Facts and counterfacts: A semantic and historical overview of El Sistema for the sake of clarification

Abstract

Over the last years, El Sistema has been enthusiastically received around the world and has inspired several proposals aiming to transplant it to different contexts in different countries. It would seem, then, that El Sistema constitutes a renewed approach that allows a place for inclusive music education within the framework of the traditional orchestral format. The authors, both Spanish speakers, contribute a reflection on the meaning of the name El Sistema, being a short version of the historical and traditional denomination of this project in the context that gave rise to it in Venezuela. From this initial semantic distinction, they propose a clarification of the possible confusion between system, method, and sequence of procedures. For this, they use Frega’s Parametric Model, applied since 1994 for method comparison in various contexts and in equivalent tasks of sequencing analysis and/or difficulty grading. Additionally, they review historical events that gave context to Abreu’s proposal and its subsequent development. In this way, they attempt to elucidate a conceptualization that does not respond to the initial context and the characteristics of its practical implementation in diverse situations. This certainly does not imply a negative conclusion regarding a practice that might be valuable.