation and in supporting Martínez’s work through this generous act.

In 1969, Martínez established Carora’s Casa de la Cultura, an institution whose purpose was to increase access to culture in the region through offering performances and classes in the performing arts. Many admired Martínez’s ambition and dedication to his work. His wife Doña Teresa fondly remembered “he was the craziest man I had ever met” and guitarist Alirio Díaz said “Now I know he’s crazy. To begin this type of adventure in Venezuela one needs great passion, a sense of compassion to face adversity, and generosity of spirit to fight without hope of receiving money or recognition” (T. Martínez, personal communication, March 5, 2010; Tejera, 1977, p. 35). Another newspaper article referred to his project as “quixotic” (Blanco Sanchez, 1975, p. 1).

Martínez, a member of the Venezuelan Communist Party, followed the Chilean coup of 1973 with concern and offered to sponsor three of Jorge Peña’s colleagues as teachers for the new Casa de la Cultura (J. Martínez, personal communication, October 9, 2009). Sergio Miranda traveled in December of 1974 to Carora, and Pedro Vargas and Hernán Jérez soon followed (A. Jérez, personal communication, March 5, 2010).

These three professors, all Chileans, had previously participated in the creation of a children’s orchestra in La Serena. Regrettably, after twelve successful years, this orchestra and the others that had been developed throughout the country were violently silenced due to political events. (Tejera, 1977, p. 34)

Thankfully, Martínez’s project offered them an opportunity to begin anew. An interview with Pedro Vargas elaborated that “I came sponsored by the Casa de la Cultura through Sergio Miranda. We have an ambitious project—to create an institute for choir, ballet, theater, opera, etc.” (Indave Meléndez, 1975a).

The four founded a children’s orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Infantil de Carora, in May 1975. ² Students were recruited from nearby schools, and Juan Martínez and his wife, Doña Teresa, conducted auditions. “At first, we took anyone who played an instrument, including adults. Soon after, it formally became a children’s orchestra” (F. Izcaray, personal communication, December 3, 2012). Adults performed for the children, inspiring them to choose an instrument (D. Vargas, personal communication, March 5, 2010). Soon after, the children themselves began to receive instruction. Sergio Miranda, a double-bassist, taught low strings while Pedro Vargas, the principal conductor, taught violin and viola. Hernán Jérez, an oboist, instructed woodwinds and coached an advanced quartet of students, the Quarteto “Antonio Estévez,” named for the famous Venezuelan composer.

Within 2 months, over 100 children aged 8 to 15 were studying orchestral instruments in Carora (El Nacional, 1975). The orchestra debuted in the capital city of Caracas on July 7, 1975 under the baton of Pedro Vargas. Its first national newspaper reference spoke highly of the group: “Although only sixteen of its members perform today, the audience will appreciate the ensemble’s future possibilities” (El Nacional, 1975). A subsequent concert was held in the Teatro Juares of Barquisimeto (the capital of Lara State) in November of 1975 and lauded in a review; “the Orquesta Infantil de Carora represents an extraordinary cultural achievement in our country, and a great example of will and sacrifice dedicated to a common goal” (Indave Meléndez, 1975b). Martínez’s dedication to bringing the arts to ordinary Carorans began to seem less quixotic after all.

Collaboration: “Strong ties”

Meanwhile, Venezuelan economist, politician, and musician José Antonio Abreu was creating music-making opportunities for students in Caracas. A visit to the USA expanded Abreu’s view of music education, and he returned in 1974 to Caracas to organize a weekly concert series, the “Festival Bach,” with local conservatory students. Many of these musicians joined Abreu in creating the Orquesta Nacional Juvenil “Juan José Landaeta,” an ensemble that would “promote and stimulate” musical development in the country, encouraging music education for students from pre-school through high school (Asuaje de Rugeles et al., 1986, p. 89). Only eight students attended the orchestra’s first rehearsal in February of 1975, but enthusiasm spread quickly and 80 musicians performed in the ensemble’s first concert in April of 1975 (Borzacchini, 2004, p. 38).

