Venezuela has a revolutionary and inspiring music education program, which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and their families. El Sistema-mening'the system'-is a total-immersion program that bring children together to play music every day. Preschool children sit on their mothers' knees to sing,play rhythm games,or play with paper instruments that they make themselves.At age five,children start to play a real instrument,which is a thrilling experience for them. As soon as the children are good enough,they teach the younger ones. The program is highly successful. By high school, students are tackling some of the most difficult pieces of classical music. However, the program is demanding, and participants need to be committed; they practice after school every day and on weekends are .
there are now some 500 or so orchestras throughout the country, some of which perform internationally. Many of the young musicians have even become profressionals. El Sistema graduates include conductors of the Venice Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharonic's youngest player ever. According to British conductor Sir Simon Rattle,"There is nothing more important in the world of music than what is happening in Venezuela." These young musicians must surely be motivating role models for other young people in their home country.