Baseball-A Music Related Commentary


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Posted by Kevin Miller on August 30, 2002 at 18:55:01:

Regarding the almost baseball strike:
Owners are not to blame. Players are not to blame. WE are to blame. For decades the degradation of art and culture and arts education in our society has bred and cultivated a population of hero worshipping morons that bow down to the alter of professional sports while professional athletes and team owners laugh all the way to the bank. Why do professional athletes(some of dubious talent) and team owners rake in millions while regional symphony orchestras opera, ballet, theatre, and dance companies throughout the country are going under? Simple. The enjoyment of sports is a visual and visceral activity requiring little education and even less brain activity.

visceral-2.characterized by or proceeding from instinctive rather than from intellectual motivation.

Any simpleton can watch baseball or football players and fantasize about being those athletes. Fans live vicariously through the accomplishments of the players on the field.
They get the big money,big houses,fast cars, and hot chicks. To most men this is the "end all and be all" of existence. Insert this culturally ignorant lemming and add to this a free market economy and endless local tax breaks of millions of dollars for unscrupulous team owners and you have the state of professional sports today.

Enjoyment and appreciation of the symphony, opera, and ballet requires intellect and introspection, which sadly is beyond the capacities of a great majority of Americans.

Education has taken the easy way out when it comes to arts education. When was the last time any news organization reported the cancellation of any high school football or baseball program due to budget cuts? Music is an easy cut for administrators to make. They do this because like most people today, they too lack the capacity to understand and appreciate how the arts and arts education enrich society and also produce a more well rounded citizen. I weep for the future of western culture and society


Kevin Miller
Instructor of Low Brass
Richardson I.S.D.
Richardson, TX.

A lost tourist asks a New York street musician:
"Do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice man, practice."


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