Un observatorio privilegiado. (Reflexiones tras 19 años al frente de la JONDE) / A privileged observatory (Reflections after 19 years at the head of the JONDE)

Article published in issue no. 9–10 of Excelentia magazine. Madrid, May 2020


By several accounts, the days immediately following retirement are surely the best time to undertake a balance sheet with the necessary objectivity that comes from entering a new stage of life -yet without losing sight of the subjectivity born from the passion invested in a job as stimulating as it was intense. Nineteen years and one month have passed since February 2001, when I assumed the artistic direction of the Spanish National Youth Orchestra (JONDE), an institution created in 1983 within the Directorate General for Music and Theatre. At the time, the newly established Ministry of Culture sought to give the Ministry of Education and Science a forceful "wake-up call" in response to its passivity and inaction in developing a music education system capable of producing enough qualified professionals to sustain the increasingly vibrant musical life of our country -a country which, during those years, was prolific in the creation of symphony orchestras and in the construction of new concert halls.
For its first two years, JONDE was legally and administratively under the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, until the creation in 1985 of the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) ended that dependency, transforming it into one of the new institution's Production Units. From then on, it developed its own activities, while sharing its headquarters with the OCNE in the National Music Auditorium in Madrid since the latter's inauguration in October 1988.
Although the political impetus for JONDE's creation came from José Manuel Garrido Guzmán, Director General for Music and Theatre, the credit for persuasion and for the technical and structural development must go to Edmon Colomer, who was its artistic and musical director from 1983 to 1995. From then until January 2001, the position was held by Llorenç Caballero, who knew JONDE from within, having played in its flute section between 1986 and 1989. In January 2001, I accepted the proposal made by INAEM's Director General at the time, Andrés Amorós, and from February 1 of that year until February 29 of this year, I served as Artistic Director -retiring well past the age at which, as a civil servant on special assignment with more than enough years of service, I could have done so earlier.

In retrospect, JONDE's artistic direction was the natural conclusion of my professional -and vocational- trajectory as an educator, which, along with composition, has been my focus for nearly four decades. The first link in that chain, however, was not my appointment as a teacher, but rather my own experience of the Spanish music education system from the early 1970s, as a student at the conservatories of Barcelona (first) and Madrid (later), enduring a chaotic, overcrowded and utterly unstructured education. All levels -elementary, intermediate, and higher- were taught in the same centers, and without the alternative of studying in music schools -a model with a long tradition in Europe but non-existent in Spain until it was regulated in 1992. This situation was excessive for amateurs and utterly insufficient for those pursuing a professional path.
In that context, JONDE's creation and its formal debut just a few months later, with its inaugural concert at the Teatro Real on January 14, 1984, was necessarily a powerful statement of what could be achieved with a careful selection of instrumentalists and a rigorous pedagogical approach, all placed at the service of a program whose technical demands matched those of any professional orchestra. I recall that during the summer of 1983, while I was a professor and secretary at the Professional Conservatory of Music of Cuenca, an important international course for young musicians was held there. Edmon Colomer and Alfonso Carrión, JONDE's technical secretary, attended to hear some of the students, several of whom would join JONDE's first class months later. That was my first, albeit indirect, contact with the newly created project, coinciding with the early years of my teaching career. Significantly, for that first concert the orchestra had to adapt its repertoire to the small number of quality musicians available: no more than 60, with professional players filling in some sections. Comparing that with the Instrumentalist Pool of recent years -never fewer than 250 members- the quantitative leap is evident. But this increase would mean little without an even greater qualitative leap: for many years now, Spain has been the country that sends the most candidates to the annual auditions of Europe's two leading youth orchestras (EUYO -the European Union Youth Orchestra- and GMJO -the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester), and in some years has contributed as much as 20% of their membership.

The factors that allowed us to go from the scarcity of the 1980s to today's abundance of highly skilled professionals are numerous, and far exceed the scope of this article. However, it is worth briefly listing the most important -each a result of the General Organic Law of the Education System (LOGSE), passed in October 1990, which, though much maligned in other areas, enabled the current "take-off" in arts education, and its subsequent development in the final decade of the 20th century:

- A rational structure of music studies: four years of elementary level, six of intermediate level (in three two-year cycles), and four of higher level.
- The effective separation of levels, allowing higher conservatories to focus exclusively on advanced professional training and to reduce overcrowding.
- The equivalence of the higher degree to a university licentiate, with the possibility of pursuing third-cycle studies.
- The creation of the music school model, separating non-regulated education from the regulated studies offered in conservatories.
- The increase in instrumental lesson time from a few minutes in overcrowded centers to 60 minutes at the professional level and 90 at the higher level.
- The inclusion of orchestral training as a core part of the intermediate and higher curricula, requiring a rationalization of staff -ending the model of "piano, guitar, and trumpet" conservatories- and increasing available places.

Following my negative experiences as both student and teacher (since 1981) within an ineffective educational system, I felt it a duty to join, as technical adviser, the expert team led by Elisa Roche that, throughout the 1990s, drafted the regulatory framework for the new music studies from the Ministry of Education and Science's Subdirectorate for Arts Education. Overcoming decades of inertia -which in some cases had fostered deeply flawed practices- was a struggle, but the reform prevailed. The measures listed above eventually bore fruit -after no less than 14 years, the minimum time required to complete a full music education- and today have made Spain a musical powerhouse, able not only to stop importing professionals but to export them to positions of great responsibility in leading foreign orchestras.

In this chain of roles -student, teacher, adviser- it was only logical that the final step would be management, which came with the invitation to head JONDE. Beyond the satisfaction of serving a public institution backed without reservation by all political administrations since its creation, and with a sufficient budget to guarantee its activity, I was able to maintain close contact with new generations of talented and enthusiastic young musicians, as well as with the many guest conductors, soloists, section coaches and composers who collaborated with the orchestra. The position I have just left also allowed me to observe, as from a privileged observatory, the health of higher music education across Spain -through meticulous monitoring of all conservatories and higher education centers, using statistics that, year after year, recorded the results of their students in JONDE's annual auditions. The publication of these results in the orchestra's annual report, and their dissemination throughout the educational sector (teachers, conservatories, and academic administrators in various regional education departments), I hope has served both to confirm the soundness of their pedagogical management and, where necessary, to prompt corrective measures when results fell short.
I will conclude by repeating a message I have often conveyed to JONDE members in our welcome meetings at each working period, and on many other occasions: the goal of a youth orchestra is not only to provide them with excellent orchestral training and first-rate pre-professional experience, but also to act as a vaccine against the many risks of professional life -routines that can easily lead to loss of motivation. Put another way: their time in JONDE should help them remember throughout their careers that music must always be approached with the same energy, enthusiasm, and passion they have now. Otherwise, it will deteriorate into a sad, empty "gig" -as useless as it is sterile.