The Music in Our Schools Month Thing

Amid all the dwindling music programs due to recession and budget cuts, standardized testing poses another problem. There are others who would have fulfilled their dreams of performing music with others, but are held back by remedial classes on reading and/or math due to failure. Here in my resident Florida, there’s the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), and a student would neither likely be in band, chorus, nor orchestra if his or her scores don’t satiate the required passing scores. Also, most of the instructional time is centered on the test, which I’m really concerned because I fear that most of the fundamentals of band are isolated.

Due to those hard times and even my fears of too much time devoted to or entirely centered on the FCAT, I wanted to be rich – not only to pay my debts and get my bare necessities (and a Sibelius and an alto clarinet, if I have the excess money), but if I have a million dollars or more from winning the lottery or a PCH contest, I would donate a lot to the music programs in many Hillsborough County schools and live in a modest home. If my job is very lucrative, I would want to do so likewise, not live in luxury. For a low-cost alternative, I will take what I learned from the efforts made by the aforementioned Mr. Goodall and encourage teachers to integrate singing in their non-music curriculum. They can make up their songs to suit lesson plans and there’s no sheet music for many to read. I hope my proposition to teachers would benefit those who are taking remedial classes to improve their FCAT scores because they get those benefits of music (such as increased SAT or other test scores, better critical thinking, and improved reading and math skills, to name a few) without even knowing it.

Music shaped my life and well-being, and without having the pleasures of singing and playing an instrument back in my school days, I would had not become a critical thinker and writer.

My Alma Mater’s Marching Band