Saving band program the right decision
Monroe School Board voted last night to keep the 5th and 6th grade band program.
It was a wise decision, even given the impossibly difficult task of cutting millions from the school district’s budget.
It’s been so long since I was a fifth grader, I can remember few things about it. But getting my first musical instrument - a flute - was one of the highlights.
Tom Treece, who actually has musical talent, wrote eloquently this week about the benefits of a music program in schools. I can’t claim that my involvement in a band program led to a lifetime avocation - no one would pay to listen to me play the flute.
But I can testify to the link between participating in a band program and building character, good study habits and an appreciation for that peculiar link between personal discipline and creativity.
I may not have been good, but that didn’t stop me from practicing long hours, working hard to eventually crawl up the line to first-chair flute in my little high school’s band.
My brothers and I spent most of our free time every day with balls and bats, playing whatever sport was in season. But each of us found time, after the sun went down, for our flute, saxophone and trumpet.
It’s amazing my parents survived with their hearing intact.
Monroe School Board members are going through a heart-wrenching time, choosing which classes and programs to cut. All of their decisions will be unpopular with someone.
But, personally, I’m happy they were able to save the 5th and 6th grade band program. I’d hate to think of all those fifth graders who didn’t get to experience their first flute, saxophone or trumpet.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Way back in the summer of 2004 when Bob Phillips helped found the Tecumseh String Orchestras with a small batch of soon-to-be-4th-graders, us parents had no clue what was going to happen with that little group of 20-or-so students. At the time, they didn’t even have classes scheduled. Now, thanks to the right kind of passion there are a couple hundred 4th-through-7th graders in the program, performing in concert on occasion with lesser-known but popular groups such as Millish and the Chelsea House Orchestra. Band classes, and drama and art classes, along with other non-academics, are extremely important. I’m always upset when such things are dropped by the wayside. Maybe someday Tecumseh will add an auditorium to their brand new high school, but as that kind of thing always takes a back seat, it likely won’t happen anytime soon.