Music Education at the Tipping Point John Kratus

Annotated by Nicholas Busch

This rapid, dramatic change signifies that a tipping point had been reached
for the viability of music education in Californias public schools. It became
permissible for one district after another to curtail or trim music programs,
and the cumulative effect was catastrophic.
Reading this frustrated me beyond belief. Earlier in the article it is illustrated
that 512,366 music students were lost and 1,053 music teachers lost their
jobs due to lack of interest. Music education enhances student life with the
ability for students to express themselves and be passionate, as well as use
other parts of their brain to think about music that they wouldnt use for their
other subjects. Music education is seen as necessary in many parts of the
world, so why isnt it the same in America or Canada? If the rest of the world
can see the blatant importance of music why cant the government see it?
A Harris Poll released in June 2005 found that 93 percent of Americans agree
that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded education for children.
Also, 54 percent rated the importance of arts education a 10 on a scale of 1
to 10.
This surprised me since the first citation showed a massive disapproval in the
arts program. The fact that so many Americans support this raises a good
question (that the article also delves into), why didnt the funding go back up
after the 2001-2002 recession?
Fully one-half of the schools surveyed employed at least one music teacher
who did not possess a provincial teaching certificate in music, sapping the
professionalism of the teaching profession.
This citation not only surprised me but also frustrated me. In Music Education
1800 class I see a bunch of young eager faces willing to learn and put in
years of work to get a well-paying job teaching children, and theres a 50/50
chance that someone unqualified could take their place. That is without a
doubt an unsettling thought.
In 2005, classical music accounted for only 2.3 percent of the total number
of CDs sold.
This statistic does not surprise me at all. Not many people recreationally
listen to classical music, and if they do, even in 2005 you could get it from a
music library. There is really no need to purchase a CD for music that youre

most likely going to study, so Im sure that anyone listening to classical

music would be renting it.
One unique example is the popular ukulele movement in New Zealand
schools It can be used to accompany songs, it can be played by an
individual student without the need for a teacher it can provide a lifetime
of enjoyment.
I love the idea of replacing the plastic recorders with ukuleles in public
school music courses. The ukulele is rising in pop music, and it is a good lead
up to the guitar (which is mentioned in the article) which is a very common
instrument. Including these in schools would definitely interest a wider
arrange of kids and also bridge the gap between school music and
popular music.
Another example of sticky [catchy, interesting] music education is the
Vermont MIDI Project. The project uses the Internet to connect student
composers in general music classes with professional composers and with
collegiate music education and composition majors.
This interests me a lot as a composer. I wish this was an opportunity for me
in my later high school years. This would be such a huge inspiration for any
prospective composer and would be a huge learning opportunity as well. This
idea is definitely sticky.
I would love to congratulate the author on the amount of work he mustve
put into gathering all of his sources. It was a long read, but it was definitely
an enlightening read, as well as a frightening read regarding the loss in
music teachers. I will no longer tolerate lazy or uneducated music teachers,
and likewise I will never take for granted the great ones.

Nicholas Busch