Re: Re: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC)


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Posted by Chris B on March 03, 2003 at 15:08:05:

In Reply to: Re: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC) posted by Rick Denney on March 03, 2003 at 14:04:05:

Points well taken. Interesting as soccer has never been a mainstream sport and yet exists on the club level where parents transport and pay for their children to participate. Now it is getting into the schools due to demand. In some areas music is an after or outside of school experience for all students. A friend of mine started such a program after the program was cut from the school district with great success and it eventually was put back into the curriculum. Point being that there is validity to a program's success or popularity driving a perceived need for the program. The model that soccer offers to music should not be ignored. I didn't even know what soccer was when growing up, now it is ubiquitous. Music, on the other hand, has "always" been there, but frequently is a target, as are most of the arts, for the Three Rs group and/or the budget axe. It is incumbent on us all to demonstrate rather than lecture on the values, joys, validity, etc. of having music and the other arts a part of the course of study in schools. Rick is correct in saying that a change in the attitude towards music as something you study at home as well as school is part of the solution. Hit the "off" button on the TV and start being creative and children will respond. Make it "fun" as well and the program will sell itself. Learning will follow. Look back at some of the things the Manhattanville Project was trying to achieve and you will find some interesting ideas that seek a middle ground between academic and pleasurable pursuits of music.
Lastly, perceived value is an issue. Anything that is a part of the school curriculum is kind of "there", free for the taking or leaving and may not seem to have as much value as a program outside the schools where money is paid for results, etc. Strange how we tend to think the latter somehow has more validity.



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