Sistema Finland started in the autumn of 2009 as part of the City of Vantaa’s The Whole World in the Suburbs project, which aimed to strengthen the relationship between the newly arrived and longer standing populations in the areas of Länsimäki and Koivukylä.
Its tempo orchestras are based on social and community activities and see the Portuguese Generation Orchestra (Orquestra Geraçäo) as a source of inspiration. The orchestras’ main idea is to have children of all social backgrounds play classical music together and thus to promote mutual understanding and friendship.
Since 2009, Sistema Finland has worked with five orchestras in Helsinki and Vantaa and approximately 130 children from Bangladesh, China, Estonia, Finland, India, Iraq, Japan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand. Sistema Finland is constantly in discussion with other Finnish cities about the possibility of developing new cooperative projects and, ultimately, wants to develop its activities throughout the country and to actively engage with European and global partners.
On a practical basis, Sistema Finland´s tempo orchestras offer two orchestra classes per week, with one of these taking place in small groups and each player receiving an additional 15-minute private lesson every week. While individual sessions take place during the school day, group sessions generally take place after school and tempo orchestras provide musical activities to all children, regardless of their social backgrounds. Furthermore, both the activities themselves and the instruments the children use are free and the children in the orchestras may take their instruments home to use for practising, ensuring that all those involved are operating on a level playing field.
An emphasis is placed on working together and observing and catering to the children’s own learning curves. Sistema Finland sees the engagement in orchestras as a valuable tool for gaining life skills and promoting personal development. They believe that musical activities enable better concentration and attentiveness, improve self-confidence, promote care and concern for others and aid the development of emotional expression.
The Finnish tempo orchestras perform actively and pupils are encouraged to perform from a very early stage. Performances are an important part of the orchestras’ pedagogical activities and promote increased cohesion and togetherness within the orchestras.
However, the most important thing is to support the child's growth and ability to self-express, thus helping children find their own personal relationship to music. At best, the children involved in the orchestras will have a lifelong personal bond to music and the language of music will become a natural mode of self-expression.
Since its foundation, Sistema Finland’s key partners have included the Vantaa Music Institute, the City of Vantaa, the Helsinki City Education Department and the Metropolia University of Applied Studies.