Creative Music Starts in Schools

Geoff Boucher’s article decrying the lack of creativity in much of today’s music (“Selling Millions on a Sour Note,” Feb. 20) illustrates a perfect example of Marshall McLuhan’s observation that “the medium is the message.”

So what is the principal message behind the lackluster music that was nominated for the Grammy Awards this year?

The demise of creative and lasting musical talent did not happen overnight. It is the culmination of a 20-year absence of formal music and arts education in the schools, and we are now just beginning to reap the whirlwind effect of that calamity.

As our economy booms and school budgets slowly recover from the effects of serious cuts that began years ago, music education is making a comeback. But for the majority of schools, these programs are incomplete and poorly funded. Once-a-week lessons taught by music teachers who have no classrooms and are forced to drag their supplies from class to class on portable carts are, to paraphrase Emerson, “an apology for the real thing.”

If we want to develop, foster and ignite musical creativity in our culture, we need to develop the talents of our youth by providing them with a comprehensive, sequential music education. Skills such as vocal and instrumental composition, improvisation, theory, notation and performance are the foundation for musical masterpieces that will withstand the test of time.

Nearly every age throughout history has recognized music as essential to learning and the creative process. During the time of Aristotle and Plato, music was considered one of the four pillars of learning along with geometry, astronomy and mathematics. In the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance, when every educated person was expected to play an instrument and read musical notation, the arts flourished. From the classical era to the emergence of balladeers like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen, we seem to have a nostalgia for pure, authentic expressions of musical excellence.

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By eliminating music and arts education from our school budgets, we have sacrificed lasting creative musical talent for a cacophony of fleeting voices. It is not surprising that so much of today’s music is based on bubble gum lyrics, driving drumbeats and sophisticated studio effects. This is the legacy of our current culture, which invests more in exploiting our youth as a source of spending on mediocre music than as a source of nascent musical talent.

Perhaps, as Boucher’s article suggests, the music industry is experiencing a kind of schizophrenia--with glee over profits alternating with gloom over the product it is producing.

To their credit, groups such as the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the American Music Conference, the National Assn. for Music Education, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation and VH1’s Save the Music are providing support to music education, outreach programs, scholarships and research grants. Unfortunately, music is still seen as a frill in many schools where there is no popular support from the community.

As we reflect on this year’s Grammy Awards ceremonies, we should take note that March is “Music in Our Schools Month.” We can restore our musical heritage if we make a concerted effort to cultivate the creative talents of our youth. But first, we must stop trying to find scapegoats such as radio and the star-maker machinery to excuse our mercenary approach to music and the arts. A fully funded, nationwide commitment to music education will give our children an opportunity to discover their own talents. And it is the talent of our youth that will provide for the enrichment and expression of our culture in the future.

Sharlene Habermeyer is a Torrance-based consultant, speaker and author of “Good Music, Brighter Children.” She can be reached at [email protected].