Intercultural Game in Music Teacher Education: Exploring El Sistema in Sweden

Abstract

Abstract El Sistema, the originally Venezuelan music teaching movement is spreading worldwide, suggesting Western classical music as a tool for counteracting poverty and segregation. In Sweden, this represents an interesting and perhaps provoking twist, as the hegemony of classical music in music teacher education has since long been replaced by the hegemony of popular music. Based on fieldwork during the implementation of El Sistema in Malmö, the most multicultural town in Sweden, this chapter analyses El Sistema through the concept of habitus crises, an important ingredient in the development of intercultural pedagogic competencies. Through the understanding of El Sistema as a glocal phenomenon, the potential of the El Sistema intervention is discussed. The discussion is framed by a mapping of the tension fields that El Sistema teachers are navigating. The experiences of the El Sistema teachers in Malmö point towards a music teacher training that actively prepares for teaching in segregated, multi-cultural and socio-economic vulnerable areas. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future music teacher training in interacting ethnospaces: stimulating habitus crises and promoting transformative learning.

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