JUSTIFYING YOUR MUSIC PROGRAM

TWO ARTICLES THAT FOCUS ON WHAT TO SAY WHEN PARENTS, AND OTHERS, ASK YOU TO JUSTIFY YOUR MUSIC PROGRAM

FIRST, TMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT RON ROGERS, BAND DIRECTOR AT FARRAGUT HIGH SCHOOL IN KNOXVILLE, PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING THOUGHTS:

Every year when we go and speak to incoming students and their parents, we are always asked about our program. “Can you define your music program?” “Can you justify your music program?” “What does your music program stand for?” Or the best one is “Tell me all about your music program.” Every year and time that we’ve been asked this, I suppose that we’ve tried to come up with some type of high-level philosophical description of our music program. Some of them sound pretty good - some of them really don’t. But at least we’ve tried.

I believe from now on, from a personal perspective, I’m going to stick with a four-word definition of the music program with which I believe describes many of our music programs (it’s actually only a three word definition because one of the words is repeated). From now on, I am going to define our music program at Farragut High School Band with the following phrase:

“Come One, Come All”

Come one, come all (formal)

Something that you say which means that everyone or everything can join or be included. We can’t just invite some people and not others, so I guess it’s a case of come one, come all.

To me, this defines what our music programs should stand for in a very succinct and compact manner. It tells what we stand for, what we mean, what we are.

Look around your program. Seriously, take a second look at your program. Our programs are microcosms of society itself. We have adults and children of all types. We have future scientists, future lawyers, future doctors, future business leaders, future musicians, etc. Everyone is represented here. Why? Very simple: “Come one, come all”

I’m a firm believer that every child can find a place within our music programs. Most of our programs really only ask a few things of the students; and surprisingly enough, none of them are musical. We ask for the students to be willing to establish and maintain good character; we ask that the students be willing to develop a strong work ethic; we ask that students learn to sacrifice certain personal desires for the good of the entire organization; we ask that the students become a good support group for other students; and we ask that students strive to be good people.

Someone once asked Bob Knight, legendary basketball coach at Indiana University, what his ideal player would be. His answer was, “A seven footer that can dribble behind his back, between his legs, and knock down the jump shot from behind the three point line.” With this in mind, please don’t think that we aren’t continually looking for trumpet players that can play high G’s all day with great tone and technique. We’ll take those guys too....as long as they can do the other non-musical things that I previously mentioned.

One of my favorite parts of the school day is to walk around outside of my music classroom and look up and down the hallways. On virtually any morning or afternoon, you can witness an amazing amount of social interaction between seniors and freshmen, boys and girls, woodwind players and brass players (except the trombone section - no one really wants to go around with them), etc. etc. etc. Why? I believe that it is because of our “Come one, come all” philosophy. Everyone is welcome and everyone feels at home. It’s a safe and comfortable place for the kids because they know they are welcome and they know that it is theirs. It’s the biggest family at our school. Some days we’re a bit dysfunctional, but for the most part, this amazing mix of young people does okay. Everyone has a place because everyone is welcome.

So, next time someone asks you about our music programs, after you run out of superlatives and other exceptional and incomparable descriptors about us, remember to let them know about everyone having a place. “Come one, Come all." And also, remember to tell them that it’s a pretty good place to learn music, too!

SECONDLY, DR. DAVID C. RAYL, CONDUCTOR OF THE FIRST EVER ALL-COLLEGIATE CHORUS AT THE STATE CONFERENCE, PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING THOUGHTS ABOUT PEOPLE NEEDING MUSIC AND WHAT THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON TO TEACH MUSIC REALLY IS.

Dr. Rayl is Director of Choral Programs and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in Music at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

It’s early January and the snow is falling in Michigan. I’ve been thinking about the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama and wondering what role music will play in it. More importantly I’m wondering what role music will play in the life of the new White House. Now, more than ever, our society needs music—not as entertainment, not to distract us from the problems that surround us, but to help us be more fully human.

The following is something I wrote back in the fall of 2000 on the day following the state funeral for Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan (who had been killed in a plane crash while campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat), an event for which my choir at the University of Missouri had the privilege of providing some of the music. It was a solemn and awesome (in the true sense of that word) and moving occasion, one that was rich with eloquently spoken words and powerful symbols . . . and music.

As I later reflected on the day’s events, I was struck by the important role of music in the service. A string quartet from the St. Louis Symphony played the Barber Adagio for Strings and Londonderry Air. A children’s choir sang "Jesus Loves Me". My own choir performed Virgil Thomson’s arrangement of "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". And, of course, there was the sound of the muffled drums that accompanied the casket to the Capitol of "Taps", which concluded the ceremony; and of the bagpipes, which accompanied the casket back to the Governor’s Mansion.

It is unthinkable that music—live music performed by living, breathing human beings— would not be an integral part of such a significant event in the history of our state. People need music. Society needs music. Whether we are celebrating or mourning, we need music that astounding art form that gives expression to those emotions we cannot express in any other way.

In all of our talk about the importance of music in the curriculum of our schools, I sometimes think that we ignore, or at least understate, the most important reason to teach music: the inherent need of human beings to experience music both as a listener and as a performer.

The primary reason to include music in the curriculum is not that it will make our children better at mathematics or some other subject, not that it will make them high achievers on standardized tests, and not that it affords an opportunity to integrate music with other subjects such as history or geography. The primary reason that music—all the arts, for that matter—must be included in the curriculum of our schools is because we need them to sustain our civilization and ourselves. If we as a society lose the ability to express our deepest feelings through the art of music, then we will have lost something of extraordinary value, something incredibly precious. Music truly is a gift, one that must be nurtured and protected so that it can be passed down from one generation to the next. And that is why we, as choral musicians, play such an important role in society.

The following quote by Ernest Boyer makes my point with much more power and clarity than I could ever provide:

“There are human experiences that defy the power of words to describe them. To express our most intimate, most profoundly moving feelings and ideas we use a more sensitive, subtle language we call the arts.

Music, dance, and the visual arts are no longer just desirable, they are essential… [We] need to understand the unique ability of the arts to affirm and dignify our lives and remain the means by which the quality of a civilization can be measured.”

from Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate (1990)