One year later, in July of 1976, the Orquesta Nacional Juvenil performed alongside the Orquesta Infantil de Carora in a concert in Caracas. The two founders gave a joint interview in El Nacional, providing insight into their supportive relationship. Abreu addressed the importance of the concert, saying:

Today’s concert was memorable for two reasons—[the financial support of the Asociación Venezolana de Exportadores (AVEX)] and because we will have the honor during the concert of giving the children of Carora’s orchestra the insignia that demonstrates they are accepted members of the Orquesta Juvenil … Our dignity and decorum compel us to publicly and nationally recognize the successful efforts of Juan Martínez, Pedro Vargas, and Hernán Jérez in having creating a project worthy of the support of the whole nation …, an archetype dignified of emulation and reflection for the nation. (El Nacional, 1976)

Martínez added that their project could be replicated throughout the country with more children’s orchestras, significant in foreshadowing the many ensembles that would be founded in the 1970s and become part of Abreu’s national system. Martínez concluded by reaffirming the special quality of the moment when the orchestras first came together and his group received “the moral support and stimulus of working with the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil and Maestro Abreu” (El Nacional, 1976).

The relationship the two established here developed into many future collaborations. Whenever Abreu held seminarios, weekend-long intensive rehearsal sessions, Caroran students were welcome to participate (F. Izcaray, personal communication, December 3, 2012). The International Youth Orchestra Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland invited Abreu’s orchestra to attend in August of 1976, and many of the Caroran students joined them for the trip. As the Orquesta Nacional Juvenil was comprised of older students, many of whom had received conservatory training, they were able to support the younger Caroran students’ musical development. The location of Abreu’s orchestra in the capital city and his personal connections to Venezuelan politicians afforded the group prestige that was ultimately useful to both orchestras. The Orquesta Nacional Juvenil soon became the public face of youth orchestras in Venezuela, where the Orquesta Infantil de Carora played a supporting role in focusing on musical development in Lara State.

In 1977, the two orchestras appeared together again, restating the importance of their relationship. On a tour to Caracas, the Orquesta Infantil de Carora performed alongside Abreu’s newly formed second orchestra, the Orquesta Nacional Infantil de Venezuela. Ivette Camacho de Chacón, secretary and public relations director of Abreu’s rapidly expanding program, informed El Diario that:

The Orchestra of Carora, pioneer of its kind in the country, is the prestigious guest of honor to debut some of the new núcleos that are currently being founded … currently, the ties of friendship between the orchestra of Carora and the Orquesta Nacional Juvenil de Venezuela are very strong. (El Diario, 1977)

Interestingly, Abreu used similar language during a visit to Chile in 2003 to describe the antecedents of Peña’s work in the development of Abreu’s program; “We received a significant contribution from Chilean teachers. They pushed us towards a new concept of music education. Because of this, our ties to you [Venezuelans to Chileans] are very deep” (Valdes Urrutia, 1995).

Philosophy and pedagogical methods: “That the students develop as people”

As the orchestras grew in national acclaim and received international recognition at the festival in Scotland, more articles began to detail the philosophy and pedagogical methods used in Carora. They illuminate how the orchestra in Carora became a predecessor to Abreu’s orchestra system based around núcleos [community-based orchestra centers], and how the two groups espoused similar philosophies as manifested in their pedagogical practices.

By 1977, the program in Carora resembled in both name and practice the former Escuela Experimental of La Serena, Chile that Jorge Peña had founded in 1965. In a profile piece published soon after the young musicians returned from abroad, Hernán Jérez reflected on their progress: “Perhaps our most important achievement to date is that we have been able to consolidate the orchestra project into a conservatory, an idea now being accepted by authorities such as José Antonio Abreu” (Camacho Gonzalez, 1976). This conservatory, the Instituto Experimental Alirio Díaz (named after the famous guitarist from Carora), can be a considered an early version of a community-based núcleo. The institute allowed advanced students to study music in the afternoons in order to prepare them to enter the country’s universities following their high school graduation. The developing musical infrastructure in Carora meant that the students’ musical progress was significant and that the community was rapidly producing new musicians.

