argentina-part2

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ARGENTINA - Historical Overview An Historical Overview of Music Education in Argentina (Part 2) By Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino and Alan Gazzano Edited by Robin Stevens PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR MUSIC TRAINING In the early-19th century, privately-run institutions that specialised in music teaching received government support as the burgeoning country demanded musicians to fulfil new roles. Many of these roles, such as the one created by Víctor de la Prada in 1806 where indigenous musicians received instruction before they were formed into a band in the Andes Army, were short-lived. The Buenos Aires Province Music School was created in 1824 by Juan Pedro Esnaola (1808–1878) and his uncle, the Spanish priest Antonio Picasarri (1769–1843): this school received a public building from the state authorities for lessons to take place. Composition, stringed and wind instruments, piano, singing, organ and music notation were taught to students of both genders who attended segregated classes. Community leaders in Buenos Aires recognised music as a fundamental part of the local culture. In 1832 a famous lawyer and politician, Juan Bautista Alberdi (1810–1884), not only composed piano works, but also published a method “to learn how to play piano in the easiest way” (Ensayo de un Método nuevo para aprender a tocar el piano con la mayor facilidad) and wrote Espíritu de la música a la capacidad de todo el mundo (The spirit of music within the reach of everybody). In 1893, the most important institute dedicated to professional musicians’ training of those times was founded. The Conservatorio de Música de Buenos Aires was established by Alberto Williams (1862–1952), an Argentine composer to whom national authorities had awarded a scholarship for studies at Paris Conservatoire. This institute, at which many outstanding local musicians trained, established branches all over the country, obtained state subsidies, and had its diplomas officially recognised as there were no other national academies for music training then in existence. To encourage arts and education, scholarships for training in Europe continued to be granted by the federal government until 1914. Based on the need to train and eventually replace the 130 members of the City Music Band, the Escuela Municipal Nocturna de Música was estabilished in Buenos Aires in 1919 by maestro Antonio Malvagni. This school for band musicians subsequently became a City Conservatoire in 1927, which adopted the name of Manuel de Falla in the late-1940s. In addition, on 7 July 1924 in the same city the National Conservatoire or Conservatorio Nacional de Música Danza y Arte Escénico was established by the National Ministry of Public Instruction, on the model of the already existing School of Lyrical and Scenic Arts of the world-class theatre Teatro Colón. Its first principal was Carlos López Buchardo, who managed the new Conservatoire until his death in 1948, when it was named after him. It issued teacher diplomas and was divided into four departments: lyrical and theatrical arts, instrumental arts, composition, and declamatory and scenic arts. Wind instruments were only included in 1952 as they were already being taught in Buenos Aires at the aforementioned institute where band musicians were trained. During the 1950s the dance department became an independent entity and became the National Dance School; and the Carlos López Buchardo National Conservatoire of Music lost its theatrical studies in order to enable the foundation of the National Theatre School. On the other hand, the Teatro Colón Arts Institute has offered free training in opera and ballet since 1939, and continues to issue official diplomas in these areas. Many other conservatoires and schools eventually opened in all regions of Argentina—in towns such as Río Cuarto (Córdoba) or Banfield (province of Buenos Aires), where the Conservatorio de Música Julián Aguirre was founded in 1950. Since 1948 the city of Buenos Aires also offers children free music training as extracurricular activities, aiming at amateur musicians and not issuing diplomas. Privately-run institutes such as the outstanding Collegium Musicum has provided children and adult with music lessons since 1946; but others, like the Santa Ana school founded in 1961 in Buenos Aires, or CONSUDEC (Consejo Superior de Educación Católica), although private institutions, offered officially recognised teacher degrees in music. Turning to public universities, upper-level music studies started in La Plata in 1924, in Mendoza in 1940, in Rosario and Tucumán in 1948, and in Córdoba in 1959, having offered teacher qualifications and Bachelor’s degrees in music to the present day. It was only in 1959 that private universities were permitted by law in Argentina, among the first being the Universidad Católica Argentina, which included a Faculty of Music Arts and Sciences. This institution now offers courses in various music fields across a range of courses from Bachelor’s degrees and doctorates on a fee-paying basis. Universidad del Salvador was also a pioneer in Latin America