Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2006-01-09 19:58
I’d agree with Brenda and David S. When I was in elementary and high school, all you had to do to be in the band was sign up. Our high school band was over 60 pieces, and we had a good dance band on the side. Band class was every day for 45 minutes. We played at the games (home and away), pep rallies, band competitions, school dances, concerts and on and on. We had to pay for any private lessons “on the side”, but that was it.
The high school my daughter will be attending has about 1000 students (twice the size of the one I went to) and has 15 band members, all of whom pay a hefty “activity fee”, then have to chip in for band trips and “extra activities”. At the elementary school my daughter attended last year, there was an excellent arts program, including band every day. She was a very enthusiastic clarinet player and quickly advanced to second chair. This year that school has doubled the size of their band and is still turning away students. The interest is there. To play in the band at the school my daughter now attends, we paid a monthly fee and the band met on Monday nights and early Saturday mornings. Needless to say, she, and most of the other students lost interest pretty quickly.
The arts in general, and music in particular, don’t seem to be priorities in schools today. What’s just as strange is that, as a working engineer who volunteers in the schools, I don’t see that math and science are priorities in most schools either. Sports don’t have this problem, at least where I am. There are plenty of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf and on and on, programs. All of which are reasonably well funded. I guess the question is priorities, and theirs don’t match ours.
Sure, making a living in professional music is not likely. Does that mean that the programs are a waste of money? Hardly! How many of the kids in high school sports programs will make it into the USTA or NBA? Many studies have shown that active arts programs improve overall school performance. Why is it that fewer and fewer schools have them?
As for our community band, we have an active high school mentoring program. Also, our local college has an excellent music department, and some of the students play in the band for the practice/experience. We are one of the few community bands with an even spread of young and old. However, without the K-12 schools kindling kid's interest, the future isn’t good.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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