The unprecedented initiative in the northern macrozone was sponsored by the United States Embassy and brought together young people from all over the country, who were trained by the North American director David Händel. 

This important training event, aimed at conductors of youth and children's orchestras and bands, professional orchestras, instrumental ensembles, students of orchestral conducting and students who graduated from musical careers, had the objective of instructing students in the technique of orchestral conducting, providing methodologies and tools to be used in their respective instrumental groups.  

"This is an action that is part of the permanent work of extension and training of new talents that the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra has, we feel committed to this task and with the important bond that is generated with young people from all over the country, thanks also to our guest director David Händel," said Rodrigo Díaz, artistic technical coordinator of the professional cast of the Coquimbo Region.  

The experience was positive both for the organizers and for those who participated as active members and listeners, reaching a total of 36 registered. One of them is Sebastián Camaño, from Concepción and currently a student of Piano Performance at the University of Chile. "I am emerging as a musician and my great goal is orchestral conducting. I found out about this workshop through the OSULS website and I consider it to be a great opportunity, so I am very happy. We have had a great week, the maestro "Händel is a very wise man, who has great pedagogy, a very sincere way of reaching students, with charisma, tranquility and with great clarity of concepts and technique," he noted.

"For us conductors it is a very valuable opportunity, I consider that what is being done here is very important, perhaps it will be a unique experience in Chile, that a professional orchestra opens its doors for an orchestral conducting workshop. I am very grateful to the OSULS, and I hope it continues," said Hugo Arriagada.

Arriagada added that thanks to his experience and career, Händel places emphasis on individualities and the most important details and that, without a doubt, will favor his work, both with a chamber group that he is forming at UTEM, and with the Lyric Company. of Santiago, groups in which he currently works.

Meanwhile, director David Händel highlighted the number of participating students coming from different parts of the country and also some who study in Buenos Aires, indicating that among them were present “teachers and young directors who intend to develop a career. It has been very productive, very positive for everyone. I have loved dissecting each one's way of directing and I have seen great progress from the participants with different characteristics, personalities and habits, which one has the task of improving."

A singular case is represented by the 4th grade B student of the Jorge Peña Hen Experimental School of Music, Lucas Tapia, who expressed that "it has been a very important opportunity, since these are very valuable learning instances. Share with everyone in this workshop It allows me to work with another vision," says the young man who hopes to continue his professional musical training in the future.

Tapia began being in a class with Professor Alejandro Meléndez, who invited him to direct a class; Subsequently, he attended two workshops and currently has systematic classes with the academic Hugo Domínguez. 

For her part, Alejandra Rivas, from Purén, is a director of youth orchestras who actively works in her town with children and young people between 4 and 20 years old. "I am always looking for opportunities for improvement, because when you teach, you must be constantly updating yourself. I find it very interesting to be able to access this free workshop with a great teacher, that is a great advantage and the other thing is being able to conduct a professional orchestra , so I am leaving very happy and very grateful as well, hoping to have another opportunity like this and optimize my time even more," said the professional.

For the organizers, this experience marks a precedent and represents, to a large extent, the spirit of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra.

This is what Händel reaffirmed. "I have no doubt that the OSULS will continue offering this course, there are not many on the continent, therefore, it is very interesting for both the young people and the Orchestra to meet these new conducting talents," he concluded. 

The activity is part of a cycle of four talks that will be held on the last Tuesday of each month until November 25. 

Academics from the Dentistry program at the University of La Serena will give a series of lectures that will address the importance of taking care of oral health. The activity corresponds to the program of academic conference cycles organized by the ULS Extension Directorate and begins next Tuesday, August 26, at 11:30 a.m., in the Exhibition Hall of the university, with the conference “ Oral Health in the Elderly”, by the director of said undergraduate program, Mg. Cristian Oyanadel. 

This is the first of four conferences that seek to inform the population about the different pathologies that can occur in the mouth, in order to guide those who have doubts about the different topics and encourage consultations with dentists with an emphasis on prevention. For this reason, and given the importance of taking care of dental health not only in the early stages of life, the initial conference will address pathologies in the elderly.

In it, attendees will be able to learn about the conditions of normal physiological aging and also pathologies that appear with age. In this regard, academic Cristian Oyanadel referred to the contribution of the institution in this matter, which goes beyond this conference, and the importance of making this contribution to the community. "In our degree we integrate a subject called Geriatric Dentistry that addresses all these topics, and it is also important that we begin to interact with the community, teaching them what the health conditions are, what is normal, what recommendations are made and when to consult. We are going to talk about the most recurrent pathologies, which are cavities and periodontal disease, which produce tooth loss, which is a lack of teeth and that makes us consult for removable prosthesis treatments, oral rehabilitation. So the idea is that patients know the conditions that are normal and what is abnormal, so that they consult,” said Oyanadel.

