Dear Musician - Does Your Music Need Schooling?

Believe it or not, this coming week will usher in the start of a new school year. When I was a student, our schools never began until after Labor Day.

Forty-five years ago...still fresh in my mind...it was the day I had to convince my father that I wanted to be a drummer instead of a trumpet player. Perhaps he knew how expensive being a drummer could become.  After all, a trumpet player can live with “just a trumpet.” (Hey, at least he was open to my being a musician!)

Once I was triumphant in my argument, I remember lugging a 40-pound snare drum onto the school bus on our country road every day—all the time telling myself that at least I wasn’t a tuba player.

It’s probable that many of you have similar stories, whether you started playing in the 4th grade through your public school music program or whether you joined a group of local peers and formed a garage band. Perhaps your parents even enrolled you in private lessons.

What I do remember very well about my  school music program  was the endless need for fundraisers for instruments, instrument repair, uniforms, and competition trips. Contrast that with the fact that I never remember the football team having fundraisers for the new uniforms they wore—EACH WEEK! If you have a child in the school band, you know what I’m referring to, and if you don’t … you will. Supporting the arts at your school is a huge way to show support for the arts in general and to teach children the importance of making music.

Funding was difficult during my generation, but it’s only grown ever-increasingly more difficult. The truth is, with every new administration in Washington, D.C., we’ve faced the possibility of the end of funding for music and arts in public schools. While that's never been passed into law, what it has done is attrite the support of music at the local funding level to historic lows.  Our own Phil O'Keefe visited this subject in his "Can We - Or Even Should We- Modernize Music Education" article.

Studies have shown that the students who participate in music have better academic scores in everything from math to social sciences. What’s also true is that students (whether in school bands or garage bands) have better team-building skills, as music places musicians in a position that forces them to interact closely with other people.

Harmony Central’s mission is to inspire people to make better music. An important way you can help us carry this torch is to support our youth with their desires to learn music. If you play, perhaps your story will inspire a child to pick up an instrument and start his or her musical journey. You may just be providing them a joy that will last a lifetime. And on that note, I’m off to take my daughter to her weekly ukulele lesson!

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Dendy Jarrett is the Publisher and Executive Director of Harmony Central. He has been heavily involved at the executive level in many aspects of the drum and percussion industry for over 25 years and has been a professional player since he was 16. His articles and product reviews have been featured in InTune Monthly, Gig Magazine, DRUM! and Modern Drummer Magazines.