 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-10 14:44
Katrina said in another posting "My American High School students need this reminder (speaking about coordinating fingers and tongue) almost once a month, and sometimes more frequently. Our music ed system in schools (as you may know) focuses on band performance and not necessarily effective instrument technique. I have to fight the notion that I'm there only to help the kid with their (usually easy even for them) band music and instead attempt to make them a better clarinet player."
My wife taught instrumental music in Baltimore City for 31 years. She never actually had a band because she taught Jr. High and then elementary school for most of her time and would have at least 3 schools to go to most of that time. She would give lessons and have whatever ensembles she was able to muster.
It probably depends on the city and state you live in but music education in the US is not anything like what it used to be. When I went to high school in the Bronx NY back in the 50s we had an orchestra, a senior and junior band and music theory class for those that wanted it and could work it into their schedule. This was not one of the "Music and Art" schools but just a regular high school, large but regular, 4000 students. We didn't get private lessons but were all encouraged to take lessons on the outside, which many of us did. I did have a free period in my last year though and my band director gave me some oboe lessons, I wanted to be a woodwind doubler.
Today, the first thing that goes in our schools today, when they have to cut the budgets, is music and art, it's a shame. Most of the schools that my wife taught in no longer even offer music at all because Baltimore has so many budget problems as so many of our cities and states are having. This decline has been going on for well over a decade, before the big financial crunch of the last few years. There are places in the US that still have good music programs and realize the importance of giving their students the opportunities in music and art but I'm afraid they are in the minority.
Music teachers in the US should all encourage their students to take private lessons if possible if their lucky enough to even have an instrumental program in their school. Not to encourage more students to try to become professional musicians but to enhance their lives through the joys of music and art, all the arts, it's what makes us a more civilized people. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2010-01-10 14:55)
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Author: Rob Vitale
Date: 2010-01-10 18:34
Some really excellent points Mr. Palanker. I think school music teachers would be surprised with the amount of success a phone call home can make towards encouraging students to take private instruction.
A three minute phone call:
"Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Hi this is the band director and I just wanted to call to tell you I'm so excited with the amount of promise I see in little Jonny's musicianship. I think he would really benefit from some private instruction." Studies have proven that music makes you smarter, more disciplined, more organized, develops social skills, and develops a sense creativity and artistic well being. May I give you the names of some local affordable private teachers whom you may consult?
I think that even in these challenging economic times, You'd be surprised with how parents will still do what ever they can to not short change their own children's opportunities. Even if the parents neglect to pay for private instruction, that single phone call just made the parents think twice about ever letting their son/daughter quit the band. And in today's world, program survival is a game of enrollment numbers.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-01-10 21:45
Ed, I'm glad you posted this. I worked for many years in a large city school district, similar to Baltimore. Funds are now very tight, and most of the music programs have disappeared. In some ways, my experiences were similar to those of your wife.
I'm sad to say this, but I think there is an issue of the haves vs. the have nots in instrumental music education today. When I taught in the city, the vast majority of my students used school instruments. I would sometimes plead with parents--especially those parents that I thought could afford it--to buy an instrument. I would point out to these parents that their children were making great progress. The standard answer was, "Thank you. I'm glad __________ is doing well. He/she really likes band. We'll look into it," and this usually meant "we're not going to do anything." There were parents who worked at night and slept during the day, and they didn't want to hear their kids practice.
Many parents didn't have a credit card (or good credit), and found it difficult to rent or purchase an instrument from a music store. In this city, there were a number of shady music stores that would sell instruments that I strongly suspected were stolen property. Once I had a student show up with her own instrument, but a serial number was visible on the case. It wasn't from our district, but I had good reason to believe it had been stolen from another state. I was a young teacher at the time, and I contacted my supervisor for advice. "Don't try to play detective," she said, "or you'll get yourself hurt. Drop it." It bugged me inside, but I followed her advice.
Most of my students came from single-parent families, and most of them were struggling to get by. Private lessons? Totally out of the question, although there were a few kids here and there who did have them. Like your wife, I really tried to give my students as much individual help as I could.
Like your wife, it was sometimes difficult to have a real band. Students would come and go, sometimes without any notice. I'd often start class and notice that a student was missing. "Where's so and so?" I'd ask. Another student would answer, "He/she moved over the weekend." Yes, and he/she took the instrument along. I can't even begin to tell you how often I'd make phone calls and drive around the city trying to track down a missing instrument.
