El Sistema sits somewhere between a social project and a classical music initiative. However, its promise of delivering upward mobility has not been sufficiently examined as a structural phenomenon which dovetails with critical policy issues in taxation, educational provision, human rights, and welfare. This article argues that Sistema-style projects ought to be analyzed in relation to the withdrawal of the state's left-hand (e.g. education, health, and welfare). The downgrading of this side of state action is widely characterized as neoliberalism, which is opposed by recent Venezuelan governments. Yet the number of children and youths that can be brought under a conductor's baton seems to blind policy makers and media pundits to the dramatic failures of El Sistema to deliver on its claims. Therefore, it ought to be asked: what does El Sistema actually promote at home, and increasingly, abroad, through its international offshoots? The answer, it is argued, is an unreasonable belief in meritocracy and upward mobility.