Music lessons build brainpower
School districts cutting arts programs should first consider that playing an instrument activates neuro-pathways to facilitate learning.
To those who suggest, as many do, that my brain doesn't seem to function very effectively at times, I know exactly what's wrong with me.
And I blame my parents.
Never during my upbringing did I hear the words that so many millions of children dread:
"You're going to take piano lessons, and you're going to like them."
My parents never played any instruments, and the only music in my house was TV-show theme songs. Sure, there were music classes in my Northern California schools, but with no encouragement or curiosity, I missed the boat.
So what does any of that have to do with my limited brainpower?
A lot, judging by a growing body of research, and by some conversations I had recently at Santa Monica High. All of which I bring up in connection with layoff notices received by 10 music teachers in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
Measure A on the May ballot would add $198 per parcel each year to local property taxes to make up for state funding cuts, which have cost the district $10 million in each of the last two years. In the short run, the money would be used to save 70 teaching jobs district-wide, including the 10 music positions. It would also keep class sizes from shooting up. But it needs two-thirds support for passage, which will be no cinch in tough times.
All of which takes me back to April 14, when David Robertson, a Santa Monica High alum (1976), returned to campus, made a pitch for Measure A and was treated like a returning hero.
Robertson, one of the brightest conductors in the world of classical music, was in town to lead his St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a Disney Hall performance that night. But he stopped by SaMo High first to hang with members of the school's premier orchestra and hear them play Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Bernstein's Overture to "Candide."
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