Finally, he invited the community in general, of all ages, to find out about this process and to be prepared. “I invite all people, it is not only an issue for the elderly, I think it is an issue for everyone because we are all in the aging process, important issues, unknown issues come to mind. There is a physiological process of aging that people have to know, that we are not the same at 30 or 40 as we are at 60 or 70, there is something that changes in the body, we have to be prepared and we are exposed to diseases and it is It is super important that they know him,” he emphasized.

This cycle consists of academic talks, focused on the importance of oral health, among which are: the care of baby teeth in children, oral cancer and the relationship of oral health with diseases as widespread as diabetes. and hypertension. They will be presented on the last Tuesday of each month, continuing on September 23, October 28 and November 25, in the ULS Exhibition Hall, located at Benavente 950, La Serena.

Opening the horizon through everyday examples typical of our idiosyncrasy with respect to old age is what this activity aims to achieve.

Changing the thinking of society and older adults, creating awareness and acceptance of the capabilities that the adult population has to continue dedicating themselves to their daily lives, is what the conference “Aging-being” seeks to establish and put into practice. "Aging as a revealer of truths" that will be taught next Monday, August 25, by the academic from the Department of Nursing at the University of La Serena. Carmen Retamal Valenzuela, Master in Social Gerontology. 

As part of the “Opening Horizons” lecture series of the ULS School for the Elderly, the academic will address erroneous concepts and comparisons around the most adult stage of life, which are increasingly common today. Continuously, talking about “older adults” or about “old age” is seen as “a problem”, therefore, we seek to reverse this situation, injecting a paradigm shift, stimulating the self-valence of the individual and providing tools that allow us to reach this point in life, in a healthy, active and participatory way. 

“In America, older adults have not believed the story of their value, they do not recognize themselves as valuable. For the same reason, because of a response to society that makes him feel invalid, that he does not contribute because he no longer works, that he is full of illnesses, that it is a pure health problem and he is going to spend a lot of money on everything. The older adult assumed that image, made it his own; So, they themselves believe that they are of no use. My job at this moment is to try to get them out of that inertia, get them out of that thinking so that they believe the story,” commented the teacher.

For the Mg. Carmen Retamal, giving and extending this conference to the entire community of the Coquimbo Region, without age ranges, is very important. “If we want to achieve healthy aging from a mental point of view, we have to prevent before, in time (…). We remain people until the end of our days; It is not that we reach a final stage of life, but that we reach a stage in the course of life that is called old age. And that is what I intend to teach the people who want to attend, who can be adults, middle adults, older adults, young people, whoever wants, because from any stage of life we ​​are in, we can do prevention.”added the professional.

The activity is free of charge and will take place in the ULS Exhibition Hall, at 950 Benavente Street, La Serena, on Monday, August 25 at 17:00 p.m.

The objective of this play is to enchant students with mathematics through theater, with theatrical performances based on logic, algebra, geometry and arithmetic.

About 800 attendees, mostly primary and secondary school students from different schools in the Coquimbo Region, filled with their enthusiasm, laughter and questions the two performances of “Mathematical Stories to the Cube” performed by the theatrical cast of the Extension Directorate from the University of La Serena, ÉTEULS. The pedagogical comedy took place in the Aula Magna of the Ignacio Domeyko ULS Campus, where the three mini stories came to life: “In networks with Polígona”, “Zero Stress” and “The Death of 8”, directed by Catalina Cvitanic.

The play was enjoyed by children and adults, because not only the students laughed and enjoyed it, but also the teachers who attended this didactic function, which highlights the playful way of teaching content that is often becomes complex when delivering them to students. “It is an excellent initiative, because the truth is that there is a need for more motivation and teaching from another perspective (…). Children feel much more motivated. Even as a teacher you have other strategies to be able to teach,” said the 4th grade teacher at Rucalaf School, Johana Castro.

The two performances included school audiences from various establishments in the region, where they were able to participate in games and mathematical puzzles, in addition to asking all their doubts and questions in a final conversation with the actors and remembering forgotten concepts. 

“I found the work interesting, because for being in third year, the subject seemed good to me, it was understood and attracted the attention of the public (…) I had the knowledge, it was just a more entertaining way to acquire it again,” he added. a student from the Conciliar Seminary School of La Serena.

For those who missed this entertaining school and theater activity, next Thursday, October 2, a new performance will be held in the Aula Magna Ignacio Domeyko at 980 Benavente Street, La Serena. For more information, just go to the Extension Center, at Prat 446, call 051 2204171 or write to the email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The objective of the workshop that the Kinesiology major will offer is to provide attendees with theoretical and practical tools throughout the duration of the activity.