In a tribute to Peña, the Orquesta Infantil de Carora performed eight of his original short pieces in their December 1976 concert. In a review of that concert, interviews with Vargas, Jérez, and Martínez illuminated their philosophy. “The creator of this method was the disappeared Chilean musician Jorge Peña, who is considered the father of the youth orchestra in Latin America” (Maraven, 1976, p. 7). The educators shared Peña’s ideals; “It was important to them that the students would develop as people through learning music,” receiving an integral aesthetic education regardless of future career goals (F. Briceño, personal communication, March 5, 2010). Abreu often echoes in interviews that a child’s participation in an orchestra “makes him a better student in school, inspiring discipline and perseverance” (TED Talks, 2009).

Martinez described the method in an interview in 1977:

We teach them with love. We want to end the image of the stern professor who works with an isolated student for years. Our classes are collective. As soon as the students are sufficiently prepared, we give them the opportunity to join the orchestra, even if they only know a few notes. At first we had trouble finding enough students to participate. Now, there is a growing number of aspiring students who spontaneously show up—this week alone we had ten! … Through learning music, these students receive a spiritual formation that will benefit them in their lives. The ability to concentrate on their orchestra parts also helps them concentrate on their schoolwork. (Tejera, 1977, p. 34)

This philosophy is evident throughout El Sistema programs today, and often reiterated by Abreu in interviews; “Music creates happiness and hope in a community, and the triumph of a child as a musician helps him aspire to even higher things” (Lakshmanan, 2005).

The professors in Carora used pedagogical practices similar to Abreu’s and Peña’s, running contrary to the traditional conservatory-style orchestral training prominent in Latin America (originating in Europe) where students would learn “theory, aural skills, and study private lessons for years before being able to play in an orchestra” (F. Izcaray, personal communication, December 3, 2012). Instead, these educators employed “revolutionary pedagogical methods inspired by the Japanese Suzuki method” and based in group learning (Maraven, 1976, p. 7). “[The students] began with no musical knowledge. Our method is to put the instrument in front of them. Slowly comes the music theory, knowing what it means to be in an orchestra and work in a team” (El Nacional, 1976). The students in Carora quickly grew to regard the orchestra, which rehearsed in the Casa de la Cultura, as a comfortable space. “It was like returning home, everyone came after school every day” (F. Briceño, personal communication, March 5, 2010).

Public response and finances: “A dazzling triumph”

The public’s response can be summarized as surprised, supportive, and proud of the musical abilities of the young Venezuelans. The Caroran orchestra received glowing reports from the music writer for El Diario, José Indave Meléndez. Following the first performance in Caracas, Indave wrote “For the first time Venezuela has a children’s orchestra … already accomplished, they recently performed in Caracas for a demanding audience” (1975a). He referred to the orchestra’s November performance as a “dazzling triumph” and interviewed a conductor, Carlos Mendoza, who asked the rhetorical question, “How far along would we be now had this project begun five years ago?” (Indave Meléndez, 1975b) Conductor Felipe Izcaray remembered “the whole world was amazed” at the abilities of the students (personal communication, December 3, 2012).

More reviews appeared in other newspapers during the orchestra’s 1977 tour to the state of Táchira. A concert in the city of San Cristóbal “delighted” the public in their “sincere” performance (Molina, 1977). A review the following week by Dr. Villasmil lauded the concert as a clear example of the children’s potential. Recognizing their success in a brief amount of time, he critiqued the intonation of the strings and the weak sound of the winds while also praising the “talent and excellent disposition” of the concertmaster and the high quality of the performance of the Quarteto “Antonio Estévez” (Villasmil Soules, 1977).

Financial support for the Caroran orchestra grew in breadth and depth alongside national recognition of Martínez’s project. Main sources initially included a variety of public and private support, including Lara State, the CONAC, businesses, and individual donors. In an interview in August of 1975, Pedro Vargas noted that the program had just received its first national funds, and hoped donations would increase over time (Indave Meléndez, 1975a). The November 1975 Barquisimeto concert was attended by illustrious local and national figures, demonstrating the increasing interest and support of the orchestra, and the program from the concert lists funding from Lara State, various banks, and individual donors (Ejecutivo del Estado Lara, 1975). Hernán Jérez stated that the support of private donors was essential to “securing the future” of the orchestra (Camacho Gonzalez, 1976). An article following the orchestra’s 1976 tour to the state of Carabobo lists the orchestra’s supporters as Lara State and the CONAC, and Juan Martínez mentions funding from Lara State, the Fundación Carora, and private donors (Blanco Sanchez, 1975; Maraven, 1976). Some of the orchestra’s first instruments were donated by the CONAC (A. Jérez, personal communication, March 5, 2010).

