Music missing in underfunded schools
Music: It surrounds us constantly, brings back strong memories of events in the past, makes us happy, calms us, energizes us, soothes us, makes us sad, we exercise and dance to it; it is part of our very being.
Music is played in elevators, shopping malls, doctors’ offices, schools, sporting events, and many other places. Music reminds us of all kinds of things we have done throughout our lives and brings back nostalgic memories for most people. Most of us can document our lives through music.
Hospitals and rehabilitation centers regularly use art and music therapy with their patients to help people increase self-esteem, reduce stress, inspire self-discovery, and brighten spirits. Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia has an art studio, music studio, and a horticulture center for its’ patients. These therapies help patients cope with life-changing injuries to the body and/or mind, and are often regarded as a crucial part of their recovery.
Einstein Medical Center, and Pottstown Hospital are among the first five recipients of a new music therapy program. This new program initiative is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and The Hospital and HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania. The music therapy program supports the resiliency and well-being of healthcare workers, and each hospital can design its own program to support frontline workers who are and have been responding to COVID-19 pandemic patients.
Music trains the brain to be disciplined, observant, and to memorize. It encourages teamwork in a setting such as a band or orchestra. Music involvement engages more areas of the brain than any other activity. Music has been scientifically proven to have a powerful effect on the brain. Recent research shows that music can help in many aspects such as pain reduction, stress relief, memory, and brain injuries. Children with musical backgrounds are more successful overall in academic subjects, especially language and mathematics. Brain scans have shown that musicians have healthier, bigger, better, and more well-connected brains and that their working memory, auditory skills, and mental flexibility are superior to nonmusicians.
It is taken for granted by most people that all type of music classes and instrumental lessons are available in public schools. That has been the norm for decades and continues to be so in most school districts. Those that are in underfunded districts, however, live an entirely different story. Pottstown School District has not offered string lessons or any orchestra to its’ students since the early 1970s because of cost cutting measures.
Compare this to the nearby Boyertown Area School District with a fabulous string program teaching string lessons to nearly 500 students per year plus offering various levels of orchestras throughout the district. Let us remind ourselves once again that Montgomery County is the second wealthiest county in the state of Pennsylvania.That this same opportunity is not offered to Pottstown students is unconscionable.
Pottstown offers general music classes to students in grades K-5, but none in grades 6-8, which again, is an anomaly among middle schools across the state of PA. Wodwind, brass and percussion lessons are offered to students beginning in Grade 4, but end in grade 8. None of these lessons are offered to students in grades 9-12 at Pottstown High School.
Grades 4-5 have a beginner band that meets after school on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, the 5-6 regular band meets after school. The 7-8 band meets before school at 7 a.m. Middle School chorus, grades 5-8 meets before and after school, not during the school day as is the norm for all of these music offerings in most schools.
To deprive Pottstown School District students, and any other underfunded school district of all the music offerings they should have is doing a huge disservice to these children. It is time for us to give all students the same opportunities to excel and experience the same chances to study and experience music as students attending well-funded school districts. It is immoral not to do so.