While I was happy to see the wonderful photos of engaged children playing their instruments under the instructor of Orange District Music Director James Mercier and volunteer music teacher Katherine Erwin and the headline “Making Music a Priority” in the Recorder’s Oct. 13 front page article, I was disheartened to read about another community that has chosen to inadequately fund their school music program.
The story laid out the struggle of trying to stretch staff, funding and volunteers to have a meaningful program that includes students from fourth grade upwards to learn to play an instrument and stay in the program through high school. The efforts described in the article are almost exactly similar to what is now playing out at Pioneer. Thanks to the underfunded budget, a fiscally irresponsible and passive school committee, in Northfield, Bernardston, Leyden and Warwick, there is currently no four-grade band happening in any of the four elementary schools, instruction has been cut down to a half hour length and there will be no spring concert which last year had a standing room only audience in the high school auditorium.
As a former member of the thriving marching band at Mahar in the early 1980s and an active band parent of two students in the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, I am disheartened and dismayed by the current situation. With no incoming new band students this year and, potentially, next year, recovery will be hard won. The current high school band program has already seen a sharp drop in its members by about half due to many students leaving the school after eighth grade and a smaller overall student population. Without that influx of fourth graders this year and no evidence that the superintendent or the current school committee are committed to altering the budget to hire a part-time music teacher, the band will shrink and could perhaps die. At the most recent school committee meeting, when asked about the possibility of bringing back the fourth grade band this year, Superintendent Jon Scagel responded that he is looking into finding volunteers from the five colleges to supplement the program. As the Oct. 13th article makes clear, a successful program cannot rely on the goodwill of volunteers who may not always be available and may not be able to meet all the needs. Music educators, like anyone else, should be paid and their knowledge and expertise valued as professionals. Until the Orange community or the Pioneer community make music instruction at the elementary school level a priority and invest funds and resources, the long term health of any band program will suffer.
Orange Music Director Mercier also clearly points out the importance of reaching students when they are young. He says “If you don’t learn to play an instrument by the end of elementary school, it is extremely unlikely that you will pick up one in middle school and be successful. Elementary students are perfectly accepting, if they sound silly for a while, while middle school kids are not.”
What might be most frustrating in the case of Pioneer’s budget challenges is that the students in the elementary schools and at the high school are largely from middle class families, unlike Orange which has a larger low income population with potentially more demands on a school budget. Historically, Pioneer has been able to fund the band and music program fully, so what was the reason for these cuts now? In the school committee’s efforts to reconcile the deficit this past spring, as is unfortunately typical in these situations, the easiest place to cut was the music teachers’ positions at the elementary schools, shorten the length of “specials” and consolidate positions. While math, science, English, history and even physical education are state mandated subjects, music, like the visual arts, is not required and thus are easy to dispense with.
Not once, in all my regular attendances at PVRS school committee meetings, did I ever hear a member speak up with any passion or advocacy for these programs. They certainly never advocated for keeping these programs at town meetings or to their local finance committees. The arts, deemed as “extras” by some, need strong, articulate and committed advocates on the any elected school committee to be willing to speak to the importance of the arts to make sure that what happened in Orange or at Pioneer does not happen again. I believe, like the committed music teachers in Orange, that music education should be a priority when one talks about educating the whole child. Committed public and political will are necessary to make this happen and so one must be thoughtful in electing officials who will articulate this need.
When I attend the marching band in the annual Memorial Day Parade, drive to Orange to watch Pioneer’s band march in the Harvest Fest Parade, see the students who make it to Western District concert band from Pioneer this spring, or go to this year’s Northfield Elementary School’s winter concert which will only feature the upper band, I will wonder about the towns’ values and what is really important to people in my community. I will also get out and vote for change on the PVRS school committee on Election Day, Nov. 6. I encourage you to do the same.
Deborah Potee is a school social worker and PVRS Band parent.