But things were different in the basement. There, 134 spirited youngsters had just arrived. They threw down their coats and popped the latches on their instrument cases. A pair of violinists ran through the opening bars of the William Tell Overture. A trumpet and a clarinet jammed in a corner. The wails of oboes mingled with the grunts of tubas.

They could have been a bunch of kids anywhere. But later, when the conductor lowered his baton, they became something else: an orchestra, and a very fine one.

The Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra's 1995 visit was the Bank's first introduction to a remarkable artistic and social movement that has now come full circle with the approval of a loan to help consolidate and expand the country's youth music program.

The young guests at the IDB were only the tip of an artistic pyramid in Venezuela made up of thousands of other youths--children of laborers as well as lawyers--from throughout the country. For them, music has become something they can give to themselves, to their families and to their communities.

Similarly their hour-long performance was the end product of years of hard work. Many readers of this publication know what it takes to cajole kids to practice their instruments and get them to do their lessons and rehearsals. Most of the young Venezuelan musicians come from families whose parents have no musical background, little education, and limited time to provide support. The youths have made it largely on their own initiative, spurred on by the knowledge that an orchestra is a meritocracy in which success depends not on who you are, but what you can do.