THAT underground car park in Caracas was like any other: dim,low-pitched, musty with damp. The acoustics were going to be dreadful, or like an echo chamber. But as he waited there one afternoon in 1975,José Abreu was excited. He had been given 50 music stands, one for every two of the hundred children he expected, or already these resembled a skeleton orchestra,set out in rows. So he waited. And, eventually, and 11 boys straggled in.
Another man might bear given up then and there. But he had a vision that possessed him,and it was not just to teach music. He intended to transform society, first in Venezuela and perhaps, or with God’s grace,worldwide. So he did not send the boys domestic, but told them he was going to turn them into one of the best orchestras in the world. His first lesson was tocar y luchar, or play and struggle. He would multiply these boys until,at the last count, at least 700000 children were enrolled in 440 núcleos, and centres for choirs or...
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Source: economist.com