Klarinet Archive - Posting 000104.txt from 2006/04

From: o4rmondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: RE: [kl] Business aspects of music performance & education
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 00:28:16 -0400

Karl wrote:

> There have been a number of articles
> including a recent one in the NY Times
> detailing this and other lengths to which
> schools feel forced to go to try to meet
> Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks. It will
> be worse starting next year

I know that this is old territory which we've discussed before, and I'm
preaching to the choir, but:

I decided to dig this week's newspapers out of the garbage (yuck!), and
here is a verbatim quote from our local newspaper:

"The middle schools [in my town] have dumped half of their art class
offerings since 2002-03, [and] two of the four schools have dropped
their choral programs altogether [,,,] The number of middle and high
school students loading their daily schedules with two or even three
English courses or math classes has doubled to between 15 and 20
percent."

My thoughts are:

(A) When chorus (no expense for instruments or maintenance thereof)
disappears, that _is_ the end of music education, and

(B) the article goes on to say that "math and English scores of
struggling students are skyrocketing", which is a good thing of course,
but where does it leave the students who aren't "struggling" and want to
expand their horizons beyond the Three R's?

============

While I was rummaging in the garbage, I also retrieved the article (Wall
St. Journal) about New Orleans not paying well:

The caption was: "Jazz Diaspora Redraws The Music Map"

"Displaced New Orleans musicians say they didn't fully appreciate how
much better financial opportunities were in other cities until the
hurricane forced them to relocate."

The article included some finger-pointing. Club owners blame customers
who won't pay more than $5 at the door, etc.

One name that I recognize is Wynton Marsalis. He is quoted as saying:
"New Orleans never treated its musicians well". Henry Butler (piano, a
new name to me) is quoted as saying "The payment offered [for this
year's New Orleans Jazz Festival] was very insulting". A washboard
player (named John Williams) said that he earns double in Portland,
Oregon as he earned in New Orleans before the hurricane.

The article cited a number of other musicians and entire bands for whom
pay was part but not all of their motive for not returning to New
Orleans: "Willie Tee" Turbinton, Bill Summers, Cyril Neville, Jeremy
Lyons, New Orleans Jazz Ensemble, New Birth Brass Band, New Orleans
Straight Ahead, New Orleans Jazz Ramblers.

I watched carefully for Pete Fountain's name because of what happened to
his home in New Orleans, but the article didn't mention him.

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