In Caracas, José Antonio Abreu’s orchestra secured access to government funds. In 1976, the orchestra received permission to use the newly built concert hall, the Sala José Félix Ribas in the Teresa Carreño Theater, as their permanent headquarters for rehearsals and performances (Asuaje de Rugeles et al., 1986, p. 79). By 1979, the government created a state fund, the Fundación del Estado para la Orquesta Nacional Juvenil de Venezuela, to guarantee the group’s “continuity and financial protection” (Asuaje de Rugeles et al., 1986, p. 81). Illustrious political figures, including Presidents Pérez (in 1978) and Herrera Campins (in 1979) attended the group’s concerts, demonstrating their support for Abreu’s program (Borzacchini, 2004, p. 38). Abreu’s work expanded as colleagues and pupils founded similar youth orchestras throughout Venezuela which belonged to a national network of orchestras established in 1996, today referred to as “El Sistema.”

When the orchestra in Carora became part of the national system of orchestras, more funding from the national government became available (D. Vargas, personal communication, March 5, 2010). Today, the Casa de la Cultura is used as a núcleo belonging to the national network. Because of the space’s historical relevance and unique development, the center is allowed more autonomy than many núcleos (J. L. Riera, personal communication, March 5, 2010). Now serving 600 children from the region, the Casa places an emphasis on learning Venezuelan folk music alongside Western art music; playing the quatro [a four-stringed instrument in the guitar family] is mandatory as part of music theory.

Conclusions

This research combined historiography with oral history in order to detail the early years of an orchestra program in Carora, Venezuela that developed concurrently with the project of José Antonio Abreu in Caracas. The two orchestras were early collaborators and shared similar philosophies and pedagogies in promoting the development of the whole child through ensemble performance, ideas with antecedents in an earlier project led by Jorge Peña in Chile. When Juan Martínez settled in Carora, he organized musical activities and established the Casa de la Cultura, providing an essential space for cultural development in the region. Martínez sponsored three Chilean educators to found the Orquesta Infantil de Carora, which debuted in Caracas in July of 1975. The orchestra subsequently collaborated with José Antonio Abreu’s Orquesta Nacional Juvenil in both 1976 and 1977, and orchestra members accompanied Abreu’s orchestra to an international festival in 1976 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Warm newspaper interviews speak of the high esteem Abreu and Martínez shared. Both espoused similar philosophical values in providing an aesthetic experience for children in order to develop life skills, and used the pedagogical method of immersion in orchestra and group classes to develop musicianship. Both projects also experienced rapid growth, thriving community interest, and diverse financial support.

The single narrative based around Abreu, although appealing to international media seeking to explain the program, provides a limited picture of the history of El Sistema. This research importantly illuminates a nuanced perspective of the influence that the Chilean educators Sergio Miranda, Pedro Vargas, and Hernán Jérez had in the creation of Venezuela’s El Sistema program. The historical circumstances of a developing Western art music culture fortuitously coincided with increased government funding for the arts, creating openings for music education projects with children to emerge. The lack of music education in schools created a need, and the Chilean antecedent made the development of new youth orchestras possible in Venezuela. The importance of both national and international cooperation in the story of Carora is a key addition to this narrative. Future research could further explore the relationship between these and other early El Sistema orchestras outside of Caracas, and more comprehensively detail the development of the program in its early years.

Beyond detailing this alternate historical narrative of youth orchestras in Venezuela, this research has broader implications for advocacy and development of music programs. An understanding of the beginnings of the youth symphony movement in Venezuela aids other organizations in supporting music education by identifying and analyzing the ways Venezuelan music educators adopted and modified the Chilean model. El Sistema’s contemporary applications grow increasingly pertinent as countries around the world with different political and social realities attempt to replicate Venezuela’s success.