I want to take a minute to talk about music. I want to talk about why we do it, what it gives us and why it is worth fighting for.  I want to talk about music and what you can do to keep it strong in the Edmonds School District.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the district’s budget challenges.  Our district has to cut $10.1 million out of an already bare bones budget.  You can find all the details about the cuts on the district website.  The superintendent is holding 4 community forums so that you can get more information and make your opinions known.  The first forum is tomorrow night.

So how are things for music?  Secondary principals in the district have already decided to cut the equivalent of 3 music teachers.  That is 15 music classes district-wide that our kids will not be able to take next year.  At MTHS, thanks to Greg Schwab, we have been able to hold on to all of our music staffing for next.  However, Brier Terrace was not so lucky.

The district is also looking at eliminating all of 5th grade instrumental music.  This would be an additional cut of about 5.5 music teachers.  Kids wouldn’t be allowed to start band or orchestra until 6th grade.  There are many problems with this proposal and I would like to encourage you to talk the school board, the superintendent, Scott Barnes, or your music teacher about it to try to fully understand what the impacts would be.

This is a total of 8.5 music teachers in the district.  These cuts will significantly reduce the opportunities that our students have to study music.  It represents roughly 40 music classes that our students will no longer be able to take.

It also means that music teachers in the district will be all shuffled around as those with less seniority are let go and those with more seniority move into those positions.  This means that someone who is “endorsed” to teach a subject, but maybe not “qualified” could be put into a position that they neither want nor can do well.  For example, imagine a fifth grade orchestra teacher being assigned to teach high school band.  We are talking about a major music program impact beyond losing 5th grade instrumental music and 15 secondary music classes.

But who really cares?  Music isn’t that important anyway.  It is kind of an “add on”.  A non-essential, really.  Certainly, most parents don’t want their kids to become professional musicians or even major in music in college.  How would you make a living?  Put food on the table?  You see, parents discourage kids from becoming musicians because they know how hard it can be; because in our society the arts are undervalued or they are exploited to make money.  But imagine how great it would be in our society if more people followed their passions and made music professionally or played as a hobby to just enrich their lives?  I think more people would be happier more of the time! 

Of course, most of the time we forget that music matters in and of itself and instead we sing praises about all of the side benefits of music such as improved test scores, the development of a work ethic and discipline, improved academic success, and the lowering of drop out rates.  All of that is true, but what is more true is that at some point we need to recognize that music is important for what it does to us not only for what it does for us.  Does any other subject have to justify its existence through the service of another subject?  We don’t say “You need to take science because it will help you in math.”  We say you need to take science so you understand your world.  You need to take math so you understand numbers. I would say “you need to take music so you understand your heritage, your culture, your history, your people and most importantly…so you understand you!”

Wynton Marsalis said this about our American arts heritage: “The … American arts… told you to be yourself and love what made you, you. It told you to listen deeply to others and find the beauty of originality in them. ….It told you how to balance your individuality with the desires of the group. It told you we have a history, a depth, a tradition that requires skill and study but demands you apply those skills to search the frontiers of your soul. It told you that innovation and creativity hold hands with the tried and true.”

Think a minute about what we say about music?  The music touched me. The music moved me.  What does it touch?  What does it move?  I recently read that ancient Greeks said music was the opposite of Astronomy.  Astronomy, they said, is the study of external, observable objects.  Music they said was the study of internal, invisible objects.  Wouldn’t it be fair to say that music touches those parts of us that nothing else can reach?  It explains to us things that no words can describe.  It teaches us…about who we are.  Music connects us to each other and to our collective past, and says the future is going to be all right. Wynton Marsalis said “we all want to embrace each other, we just don’t know how.”  Music and the arts provide us with that how. Making music brings people together, it is all-inclusive, all accepting.

Currently, 77% of all 5th graders play in band and orchestra.  The district is considering elimination a program that serves over three-quarters of the students; a program that enriches their lives in so many ways. 

We have a handout that will help you to know how to go about having your voice heard.  The board and district employees want to hear what is important to our community.  It is up to us all to make sure they do. 

The combined high school bands are going to play a piece about the Greek god, Apollo.  The piece is called “Apollo: Myth and Legend.”  Hopefully it will help us to understand what the ancient Greeks were talking about when they came up with this idea about music having the power to move around and rearrange our internal, invisible objects.