Tricia Tunstall is an author, music educator, and international advocate for positive social change through music education. Her books Playing for Their Lives: The Global El Sistema Movement for Social Change Through Music (co-authored with Eric Booth) and Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music, both published by W.W. Norton, explore the seminal ideas and global reach of El Sistema, the trail-blazing Venezuelan initiative to make immersive ensemble music education available to all children.
Changing Lives, which won a 2013 ASCAP Award and the 2016 Prix Des Muses in France, has been published in six languages and helped catalyze the global movement for positive social change through music.
Tunstall is the co-founder and advisory editor of The Ensemble newsletter, which connects activists in the field of youth empowerment and social change around the world. She is a frequent speaker and consultant on the subject of music education and social impact.
Also the author of Note By Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson (Simon & Schuster), she is a lifelong music educator and writer. She is a graduate of Yale College, Columbia University, and Boston University, and currently maintains a piano studio in New Jersey.
Learn more…
- Los Angeles Public Library Conversation with Tricia Tunstall about El Sistema (podcast)
- The Transformative Power of Music: A Conversation with Tricia Tunstall (podcast)
- Grace Notes: A Collection of Editorials by Tricia Tunstall for The Ensemble (eBook)
- Music program with roots in Venezuela helps students in Paterson, Union City and Newark (newspaper article)
- El Sistema USA (organization)