Yucatan Musical Youth Bands: Challenges to Implement a Social-Musical Program

The program “Bandas Juveniles Musicales de Yucatán”, started in 2009, funded by the National Council for Culture and Arts of Mexico (CONACULTA), represents a preventive and innovative strategy for the context, being one of the first programs to be implemented in the State of Yucatan with a musical-social approach derived from the famous Venezuelan program “El Sistema.”

In order to provide feedback to the program on its implementation, a qualitative evaluation was carried out through a case study of the community called “Norte.” The purpose was to determine if the activities implemented in the selected community were consistent with the philosophy of the program, determining if they were favoring the achievement of its objectives in the short, medium and long term.

The results of this study show that the change of the “Major Instructor” was crucial for improving communication and quality of musical education services. However, since the beginning of the program has prevailed an ambiguity in the establishment and communication purposes, without risks of it provided. There is also a need to strengthen the trainers training on the teaching-learning process, given the constraints of the professional context in the region.