Klarinet Archive - Posting 000232.txt from 1997/08

From: Marissa Jeaninne Polsky <marteena@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Kids Today
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 22:29:47 -0400

Okay, here's my two cents on a few things, so maybe it's more than
two cents. Looking back on my junior high education in music, I can say
that I had a lot of disagreements with my teacher, but after reading the
discussion on this subject, I have one really good thing to say about him
- i still, to this day, even though my sister is in his class, have no
idea what "his instrument" is. He didn't show favor to any particular
instrument, an dhe seemed generally knowledgeable about repair and
fingering for each instrument.

On "kids today," yes, I undertsand that it's frustrating in high
school and even college groups, when you practice and know your music, to
have lots of people who don't practice and appear to have no respect for
the instrument. I don't know how it is where you are from, but in our
school, music was an option. Remember, not all these people are going on
to be professional musicians. IN general, I have observed that music
students (even those not going on to be professional musicians), are some
of the nicest, best and brightest students in the school (our
valedictorian and saludictorian were both in the band, even though the
valedictorian wasn't "the best" musician, and the essayist was a top
knotch paino player.) If everyone who didn't show the same hig hlevel
interest as some of the people on this do were dropped from the band,
there probably would be no orchestra and no band. I mean, in my school
district, interest levels rise each year, and that is the only thing
keeping music off the chopping block from our tax-pac school board who
have already imposed enough cuts on the music program as it is.

Marissa

"Outside of a dog, Books are a man's best friend;
Inside of a Dog, it's too dark to read."
---Groucho Marx