I'm no longer a public school music teacher, but I'm close with some nearby suburban directors and I give private lessons. Let's face it--a lot of middle income families are really struggling. The majority of these families (that I've observed) will readily agree to buy an entry-level instrument. They'll get involved in booster organizations and attend concerts. When their kids get more advanced and are ready to move on to a better instrument, they don't see the need. They also don't see any reason to upgrade from a cheap plastic mouthpiece. We all know that high school students playing advanced music sound better on better equipment. I suppose it's possible for a clarinet player on a cheap plastic clarinet with a plastic mouthpiece to give an excellent rendition of the Mozart clarinet concerto, but it can't be easy. I once heard a high school trumpet soloist play a difficult solo on his beginner trumpet. He played well, but I could tell that the instrument was holding him back.
Private lessons? A nice idea, and perhaps these families will do it for a short time, but seldom for the long-term. If a family is trying to keep the budget under control, $15 to $30 a week for lessons (double or triple that if there are a two or three kids in the family taking lessons) is a lot of money. A lot of parents think, "My kid isn't going to major in music. He/she is doing it for fun. He/she is enjoying it, and it's not worth it to put out a lot of money."
It was often difficult, but my wife and I made sure to get better instruments for our kids when they were ready for them. We also sacrificed and paid for weekly private lessons. There are parents, definitely in the minority, who realize that private lessons are important and make the necessary sacrifices to pay for them. This pretty well describes the families of my private students.
Music teachers in wealthy areas in some ways have it made. Yes, thre are often drug issues. Spoiled-rotten rich kids (I've taught them on occasion) can be a pain, but their parents think nothing of spending $3,000 on a nice Buffet clarinet (mere pocket change). Private lessons? Sure, no problem. I could be wrong, but I think it's probably accurate to say that the majority (or strong plurality) of students taking private lessons come from upper income families.
I'm sad to say this, but I think instrumental music education programs in lower income and lower middle income areas are going to continue to disappear.
Post Edited (2010-01-10 22:15)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-11 00:03
Clarinetguy, I totally agree with what you said and my wife has had the same experiences as you have had. Hunting down school instruments, if and when they were available, when students moved or parents pawned them for drugs in some cases. It's just a shame that music and art are the first things to go when they have to cut the school budgets. ESP
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Author: clariknight
Date: 2010-01-11 01:32
I spent some of my younger years in the south (in Atlanta), where I went to a school in a system fed by a lot of middle and upper class families. At all three levels (elementary, middle, and high schools) there was an orchestra and a band. Students could start playing in these ensembles in the third grade (earlier if they were already receiving private instruction). Families were all encouraged to have their kids take private lessons, which most did.
I moved up north after elementary school, and what I found was a system very different. No orchestra, only a band. Many many kids not taking private lessons, a scare at the end of every year that the music program might not come back the next year.
I have been lucky though, my parents always saw the necessity in getting me private lessons (even though I never showed any sign of wanting to pursue music, or any sign of being committed to it at all). No matter how much it would hurt financially, they managed to find the money for reeds, a new mouthpiece, a good instrument and weekly lessons. I figure they know enough to gauge potential, and, seeing that I showed some, they knew it would be a good idea to encourage me to be better. It's a good thing they did, as I have now come to love music more than almost anything else in the world.
As lucky as I was, I knew many whose parents would not spend the money for lessons, didn't understand why their kids needed a new box of reeds, and couldn't spare the money for a decent level instrument. Students become discouraged, they drop band, and the program suffers even more. My guess is that this is the cause of a dangerous chain of events, in which, with each generation, there are fewer and fewer people who understand music and thus understand the need for it to be in our schools. But what is there to do?
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-01-11 12:51
Last month, my husband and I went to his family reunion for his father's 90th birthday. My husband recently sent our 11-year-old niece a violin, to replace a rental. She was studying in a school music program in Tuscon, Arizona. Well, at the reunion, we got the bad news that the school district scrapped the orchestra class as a budget-cutting move.
Now comes word that my town, Falls Church in Virginia, has such a serious budget shortfall that music programs probably will get cut here, too. Huge bummer. I don't think I'd be playing the clarinet as an enthusiastic amateur today if it weren't for the excellent school band and orchestra classes throughout my childhood and adolescence.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: DixieSax
Date: 2010-01-11 14:23
I can't disagree with any of Ed's points, the state of music education in the USA is dismal, and is getting worse every day, particularly given economic realities.
