PLAYING FOR THEIR LIVES

An eye-opening view of the unprecedented global spread of El Sistema - intensive music education that disrupts the cycles of poverty.

In some of the bleakest corners of the world, an implausible movement is taking root. Following in the footsteps of Venezuela’s overwhelmingly successful El Sistema, musician activists from across the globe are founding intensive orchestra programs for children in need. They are doing this in big-city ghettos and remote farming towns, in jungles and on mountains, and on every continent except Antarctica. In an effort to discover what makes this movement successful across such radically different cultures, Tricia Tunstall and Eric Booth have traveled to programs in more than twenty-five countries. They introduce the gifted, determined, and sometimes unlikely leaders of this movement and bear witness to the passion with which the young people play?a passion that is changing the trajectory of their lives. Weaving together engaging anecdotes and thoughtful research, Tunstall and Booth offer an entirely new way to think about what energizes people and communities toward positive social change. Tricia Tunstall is the author of Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music, which won the 2013 ASCAP Award for outstanding music book of the year. She is also the author of Note By Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson. Tunstall is a leading advocate for the importance of music and arts education in children’s development. She researches and consults with El Sistema programs around the world. A graduate of Yale, Columbia and Boston University, and a lifelong music educator and journalist, she maintains a piano studio in the New York area. Eric Booth, a former Broadway actor, is an arts consultant whose clients include major U.S. orchestras, universities, and arts institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. His books include The Everyday Work of Art and The Music-Teaching Artist's Bible. For his work as a “teaching artist,” Eric received the nation's highest arts education award (from Americans for the Arts, 2015), and was named one of the 50 Most Powerful and Influential People in American Non-Profit Arts. He lives in the Hudson River valley of New York.