High School Music

I don’t have a ton of time today, but I wanted to mention some thoughts that came to mind last night. Denisa and I took the kids out to a concert at our local high school. Four groups performed: the jazz band, a fiddle group, an a capella group, and a womens chorus. First of all, if any of my faithful readers out there were in any of the groups (I knew three or four people in them), allow me to say you did a fantastic job. I was really interested to see just how good the music program in my school district was, and I’m very happy to report that it’s strong. Second, sitting there in the audience really made me think back on my days in band. For those of you who don’t know, I played bassoon (oboe first, but then bassoon) in orchestra and symphonic band (and county band), as well as tenor sax and bari sax in marching band, Dixie band and pit orchestra (for The Pajama Game). Music was a big part of my school experience. The crazy thing about last night, was I was looking at the teens performing, and I could remember being up there performing myself–really clearly. It didn’t seem like that long ago, which you’d figure it would.

I loved band. I think it did wonders for me academically and socially. In high school, many of my friends were friends I found through music. Of course, in today’s awful budgetary situation, a lot of music programs find themselves in jeopardy, which is disappointing. How many football programs find themselves in the same state? (And honestly, which does more for you long term–band or football? Being a band-geek, I clearly have my opinions. Any . . . football nerds(?) want to make an argument for why stuffing band geeks in lockers is vital to your academic high school success?) I’m not saying music programs shouldn’t feel the blow of budget cuts, but I do think that blow needs to be felt throughout a school–not just in less popular areas.

Anyway–that’s all I have time for now. If there are questions or comments, I might write more when I have a sec.