The bad news is that music teaches more than - well, music. Dicipline, social skills, teamwork, pride, courtesy there are a lot of things that are implied and communicated in a well run school music program. In addition, music gives the participants something that they can use throughout their life - in community musical organizations, or at a personal level, or even at a professional level if they discover that is within their abilities and desires.
We have raised, and are raising generations of youth who interact socially through computer terminals, and who substitute "guitar hero," for playing a real guitar, or a real instrument. I'm convinced that a big part of the "me first" attitude coming from a lot of today's children and teenagers comes from growing up and living in an environment where the social and cooperative aspect of living in society is pretty much absent. It's a real shame, particularly when activities such as music programs when supported and encouraged could go a long way toward providing these missing outlets.
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Author: USFBassClarinet
Date: 2010-01-11 15:40
Well, some good news about music at least.
Last year there was talk of cutting music programs in Orange county (I think). Instead they cut JV sports. These are schools that have 100-200 students in the bands though. As well as another 20-30 in orchestra. So all is not hitting the music program with budget cuts.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-11 16:32
Good news USF. One encouraging thing in the US is the obvious importance and participation in todays marching bands, which I believe is mostly an American thing. If there's football and parades there's marching band and that means kids playing instruments, for whatever reason. So I guess there's hope but it's still a shame, especially in the poorer districts, that so many are loosing music in their school systems.
Maybe if we had more instrumental hero's like I had as a kid these things won't be happening, maybe. When I choose the clarinet to play it was because of Benny Goodman, he was my "hero". Popular music in the 40 and 50s, and before was in large part big bands. Benny, Harry James, Gene Kuppa, the Dorsey Brothers just to name a few. That's the music we heard on the radio all the time besides ballads. All my friends that played instruments choose them mainly because they had a "hero" that played that instrument. I think many parents listened and respected them as well and believed it important to give their kids lessons if they wanted them, it was a sense of pride. I sure in many places it's still that way with parents. My father drove a bread truck and my mother didn't work with three kids back then, they managed to pay for my lessons, my sisters ballet and piano lessons and for a short time and my brothers lessons on something I can't remember, he did do it for long. I think times are just different now for many parents and kids, certainly for many school systems. ESP
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2010-01-11 16:37
I am married to a Music teacher in a public school system and I am afraid that we need to worry not only about the state of music education in public schools but about education as a whole.
Here is a quote from the Boston Globe on 9/17/2009:
"For the first time since testing began, more than half of Massachusetts schools are out of compliance with federal achievement standards, education officials said yesterday, a finding that raises warning flags for local educators but also sparks questions about whether the national benchmarks are too high"
And Boston is supposed to be one of the better public school system in the US. I don't believe the benchmarks are too high. Students, parents, teachers, administrations, governments are all partly responsible for a broken system that needs serious reform.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: chorusgirl
Date: 2010-01-12 13:52
Oh, my - so much to say here.
As one who has more than 25 years of teaching experience under my belt, in two different states and two very different school districts, I believe it all comes down to a very few variables: parents, first and foremost, and teachers, secondly.
Parents hold tremendous power when it comes to local school boards building budgets. All is takes is a strong, vocal group of parents to ensure that funding for a particular program is kept intact.
For some reason, and I'm not exactly sure why this is, sports seem to get the greatest amount of attention. We see this on the local school level, and we see it in society at large. We have a annual Sunday event that is followed by a Monday with the highest rate of absenteeism, both in the work place and in school, on a national level. It's called the Superbowl. I don't see too many folks calling out sick after they've been to a Philharmonic concert. An athlete makes a misstep - it's all over the news, pundits hammer it to death, it is on every tabloid cover and the topic of conversation nationwide. A musician does something noteworthy - good or bad - and no one knows, or cares.
Parents raise up their children to revere and worship what they themselves do - and in our society, it is sports. Not academics, not music, not art - sports.
I also mention teachers - I have worked with many talented, dedicated music teachers who for whatever reason have a self-defeating attitude. Because of what I've outlined above (the reverance for anything sport-related) we have given up the good fight. We think it is a waste of time to try to get parental support . We throw up our hands in defeat too easily, and by doing so, we are fulfilling the prophecy of doom for our very own programs.
