A closet, a box and a lifetime of memories.A few weeks ago I decided to tackle the project of cleaning my closet. It's something I actually do rather frequently. Each time is exciting for the first few minutes, and then I become disinterested Free from bias, prejudice, or partiality. A disinterested witness is one who has no interest in the case at bar, or matter in issue, and is legally competent to give testimony. , which is why I have to clean my closet so often. I started shoveling through the clutter and unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. an old box--not labeled of course. I opened the lid half curious and half afraid of what I would find. As I pulled the lid aside and discarded dis·card v. dis·card·ed, dis·card·ing, dis·cards v.tr. 1. To throw away; reject. 2. a. To throw out (a playing card) from one's hand. b. it in the growing pile of stuff, I realized this was going to be a trip down memory lane. The box was filled with old photos, programs and videos of concerts, musicals and recitals I had been in. The first thing I found was a picture of me dressed in my Scottish kilt kilt Knee-length, skirtlike garment worn by men as part of the traditional national garb, or Highland dress, of Scotland. It is made of permanently pleated wool and wrapped around the wearer's waist so that the pleats are in the back and the flat ends overlap in front. for my role in the high school production of Brigadoon. I'm sure that performance brought a tear to many an eye--probably for more than one reason. I rifled ri·fle 1 n. 1. a. A firearm with a rifled bore, designed to be fired from the shoulder. b. An artillery piece or naval gun with such spiral grooves. 2. rifles Troops armed with rifles. through some of the other photos. There were pictures of my friends and me when we were in Hello Dolly, Oklahoma and show choir A show choir is a group of people who combine choral singing with dance movements, sometimes within the context of a specific idea or story. History Show choir began as an activity in the United States during the mid-1960s, though cultural historians have been unable to and solo and ensemble The word ensemble can refer to
band - instrumentalists not including string players play as they crossed the field. Then I thought of what the students at my high school are doing now. Budget cutbacks have forced students to pay to play football and be in the marching band. The musicals are a thing of the past, and the show choir can't afford to travel anywhere to perform or compete. The buildings are showing their age, and the instruments are embarrassing to take out of their cases. The mighty Baldwin in the auditorium auditorium Portion of a theater or hall where an audience sits, as distinct from the stage. The auditorium originated in the theaters of ancient Greece, as a semicircular seating area cut into a hillside. hasn't been tuned in ages, and the school morale is at an all-time low. Suddenly my trip down memory lane took a turn for the unpleasant. I then began to think of all the schools around the nation facing the same situation. Many have even less funding than my own school. How did music in the schools take such a back seat? I began to think of a whole host of reasons this was happening and began to blame administration and the economy. Then I stopped myself and thought, "What can MTNA MTNA Music Teachers National Association MTNA Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (McMinnville, Tennessee) do to be proactive for music advocacy?" As music professionals, it is our job to promote music in all facets of life, not just in studios. No musician is well rounded without work in an ensemble, and the social skills developed by participating in school music programs cannot be substituted in any other way. Music builds confidence and has been directly linked to developing reasoning skills and improved test scores. That is why MTNA has formed a partnership with SupportMusic.com. This initiative is designed to help parents and students build strong cases to gain support for their music programs. SupportMusic.com offers fundraising
As an association, it is our responsibility to carry out our mission to advance the value of music study and music making to society and to support the professionalism of music teachers. Part of this responsibility is supporting our public school music-teaching colleagues and providing a well-rounded education for the students whose lives we influence. Music in the studio, as well as the public school classroom, develops and trains the music teachers of the future. We are concerned about developing ourselves professionally, but how concerned are we about developing our profession? Can you imagine a life without music, a life without fond memories? Probably not--so let's use our influence as music teaching experts to be the voices that save music programs. To find out how you can help your community, log on to Supportmusic.com at www.supportmusic.com and find out what you can do to fill a box with memories to last a lifetime. 2004 MTNA National Conference Session On Monday, March 29, 2:15-3:15 P.M., Millie Eben, Gayla Foster and Judy Plagge will present "Music Advocacy is a Contact Sport." The session will discuss the importance of becoming an effective advocate for music within the community. Ideas, projects and resources for teachers and local associations will be provided during the session. The Arts Advocacy & Awareness Forum meeting will be held Monday, March 29, 9:15-10:15 A.M. MTNA's new director of marketing and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most , Brian Shepard, is an active advocate for music in the community. In this Arts Awareness and Advocacy Forum Focus, Brian shares some personal reflections on advocacy, especially in relation to MTNA's partnership with SupportMusic.com. |
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