Adrian said the following in Tuesday's post
I think it's a matter of support, we need to support arts/music education in schools and promote music as a non-gender specific outlet for expression
So today's question is about support. Do you make an effort to support music education, to encourage young people or people who are just starting out? What are some of the ways you offer support within the music community and/or reach out beyond the music community to support and encourage musical outlets?
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In many ways music has fallen out of most schools. In my understanding, from talking to those involved in teaching music privately as well as those teaching in a program for a school, much of this comes down to buerocracy. Most school programs are funded through the schools, which means that it will be mandated by a school board that is made up of elected officials. In order to keep their elected positions, and those nice executive chairs they get to sit in at the school board meetings, they must conform to a set of rules that we as voters put together for them (well at least that's how is meant to be done, but almost never the case). So to make a long story short in order for the funding to keep coming in the teachers of the programs are forced to push classical music and trumpets to the students instead of saying "sure you can play guitar, here is how you shred, now go melt faces like it's your job". I know the second half of that is alittle far fetched, but I hope you get my point.
ReplyDeleteI for one support private music instruction through thing like band camps, workshops, and private instructors. For starters it is almost always more personalized for the learning style of the student and it also gives the student the chance to start fine tuning another essential skill: NETWORKING! When I first got involved with music it was in the fifth grade. I was told I couldn't play any of the cool instruments like guitar or drums. The school program said that I would have to pick one of these funny looking brass things and blow into it. They told my parents that it would teach me fundamentals and in the future I would be able to make the switch easily. Well the trumpet was fun but playing hot cross buns with a group of 60+ kids, most of whom I didn't even know, was not fun. Later in life when I picked up bass, it was not a seemless transition like my music teachers had once promised my parents.
As I learned to play bass on my own, I found that music was an awesome release for me. I could play most of my anger away and most the time I did not want to even put it down. However, I feel that my four years of playing trumpet was not at all productive and never as gratifying. This may not be the case for others, but for me I felt that having less boundaries made for a better learning enviroment.
As far as my personal reach out, I used to be much more involved. When I was in a band I would try to answer as many questions that anyone with interest would ask. I feel more so than talking just to fellow bassist, I would find myself talking to any and all the other musicians whether it be guitar, drums, vox, etc. about the importance of dedication. Even though I am no longer in the scene like I used to be, I still try to spark a good music convo with fellow musicians or music lovers.
Anyways, that's it. I saw your posting on craigslist and thought I would chime in. I'll check back from time to time and try to post a response.
I'm not too familiar with music education in schools these days since I've been out for around 10 years. I can comment on helping bands who are just starting out. There are a lot of bands out there who only play with their cliques and I'm totally against that. I have been in a melodic punk rock band since 2001 and am always open to new bands playing with us. Even if I'm not into their sound personally, I would never deny a band a spot on our bill. Everyone needs to start somewhere and I believe that indie musicians should help each other out since we all know the mainstream industry isn't going to. There is nothing worse than a band who forgets where they came from once they get a Metro show or a record deal.
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