We need to become as vocal, as rabid, as passionate, and as outraged, as any sports nut would become if their beloved program were to be cut. We need to band together to lobby for what is important to US, and we need to be a militant and vocal as we can. Maybe, as musicians, it is not in our nature to have the "killer" instinct, but maybe we need to develop it to "protect" our young . We are being eaten alive by other influences, and we need to do something about it!
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Author: Mark Wing
Date: 2010-01-12 16:13
I live in the suburbs of a city that is one of the poorer cities in Massachusetts. As I understand it, the music program has been eliminated for the grades below high school.
In response to this, our church was approached by a couple music educators (including a church member) who proposed partnering with the church to set up a children's chorus. The church donates the space for rehearsals and performances and volunteers run the program. The program is open to any 6th to 8th grade student. The program is in it's third year and now has over 50 children participating. The best part of this program is the only cost to the participants is a $25 registration fee.
I figured I would share a happy story in regards to an unhappy topic.
Mark
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2010-01-12 16:40
I will also say here, since my comments on another thread instigated this one, that I do work with students from many schools where music is fostered and seen as important, as well as theater and visual art and other creative forces. There is one suburb here in the Minneapolis/St Paul area which has 19 music teachers system-wide and they are all phenomenal. The band and orchestra programs are incredibly successful and the three high school band directors all have "fan pages" on Facebook curated by thankful students. Each year the music faculty presents a recital for which the financial proceeds are put into a scholarship fund for one lucky student who plans on entering Music Education.
In contrast, the High School 4 blocks from my home in Minneapolis has only recently re-started its band program. I think they'll do well, based on a neighborhood newspaper's description, but it'll probably take a few more years.
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Author: clariniano
Date: 2010-01-14 19:04
I think here the school music teachers of the two main school boards are not even allowed to suggest private lessons for struggling students, not even in ones that are well off. I've run clinics in a number of schools and almost always find there is always at least one or two students who'd benefit from private lessons, but for very different reasons (the top players and the bottom players) And yet, I teach a student on social assistance (her mom can't work because of severe disabilities) who helps me out with lots of tasks related to my music business in exchange for lessons and materials, so where there is a will, there is a way! I've had students or parents who paid a lot of money for lessons with me, and I'd rather teach a great student for barter of services than a poor-quality student who doesn't put in the effort or positive effort towards learning the material for a few hundred dollars. And in schools and ensembles where most of the students take private lessons from a good teacher, the sound is pretty amazing, I've seen string orchestras in a few schools where most were taking lessons, though they were taking lessons before they were in orchestra. And my parents even though they could afford lessons, chose to spend their money on other things (I paid for my lessons and equipment out of my own pocket); I've seen kids working at low paying jobs somehow scraping enough money to pay for lessons every month and on time.
It's mostly about making priorities.
Meri
Please check out my website at: http://donmillsmusicstudio.weebly.com and my blog at: http://clariniano.wordpress.com
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-01-14 19:50
Education in general is such a spectacular disaster in the U.S. that it's a wonder the children ever learn anything.
Problems such as...
- focus on testing and bogus standards
- keeping kids indoors and seated for hours on end
- segregation by age and not by ability or interest
- good teachers not allowed to do their job because of bizarre regulations
- funding tied to performance
- emphasis on following rules and not asking questions that step out of the prescribed lesson plans
- teachers teaching subjects in which they have little to no expertise nor interest
- ridiculous amounts of money spent on lousy textbooks
- governing bodies from the school district to the federal level making politically motivated decisions that do not benefit the students
- large portions of homework assigned for no good reason
The list goes on and on. I recall reading that our current system was modeled after one developed in India to produce productive, compliant assembly-line workers.
With all this crap going on, I find it astounding that we have any music education at all! As far as I'm concerned, the system should be scrapped.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-01-16 01:44
Ditto on EEBaum. To be frank, I feel that as it is right now, it is better to not have a token music program that's essentially crippled and instead try to encourage people to play instruments at their own volition. A half-concerted effort is not going to do any good, especially in arts.
If any program is to be implemented, it has to be operated on the triad of the instructors, the parents and the students. Making arts voluntary again is important, or else everything will just wither and die.
Having said that, I still wish that there's some ways for public schools to light up the flame in children for them to become interested in music. If a child became interested and fell in love with making music, he/she will somehow get an instrument and play music. One such example I've seen is a 60 years old friend from Taiwan, who came to love music as a child, in spite of a total lack of music education for the working class then.
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