Youth orchestra projects and processes of social transformation: Two case studies in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes the potentials and limitations of two projects of youth orchestras to influence some aspects of the young participants’ lives: their representations, practices, subjectivities, identities, horizons of expectation and biographical projects. For that purpose, two case studies were conducted in two projects of youth orchestras developed in disadvantaged neighbourhoods of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, each of which involved one year of participant and non-participant observations, 22 in depth interviews (with young people, their parents, project teachers, coordinators, etc.), document analyses and media productions about those projects. The research shows, first, that only some disadvantaged young people can participate and stay in this kind of projects. Second, it points out that, among those who manage to do it, there are different and heterogeneous appropriations, not only of the orchestral practice, but also of the space built by each project. Finally, the article analyzes how participating in these orchestras may – or may not – imply processes of individual and collective transformation, and under which circumstances these transformations seem to be taking place.

Keywords: youth orchestras, young people, social transformation.