Huffington Post - Music Education

"So often, we hear that music education is being cut away in American schools, leaving our children without the preparation to play instruments, to listen creatively, to sing or read music or write it... But I have recently begun to re-think this lament, because, looking more closely, I am finding so many communities, so many classrooms and concert halls, where kids are coming together to make music... A growing music movement in the U.S, El Sistema is a Venezuelan-born music education system that uses ensembles to change the lives of poor children. In Venezuela, it teaches music to 300,000 children -- lifting experience, aspiration and possibilities. In the U.S, there are now more than 40 El Sisetema programs in a growing network, locally inspired and locally led. The commitments to community and to poor children persist; the music is grounded in places like Durham, North Carolina..."

- Music and Our Children, Huffington Post