Schools without music?
We have to figure something out folks. This is what Colorado will look like sooner than later if steps are not taken to change education funding. JMJ
SOAPBOX: The day the music died
When I first came to the Monterey Bay area 24 years ago, every high school and middle school had a music program. Some were stronger in concert band, marching band, choir, orchestra or jazz band/choir, but all had some unique strength about their music program.
The other night I attended the local end-of-year dinner meeting of the Central Coast Section of the California Music Educators Association. I was a couple of minutes late and walked into what is usually a high-energy meeting. Instead, I discovered the opposite. Here were some of the most powerful educators I had ever known sitting in a quiet and somber mood. I also noticed many whom I thought would be there, were not. Why?
Here was a meeting where music teachers could unwind and excitedly talk to people who truly understood their incredible accomplishments. Instead they were wondering where the future was going to lead them.
Shockingly, several announced they had suddenly been laid off. For others, their programs were so severely cut back and/or changed to the point where they were being assigned impossible tasks for the next year’s school season. In several school districts, there will be no music education for any of the children. These were not new educators but pioneers in music education in the Monterey Bay area and the state.
Instead of doing the usual introductions and talking about the upcoming fall school year, we were asked to tell everyone what bad things had happened to our programs.
Several small school districts laid off all their music teachers. Larger school districts announced cutting their music staffs in half, and then telling the remaining staff members they would fill in the gaps.
