We don't need no (music) education

While walking a beach one time, I overheard two locals commenting on the vacation crowd. "If it's tourist season, can we shoot them?" Well, lately it's budget season, and right in the target is music education.

Like it always seems to be.

I recalled (with the help of IMDB) a few lines from the film "Mr. Holland's Opus", starting with this exchange in the office:

Vice Principal Wolters: "I care about these kids just as much as you do. And if I'm forced to choose between Mozart and reading and writing and long division, I choose long division.

Mr. Holland: "Well, I guess you can cut the arts as much as you want, Gene. Sooner or later, these kids aren't going to have anything to read or write about."

... which lead to this testimony before the school board ...

Mr. Holland: "The day they cut the football budget in this state, that will be the end of Western Civilization as we know it!"

Now, here is a not so secret observation about the movie: It is 15 years old, the same age as our freshman class! And so, I got to thinking, especially in this time of real budget shortfalls, are we in a position to make the case once again about saving music education, or will this be seen as yet another round of crying wolf?

While I firmly believe in the academic value of music, if "we" are going to preserve scholastic music education, we have to start at the bottom - cultivating the kids from elementary school on up - and we have to be prepared to do it outside of the school budgets, and especially support the kids who can't afford it otherwise.

In other words, we are going to have to find a way of doing things differently. This means new ideas, and change ... and the realization that this is going to be very, very hard, and perhaps painful, too.

Funny, though. It is exactly how athletic programs do it. They cultivate the kids in programs where the coaches volunteer, watch, support, and advise.

My Dad was a coach ... who dabbled in the Baritone, once, I recall (my Mom was the multi-talented musician ... voice, violin, piano, classical tastes!), yet even during his time as a school principal and as a district athletic director he understood the value of music education right up there with the value of athletics. But we can't count on this type of broadmindedness, and so maybe instead of envy at their position, participation, and - yes - budgets, it's time we started learning something from them.

Otherwise, we are going to hit "The Wall".

(A quick side note : While I wrote most of this, the TV was on Cinimax. Will some band out there do "Far and Away"? Such good music ... I still remember Southwind doing it in 1993!)