The soundtrack of education
By Luke Shaw
Miami University journalism student
Many schools throughout the United States cannot afford or do not have facilities for extracurriculars during the school day, and students suffer as a result.
While many schools would never dare to cut their sports programs or facilities, music programs are not as lucky. Though only 8% of the country’s school kids do not have access to music education in school, that accounts for over 3.5 million kids.
Typically, the lack of music education and programs is found in urban city and town school environments, according to the Arts Education Data Project. Schools such as Lockland Local Schools, which once had a music program, no longer do because of the challenges faced in a poverty-stricken district.
In Hamilton County, Lockland Schools have the highest mobility rate, the highest poverty and childhood poverty rates in the county. The district serves about 550 students and has been noted as needing “significant support” in order to meet Ohio education standards.
The district has focused its efforts on core subjects such as math and reading in order to meet the educational needs of its students, with music a casualty of that focus.
The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education says music programs are undervalued in their enrichment of learning as a whole.
“Research demonstrates that exposure to the arts will improve a child’s creativity, self-esteem, and overall capacity for learning,” the alliance says
Lockland Schools Superintendent Bob Longworth supports music education but says sustaining music programs was a challenge for the district.
“Lockland’s music history is extremely strong from the past… but just before me coming, there was less and less interest each year in traditional marching band-type activities and music,” Longworth says.
Despite the lack of interest in traditional music programs, Lockland purchased instruments for their program. However, after the purchase of equipment and instruments, and with Lockland’s building being renovated, there was no storage for the equipment.
“But by March of 2020, the pandemic came,” Longworth says. “We made some fairly significant financial investments in equipment, in a new curriculum, in new instruments for the teacher to use K-12 for instruction, and it all kind of fell to the wayside.”
Former Lockland band director and music teacher Chad Welage taught for the music program for 17 years before stepping down.
“The demographics of the community changed, it just became harder and harder to get kids interested because nobody was joining or seeing the value in it,” Welage says. “I just didn’t see it continuing because there wasn’t support for it, but I don’t think people lost interest in music.”
The National Association for Music Education points out that while students might not be interested in traditional classes and activities such as marching or concert band, that doesn’t mean they have no interest in music at all.
With this in mind, Lockland made the decision to grow a non-traditional music program starting from middle school.
“We’re gonna go in and grow it in middle school then we’re gonna focus primarily on steel drum and percussion because that is high-interest…but after the pandemic…our music program has shrunk down to almost nothing, If I’m being very candid,” says Longworth.
And experts think that shrinking of music programs is a loss for students.
Save the Music is a national nonprofit that has advocates for music education and works to provide school districts support for their music programs.
The organization has also supported case studies in schools around the country. What’s emerged from this work is evidence that music education results in improved critical thinking skills, improved behavior during class and improved student self-confidence.
“Music … is something that people enjoy being engaged in,” Suzanne Hall, an associate professor of music at Temple University and member of Save the Music’s board of directors, says.
But beyond simple enjoyment, Hall points out that being engaged with music can lead to overall academic improvement.
“I find that the skill-building being done in music is very close to, and reinforces what is done in other classes. But, they’re utilizing those skillsets in a different way,” Hall says.
While not having acess to music education is the loss of a creative outlet, it can also produce another kind of loss.
For many music students, their band teacher or director can become an important adult in their lives. It’s a teacher they may see over the course of their education, as they transition to different grades and different teachers in each grade.
A music teacher is also someone students often see for longer blocks of time during the day, multiple times a day and even potentially after school. This can create a long lasting bond between teacher and student and can make the music or band room a refuge for music students.
“For me, the band room was like the safe haven. Whenever somebody needed something, they would go to the band room because it really felt like a safe environment,” Hall says.
For some students, a band or music teacher may be the main role model in their lives — they may see them with more regularity than their parents.
Evan Tanner, a Miami University music education major, was raised by music teachers. Music education is the family business. His experiences in and out of the classroom have shaped the educator he plans to be, and the respect he has for band teachers.
He’s also seen firsthand the impact music teachers can have on their students’ lives.
“It’s not a coincidence that band directors all of a sudden have a student open up to them about their personal life. Like who else are they gonna talk to?” Tanner says.
“Maybe the counselor if they’re even seeing them? Maybe you are the counselor — you’re the adult they see the most in a day and because of that — you’re the adult they trust the most in their life. And you’re just trying to get through a rehearsal.”
Sometimes the relationship students grow with their music teachers during K-12 can lead to them pursuing music after high school graduation.
Students at Miami University have a wide range of musical ensembles they can play with during their studies — including the Miami University Wind Ensemble.
The ensemble, which claims to showcase the 50 best percussion and wind instrument musicians at the university, has been led by Gary Speck.
Speck is retiring after teaching at Miami for 36 years.
“It’s interesting to me as a teacher…like what do people remember? I remember a lot of the musical stuff, but I was into it. Most of everyone else talks about him. The person he was and the leader he was,” Speck says of one of his music teachers.
Speck has spent more than 30 years translating his experiences into music classrooms, hoping to instill his students a passion for music.
That passion seemed on evidence at Speck’s final performance with the Miami University Wind Ensemble on May 10.
Speck was greeted as he entered the stage by a standing ovation from an audience full of alumni, students, colleagues and Miami community members. When the show ended, Speck came back out onto the stage as the audience gave he and the ensemble a several minute standing ovation, with many members yelling out Speck’s name.
Several of the students playing with the ensemble were music education majors, while a number of music teachers were in the audience.
The celebration of Speck’s career was a reminder of the power of music education at a time when there’s a shortage of music educators in the United States.
