UCLA

Access to excellent and culturally relevant music education for Black and Latino youth in urban schools has been declining in recent years. Recently, however, some private, non-governmental organizations, have successfully overcome the barriers to create high quality music programs for students of color. This study will examine the practices employed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic's El Sistema-based Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) to serve this population, using critical ethnography like interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. This study will show how YOLA's practices in pedagogy, the El Sistema-based philosophy informing it, and community engagement contributed to the program's success and their areas of opportunity.