St. Paul Board of Education Meeting, April 14th

The mood was somber in the room as the topic turned to the cuts in the Music Education budget. It was announced that the budget would be cut in half and then the floor was open to the comments from the community. A father and his 7 year old son came to the podium to speak, but the father had a hard time continuing, apologizing for his tears as he told of his sons love for the cello; A member of the MN Orchestra opened by playing his violin to Vivaldi. He then proceeded to share all of the benefits for the intellect that music provides and how it is part of educating the whole child, pulling our heartstrings as well as the violin strings to end his statement.

A mother sited an article written by the New York Times about a study conducted by Harvard University ---what was the one thing in common of their entire freshman class? 6+ years of studying music!! After several more tearful testimonies about the impact music makes in children's lives, the board took a 5 minute break and I was able to get many signatures from music supporters.

Today's meeting made me confirm to myself that I want my own 4 year old to start music classes this summer and recall how important music was to me as a kid--art and music were the two things I actually felt like I was good at...how can you take that confidence away from a child's development?