Klarinet Archive - Posting 000722.txt from 2001/05

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: Re: [kl] School Board
Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 08:42:12 -0400

At 07:26 AM 05/27/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>You continue to misconstrue everything I say. Here are the schools that
>did not require any music after elementary school.

I don't believe I have misconstrued anything. You said "little bit"
offered at the elementary level - but again, you don't define that. Was it
a music specialist doing the teaching? What was the length of the class?

>Forest, Ohio
>Niantic, Illinois
>Canton, South Dakota
>Madison Heights, Michigan

Where is the rest of the national trend???

>By the way, in Canton, South Dakota, I was one of the people who fought
>and won the battle to get the band and chorus students full academic
>credit for their band or chorus rather than the 1/2 credit they were
>getting. So please don't ever think that I want to eliminate band and
>chorus from the curricula.

I only think it because you said it Dee. See previous post.

>I was trying to give possibilities for increasing the amount of music
>education. There should be some mandatory classes for both middle school
>and high school. You pick the amount. But to get it, you've got to
>incorporate in the state requirements. Anything that is an elective is a
>potential candidate for the budget axe no matter what we want.

If your idea is NOT to suggest then that band and chorus should be
extracurricular activities, then the rest of the idea is would appear to be
an add-on. I have no problem with that. However, that is not what you
originally posted.

>Once a week during elementary school, now let's see. That works out to
>the equivalent of just over one school year for the elementary
>kids. Pretty close to what I identified as a what should be at least the
>minimum for the elementary school age.

And significantly below MENC standards. And significantly below what most
schools are currently doing.

>You have challenged me to name schools where they got no music past
>elementary. I have done so. Now you name schools where all middle school
>and high schoolers must take music to graduate.

Most public middle school programs don't have graduations Dee.

However, general music is required in the middle school curriculum in every
school district within McLean County Illinois. That alone is more than
four - more like 200+ . Why would I want to list them all? In fact, if I
were to take time to list the 85% of the nation that does require it at the
middle school level, it would be a huge waste of bandwidth. My point (both
now and originally)? Your statements do not reflect the national trend.

I never said it was required at the high school level for graduation. I
said many have fine arts requirements....there is a lot of curriculum that
covers "fine arts" that is not music. Many colleges have "fine arts
requirements" as our's does - but only a percentage choose music as the
vehicle by which they satisfy that requirement.

> I know there are some but they don't happen to be where my kids have gone.

And there is the problem Dee. It's like saying that since you saw a dam
work well in timbuktu that was built with sand and logs, that's the best
(or the worst) way to build a dam. We don't represent curriculum with
isolated examples. We don't represent theory with only a few examples - we
do it with many. Those you mention are most definitely not the national norm.

>Is it a state requirement or did the local board require it? If it's
>local, then it could be changed at any time.

The board doesn't require anything. The curriculum is developed by the
teachers, worked over by the teachers, suggested by the teachers - based on
what they feel is important in a curriculum. This is then passed to the
appropriate administrators in the school/district for approval. Then it is
approved or disapproved by a board - which oversees the entire thing
(including the budget).

>I respect your years as an educator. Like everything else, they form a
>part of your experience base. But that doesn't mean your knowledge and
>experience encompass all the schools across the US.

I make it a point to be an expert in this area Dee. Sorry you don't
recognize that. I can't teach students to get a degree in music education
- to be state certified and to student teach - without knowing the
programs, the state requirements, and even which congressmen/senators will
support an idea. That's my job.

Best wishes,
Roger Garrett

Roger Garrett
Clarinet Professor
Director, Symphonic Winds
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
Phone: (309) 556-3268
Fax: (309) 556-3121

"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes
another's."
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)

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