yay for soapboxes.
A friend of mine wrote this, and I couldn't agree more, so I am putting it in my LJ:
"Tonight President Bush gave the State of the Union Address. This past weekend, I was at the Oregon All-State Music Conference where I heard a man speak on the State of Music Education. Now, even though the guy had us all bored to tears and I sure didn't agree with everything he said, his speech did bring some strong thoughts to my mind. (Many people have heard my soap box on why I want to teach so I'll leave that part out.)
"It is so very aggravating to hear people demean the benefits and yes, the necessities of music in schools. I can't think of another discipline that is so all-inclusive: Music touches on history, literature, math, science, culture, foreign languages, government, fantasy, physical education, health, and the list could go on. As far as I'm concerned, music proves the whole idea of "left brain/right brain" to be completely wront.
"Sadly, there a number of factors that contribute to the demise of music education: government funding that is either misused or inadequate altogether; school administrators and teachers who regard the arts as useless; music teachers who lack the passion or even the ability to teach effectively; parents who don't encourage their children to pursue music; and a society that diminishes the "fine arts" in lieu of current popular trends. This is a TRAGEDY.
"If I am right and all of this is true, then wouldn't it seem foolish to be disolving our music programs with such speed and intensity? I know what I'm going to do about it . . . but what will everyone else do? I can only hope for strong action."
You know, when I was in high school I had a really good band director. She knew how to play all the instruments. She knew how to count rhythms. She made us tune properly. She knew common troubleshooting for all instruments. She made me originally want to be a band director. Then she moved. After that I got the band director back that I had in junior high. He should have stayed in junior high. He was horrible at teaching high schoolers. Everything he did wrong and everyone that dropped out of band because of him made me want to be a band director evern more, so that I can show students that music can be fun and that some band directors DO know what they are talking about. At that same time I had a choir director who was the epitome of all that is music. Watching her and learning from her was probalby one of the best musical experiences of my life. Then, my senior year I had a band director who was not a band director at all. He played Horn in high school....note I said PLAYED not majored in. Yeah, he majored in theater and English. He was horrible. The other senior clarinet player and I were the ones who actually taught the music to our section.
Anywho...that is PART of the reason I am going into music. But I totally, 903458563459% agree with Mandy on the above statement.
"Tonight President Bush gave the State of the Union Address. This past weekend, I was at the Oregon All-State Music Conference where I heard a man speak on the State of Music Education. Now, even though the guy had us all bored to tears and I sure didn't agree with everything he said, his speech did bring some strong thoughts to my mind. (Many people have heard my soap box on why I want to teach so I'll leave that part out.)
"It is so very aggravating to hear people demean the benefits and yes, the necessities of music in schools. I can't think of another discipline that is so all-inclusive: Music touches on history, literature, math, science, culture, foreign languages, government, fantasy, physical education, health, and the list could go on. As far as I'm concerned, music proves the whole idea of "left brain/right brain" to be completely wront.
"Sadly, there a number of factors that contribute to the demise of music education: government funding that is either misused or inadequate altogether; school administrators and teachers who regard the arts as useless; music teachers who lack the passion or even the ability to teach effectively; parents who don't encourage their children to pursue music; and a society that diminishes the "fine arts" in lieu of current popular trends. This is a TRAGEDY.
"If I am right and all of this is true, then wouldn't it seem foolish to be disolving our music programs with such speed and intensity? I know what I'm going to do about it . . . but what will everyone else do? I can only hope for strong action."
You know, when I was in high school I had a really good band director. She knew how to play all the instruments. She knew how to count rhythms. She made us tune properly. She knew common troubleshooting for all instruments. She made me originally want to be a band director. Then she moved. After that I got the band director back that I had in junior high. He should have stayed in junior high. He was horrible at teaching high schoolers. Everything he did wrong and everyone that dropped out of band because of him made me want to be a band director evern more, so that I can show students that music can be fun and that some band directors DO know what they are talking about. At that same time I had a choir director who was the epitome of all that is music. Watching her and learning from her was probalby one of the best musical experiences of my life. Then, my senior year I had a band director who was not a band director at all. He played Horn in high school....note I said PLAYED not majored in. Yeah, he majored in theater and English. He was horrible. The other senior clarinet player and I were the ones who actually taught the music to our section.
Anywho...that is PART of the reason I am going into music. But I totally, 903458563459% agree with Mandy on the above statement.