Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic work of a network of music education projects in Brazil, this paper discusses the possible intersections between global development agendas and (g)local musical practices, examining the actors entangled in these social projects and its contexts.

Paper long abstract:

Through an approach that combines different methods, the paper aims broadly to discuss the employ of music in institutions that aim at producing social impact. Some experiences already recorded and documented in various ethnographic works offer an overview of what is understood by ethnomusicology as Social Action Through Music (Baker, 2021). Social Action through Music is a field of musical education systematized by Geoffrey Baker (2021) based on the examination of musical education programs that place social inclusion as the main objective or one of the most important. Being a field of activity with more evident development in Latin America, as recognized by Boeskov (2023) -although with strong cultural and ideological links with practices promoted in other regions -, the first and great representative of this aspect is the already widely discussed Venezuelan program El System, which since its emergence has been widely replicated, in different formats and adaptations, but under the same premise of producing social impact, reducing inequality and seeking citizenship (BAKER, 2014, 2018; BULL, 2016, 2019; DOBSON, 2016; FINK, 2016; GODWIN, 2020; GOVIAS, 2020; PEDROZA, 2014, 2015). The music education network examined in this paper is the Plataforma Sinfonia do Amanhã. It has consolidated different music projects initiatives in various Brazilian territories, with the intention of connecting them and building lines of collaboration between different musical education experiences, exchanging their teaching methodologies. This paper explores its aspects, ambiguities and procedures, as part of an ongoing field research.