Dear Steven and Vocalisters:
Thanks for your description of the performing music scene in Texas
schools. I taught at West Texas State University for 9 years and I
would agree with your description. It is also the description of the
music scene that I left in Minnesota in 1978 (that scene has changed
substantially since that time and not for the better).
Basically Texas does an excellent job of giving the musically gifted
or musically interested student an opportunity to perform and to do
so in performing organizations that are well supported and
enthusiastically received. However, there is little opportunity for
any student in Texas to learn about music or become experienced in
this art if they are unable to become a member of a performing group
or have no desire to do so. In short, the Texas school system is
primed to support performing music groups but not to support music
education for the non performer oriented student. The majority of
students in Texas schools receive little or no music education except
in selected pockets of substantial wealth. As performing groups go,
they are unsurpassed. As music education goes, they are near the
bottom of the list.
It USED TO BE that in Minnesota the emphasis on performance was
almost equally matched by an emphasis on music education for all of
the students. It was required by the Minnesota State Department of
Education that every student must have courses in general music
education through grade 8. It is my understanding that this is no
longer required.
Consequently, when I moved to Texas I was stunned by the quality of
performance and the amount of money given to performing organizations
in the public schools. It was only later that I learned that this
educational windfall was only available for the students selected for
the performing organizations. Texas, evidently, felt that music
audiences would find their own way.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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