Rev John Bell
|
Rev John Bell |
|
It may not belong before the tabloids sport headlines such as 'Mendelssohn on the Mersey' or 'Rachmaninov in Raploch' and all because there are 'More than Maracas in Caracas.'
Last week, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra from Venezuela performed in Britain. Its first concert earned a rare five star rating in the Guardian. All the instrumentalists in this ensemble are under 24. And many come from backgrounds where classical music would not have been a life choice were it not for a project called El Sistema which, in 30 years, has tutored 400,000 children and set up 150 orchestras in what is still regarded as a 'developing nation.'
The scheme is now being introduced in Britain. It has already started in Scotland, in the Raploch, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Stirling. The project there is called 'the Big Noise' And last week the project's chair commented, 'It costs about £2,000 per year for a child to be taught in the Big Noise. If the child ends up in the criminal justice system, it costs £18,500 per year.
Does this mean that classical music is the antidote to criminality? No, that would be a naïve assertion. But I'm reminded of a comment made by the head teacher of a primary school I once visited in Yorkshire. Its 190 strong choir included every child who did not go home for lunch. The head had prioritised class singing as an essential feature of the curriculum and commented that one result was a noticeable decrease in behavioural problems.
'Why so?' I asked her and she said, 'You can pay a fortune for sports equipment and instructors and one of the by-products is to make children competitive. You hire a part time singing teacher and you make children cooperative.
Maybe this is why within Christian churches, music has had such a high priority - not just the practised music of performers, but the sound of untutored voices doing something magnificent together.
For, of all the arts, music is the most participative. We can't all paint or perform a play together. But we can all sing; and the Bible sees this cooperative activity not as an option, but as a response to a divine command: "Sing me a new song!" says God.
In a highly competitive society, there's something to be treasured in a pursuit which costs little apart from time.
Maybe this is what differentiates us from the beasts: that we make music not to attract suitors or display skill, but because cooperation is what we need to learn in order to prevent our race from dying.