The Day The #Music Dies
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @SnogVlog
The economy is a slowly suffering animal the longer we stand back and watch it suffer, the harder it is for us to live with ourselves so what do we do exactly? The initial reaction is to cut budgets at both the State and Federal levels cut the pork and overspending to help slow the bleeding. Typically when states cut spending no one is going to win someone is going to be unhappy because lets face it someone's group, program, or department is going to have to go but time after time the biggest budget cuts are always music programs in public schools.
Each year more and more students are suffering from a lack of music or arts programs while more money pours into sports initiatives, now before you start screaming I'm not anti-jock as a matter of fact I am one. In high school I was a part of everything I played sports but was also in the Choir and rallied to start a Drama club in our school because I believed you could be both you didn't have to conform to one stereotype or another. Every teenager knows that in school you have your jocks, nerds, outcasts, and everything in between and it's always the little guy who's going to get picked on first so taking away instruments, bands, choirs, art classes and a place for the creative kids to go was always the easiest choice. The creative kids were always seen as the minorities in a school the ones who were different from others who didn't quite fit in they were the band geeks, the "Gleeks," Goths, and Weirdos but scientific study after scientific study shows them to be significantly smarter & well adjusted than their counterparts.
Television shows such as Glee have really shed new light on the issues that creative teens face during their high schools and just how hard it is to get a program like that started and keeping it going. While the show is one large stereotype it does have its positive affects showing parents that their children can aspire to be something other than the star quarterback and still be popular.
Too much emphasis is put on children that they must play a sport immerse themselves in their studies and what most people forget is what a child or teen can actually learn from music what they can learn from reading music, playing instruments and singing in a choir. Being an artist, someone who loves to draw, paint, or sculpt can significantly help children to be more intuitive more aware of their surroundings see the beauty in everyday life and help them with a bit of geometry in the process. For years music and acting have been telling stories and educating people Broadway has long been a place where people can go and learn about history through music, dance and maybe a love story or two. Entertainment was never meant to just be fun but also educational and informational.
Organizations such as VH1's Save the Music program have based their entire reputation on this fact, "As we examined the music education system throughout the nation, we found that music education is not only important for its intrinsic value, but research consistently demonstrated that students who study an instrument enhance their critical thinking skills and their ability to work together as a team. They are more engaged in school and less likely to drop out; and they do significantly better in all of their academic endeavors, (http://www.vh1savethemusic.com/about)." Many similar comments and sites supply facts and figures showing that children benefit greatly from learning how to play a musical instrument where their brain function is concerned while children who are interested in Drama tend to excel in social areas, (http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html)." Everyone understands that these days education is the single most important tool for the United States to not only restore its place in the world but help grow our economy. With each generation there are new entrepreneurs, people willing to go out on a limb start their own business and take advantage of the American way. Social Networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Foursquare and Twitter have shown that young, hip CEOs are on the rise and they are the future of corporate America.
Every year since I graduated High School our schools marching band has gotten smaller and smaller and every year I hear the cries of less money, not enough instruments and not enough children going out for the band. It’s a sentiment that is echoed throughout the country and every town has their own version. Celebrities and musicians have long been supporters of music in schools Sarah Mclachlan, Josh Groban, Kiss, Jamie Foxx, and most recently Barry Manilow either have their own non profit organizations or have donated out of pocket to help keep music programs alive and well in schools both in rural, and urban areas. Sarah Mclachlan's foundation called Music Outreach has been at the forefront of starting and nurturing music programs in schools throughout Vancouver Canada. She is responsible for providing over 275 students a year with a free music education and her foundation continues to grow, (http://sarahmclachlanmusicoutreach.com/). Barry Manilow has started the Manilow Music Project, (http://www.manilowmusicproject.org/) he saw a need to ensure that students in the United States continue to have access to functioning instruments and music classes within their schools or communities. His first visit was to a school in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas where he delivered over 600 brand new instruments and in classic Barry style he enlisted the use of five semi trucks packed with instruments to 15 middle and high schools.
Every school day, about 7,000 students decide to drop out of school that’s a total of 1.2 million students each year and only about 70% of entering high school freshman graduate every year. Each year the United States loses about $319 billion in potential earnings associated with the dropout crisis. This is not just a local problem it's not just one persons issue we all need to be aware that all children are different all children learn differently and getting someone into a music program could mean the difference between graduating high school and going to college or dropping out at 16 years old. A little know fact is that Albert Einstein was on the verge of failing out of school he was a poor student with failing grades teachers felt he was, "too stupid to learn" and the school did not want to invest time or resources into him. The schools advise to Albert's parents, get him a manual labor job and quick, instead of taking their advice they decided to buy him a violin because he loved music Mozart and Bach the most. A friend of Einstein said that Albert used to figure out his problems and equations by improvising on the violin, I guess you could say the violin saved one of the greatest minds of our time from being sentenced to a life of never reaching his full potential.
This attitude of not reaching kids with different ways of learning has unfortunately carried over into the 21st century and we find that even today the easiest thing for a teacher or a counselor to do is to write a student off rather than find a way to break through. Some of our greatest accomplishments as a nation have come in math and science both integral parts of learning an instrument, reading music, and singing we sometimes forget that everything is intertwined. We are on the verge of losing one of our greatest allies in teaching our children one of the best tools to boost learning and brain power to make our kids the best they can be. We should be joining together to see that music never dies in our schools that creativity always flows and kids are allowed to be who they want to be without having to conform to social norms. Times are rough but I urge you to donate to one of these charities or even donate to your local school district start a program in your town that would help keep the music and arts programs in your schools. Everyone can help and it starts with a helping hand and a big heart the rest is up to you so please don't let the music die.