For those who are in the most adult stage of life, carrying out daily activities such as walking, carrying an object and maintaining balance becomes difficult to achieve. Therefore, reinforcing certain forgotten knowledge and helping them master their body to avoid future accidents is the main objective of the theoretical-practical workshop “Strategies for the risk of falls in the elderly”, which will be taught by Mg. Edwin Contreras Acevedo, academic in the Kinesiology program at the University of La Serena.

The activity is part of the School for the Elderly organized by the Extension Directorate of the University of La Serena, in which learning spaces and knowledge are periodically provided to the adult population. On this occasion, registration was opened for a new workshop in which various topics related to falls and the potential associated musculoskeletal risks will be addressed.

“The talk will discuss the preventive strategies that exist for the risk of falls in older adults. Assuming that older adults - from a certain age onwards - have a high percentage of prevalence of trauma disorders (...) therefore in this talk, they will be given general guidelines on how to address this situation. , how to overcome this situation and how to prevent this situation from happening at such a young age,” said the academic.

In addition, it is intended that attendees apply each knowledge in a practical way and with group exercises, in which they will work hard with vision and hearing during the 8 chronological hours in which the activity will take place. “Generally the visual part and the auditory part are the systems that fail at a certain age and these systems are super important in the control of posture (…) mainly we are going to focus on them in the workshops, in situations that involve these systems, whether visual, vestibular or pro-receptive. If one trains these systems, they can respond, therefore, the idea is to expose them to unstable surfaces, to balance work, to instability work, to work with closed eyes, also to work on immobile surfaces and to work with difficulties that in certain way. Working with difficulties will help you learn and respond to the environment,” added Contreras.

The workshop will take place in the ULS Exhibition Hall, at 950 Benavente Street through 4 theoretical-practical classes, on September 30, October 2, 7 and 9 with two different schedules; Tuesdays from 15:00 p.m. to 16:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 13:00 p.m. For all those interested in participating in this workshop and being awarded one of the 20 available spots, you only have to go to the ULS Extension Center, located at Prat 446, and register at their offices, paying a one-time fee of $5.000 per person.

The activity has been organized to commemorate the creation of the first Children and Youth Orchestra in Latin America; Thus the music, performed by the students of the establishment, will reach various corners of the Coquimbo Region, between August and November.

The Extension Program that the "Jorge Peña Hen" Experimental School of Music has prepared for the year 2014, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the first Children's and Youth Orchestra in Latin America, which took place in the city of La Serena, in 1964, at the initiative of maestro Jorge Peña Hen, who organized the first instrumental ensembles for children until he founded the La Serena Experimental School of Music.

This milestone marks the initiative that from this August 14 will have the young people of the establishment as protagonists, who not only offer gala concerts, but also educational-didactic concerts, whose purpose is to take music to all corners, marking a permanent commitment to the community.

"It is here where this project is conceived and sustained, also allowing us to enrich our curriculum, where the systematization of musical practice in ensembles and the possibility of showing this work to the community, creates affective and cooperative ties, necessary to achieve , among others, the integration of groups, a highly valued competition today, as well as better levels of musical interpretation, all of the above being of great relevance for the families of our students, the general community and especially in the promotion of future men and women who love music and with it a greater and better well-being of the arts in the country”, said Marcela Brevis, technical head of the musical area of ​​the establishment.

Within the planned program, groups such as the "Youth Symphony Orchestra", "Youth Sinonic Band", "Philharmonic Orchestra", "Children's Orchestra", "Children's Symphony Band", "Intermediate Symphony Band", and Children's and Youth Choir, will visit between others, the Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez de Las Compañías Professional Technical High School, the Isabel Riquelme School in the same sector and the Calasanz School, in Tierras Blancas, among others, in addition there will be a presentation at the Tierras Blancas Gymnasium, for which it is expected to reach a significant number of schoolchildren, teachers and parents in each of the presentations.

The “Jorge Peña Hen” Experimental School of Music has the Musical teaching modality in its curriculum. Since its creation, in 1965, it has contemplated an extended day for its students, which has allowed it to achieve its main objective, which is instrumental musical teaching and the formation of Ensembles, Bands, Orchestras and Choirs, of a high level. level.

It should be noted that in addition to the teaching function, the School carries out a great work of musical extension, through Orchestras, Bands, Choirs, Chamber Ensembles and others, all of them made up of students of Basic and Secondary Education, which constitutes, without place Without a doubt, a significant contribution to the cultural events of the city of La Serena, the region and the country.

For this celebration, between the months of August and November, Educational Concerts will be held in different schools and public spaces in the communes of La Serena and Coquimbo according to the following schedule: