Sunday, April 25, 2010

Steve Lopez: Cutting music and arts instruction to save money is shortsighted - latimes.com

Steve Lopez: Cutting music and arts instruction to save money is shortsighted - latimes.com

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."