offering degrees in music therapy since 1967. During the 1980s and 1990s, de-centralisation policies affected institutes belonging to the federal government which resulted in education management being transferred to local jurisdictions by law. As part of this process, the National Conservatoire lost its beginner and intermediate courses in 1994, which were administered by Buenos Aires City’s Secretary of Culture, to form the Buenos Aires City Conservatoire. This same institute, now officially called Conservatorio Superior de Música de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, currently provides officially-approved further education in Music in several specialised areas including technical and teacher degrees in instrument performance, chamber music and information technology; it was re-named to honour the Argentine musician Ástor Piazzolla in 2007. The Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla, as a non-university teacher training institute, now also covers specialised fields such as ethnomusicology, tango, folk music, jazz, ancient music and an upper-level diploma in contemporary music either in chamber music, composition or ensemble conducting. The former National Conservatoire of Music was accorded university status after it was integrated into IUNA (Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte). It has thus become the Music division (Departamento de Artes Musicales) of the new institute managed by national authorities and encompassing several disciplines such as drama, folk dances and visual and fine arts, based upon the seven schools that formerly offered training in those areas. Since 2000, its Departamento de Artes Musicales offers Bachelor’s degrees in Music with six specialisations (singing, instrument performance, composition, electro-acoustic music composition, choir conducting and orchestra conducting), and has also incorporated postgraduate degrees. Except for postgraduate university degrees, all public Argentine music courses are free of charge, regardless of whether they are managed by national or local authorities. Other free courses provide amateur musician training within inclusion programmes for children and youngsters in situations of social vulnerability. Juvenile orchestras were first established in 1998 in Lugano, one of the southern districts of the capital city, and now feature programmes for five orchestras and three choirs. Since 2004, there has also been a national programme run by the Ministry of Culture and named Programa Social de Orquestas Infantiles y Juveniles, which is present in 18 provinces all over the country and has gathered more than 2000 pupils and 300 teachers. SUMMARY Music has been present in Argentine education since its foundation as a nation, either in official or private schooling, with an on-going development of music professional and amateur training. With variations in content reflecting developments in the country’s political life and being contributed to by local and foreign musicians and researchers, the school curriculum has always included music in one way or another, and music is still a field of interest within the on-going reform processes within the national education system. Although formerly associated with religious or patriotic entities, and still controversially influenced by mass-media, music teaching is now being challenged to further develop possibilities for learning and creativity while still keeping abreast with the latest social changes and technological innovations. REFERENCES Alberdi, J. B. (1832). El espíritu de la música a la capacidad de todo el mundo. Buenos Aires. Alberdi, J. B. (1832). Ensayo sobre un método nuevo para aprender a tocar el piano con la mayor facilidad. Buenos Aires. de Couve, A. (2009): La enseñanza artística en la educación obligatoria argentina. In Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Educación, Nº 77, July 2009, pp. 10–14, Buenos Aires. El Monitor de la Educación Común (1910). Buenos Aires: Consejo Nacional de Educación. Furlong, G. (1957). La tradición religiosa en la escuela Argentina, Buenos Aires: Theoría. García Acevedo, M. (1985): Conservatorio Municipal de Música "Manuel de Falla". Antecedentes de índole institucional. Unpublished. Gesualdo, V. (1961). Historia de la música en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Libros de Hispanoamérica. Ley de Educación Nacional Nº 26.206 (2006). Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación. Ley Federal de Educación Nº 24.195 (1993). Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación. Ley Nº 1420 de Educación Común (1884), www.bnm.me.gov.ar/giga1/normas/5421.pdf Nicoletti, M. A. (1999). La organización del espacio patagónico. La Iglesia y los planes de evangelización en la Patagonia desde fines del siglo XIX a mediados del siglo XX, en Revista Quinto sol Nº3, pp. 29–52. Roldán W. (1988). Música colonial en la Argentina: la enseñanza musical. Buenos Aires: El Ateneo. Szarán, L. – Ruiz Nestosa, J. (1996). Música en las reducciones jesuíticas de América del sur: colección de instrumentos de Chiquitos, Bolivia. Asunción: Fundación Paracuaria–Missionsprokur – Centro de Estudios Paraguayos “Antonio Guasch” (CEPAG).