Klarinet Archive - Posting 000537.txt from 1997/03

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.EDU>
Subj: Thoughts?
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 23:59:56 -0500

Being able to read all the wonderful "stories" about why people
started playing clarinet and then becoming Band Directors has been
great. Given all that's been said, where do people see music education going
(especially in public schools)?
In KC and surrounding areas, funding for music education is increasingly
threatened - it's already minimal in terms of the # of dollars spent, but
every year there's more talk of it being cut entirely as "extraneous".
For my two cents worth, I get quite angry at the thought - not only
because music is something near and dear to me (clarinet was probably
the first thing I was ever really good at); but creativity is already too
close to being an endangered species. I find that science and music are
very similar in the fact that doing either well requires creativity and passion.
Unfortunately, early training in science only rarely does anything to
enhance creativity - the loss of the few programs that do actively
foster creativity would probably do more to create the feared "intellectual
wasteland" than all the new math and "extraneous" art programs
put together. Sorry for going off on my soapbox there...
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU