School Budget Crisis...What You Can Do To Help





As the Oregon School District struggles with potential budget cuts and staff layoffs, Friends of the Orchestra encourages all parents of orchestra students to become even stronger advocates for our wonderful program and for our fine directors. Below are some of the points that are very important regarding strings education, as well as specific figures about our program. We hope these will be useful as you talk to school board members, write letters or emails, or express your thoughts to administrators.

500 string students will be affected by the potential cuts caused by the layoff notices given to three string teachers. Current projected enrollment figures for 2003-2004 are OHS=100; OMS=102; RCI=151; 4th grade estimate is 155. That means that these cuts could affect around 20% of the Oregon student population grades 4-12. Most school districts consider the string program to be very strong if 10% of the eligible student population is enrolled in orchestra.

Program Standards

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has placed certain program standards into the Music Curriculum Guide. Included with information concerning instrumental music, the following can be found:

  • Opportunity for string instrument instruction begins in grade 4, or sooner, and continues through grade 12.

  • The elementary string ensemble meets during the school year at least once weekly for 45 minutes.

  • Students enrolled in string instruction receive at least 30 minutes of small group instruction in addition to large group rehearsals.

  • The secondary school instrumental program grade 7-12 includes the opportunity to participate in small ensembles.

The Orchestra Curriculum

Music is a complex subject. String education consists of sequentially organized learning experiences that lead to clearly defined skills and knowledge. Nowhere else in the curriculum is the student so totally involved physically, cognitively and affectively at the same time. Nowhere else are the intrinsic rewards both so immediate and yet delayed. Students are expected to make instantaneous decisions, solve abstract problems, and consistently use high level thinking skills. It has been shown that the study of a musical instrument can improve study in other areas, but that musical work needs to include a few basic parameters that are listed here.

Students in orchestra learn:

  • To study performance skills on a stringed instrument (kinesthetic learning)

  • How music is organized and how it relates to other types of organization (cognitive learning)

  • About relationships in life through the study of music and interdisciplinary work (affective learning)

  • To understand the historic significance of music and it's importance to human life (affective learning)

  • About the creative process in music through composition and improvisation (cognitive learning)

  • To know themselves better through kinesthetic, cognitive and emotional involvement in the subject (affective learning)

  • To work collaboratively and to use individual practice skills in large and small groups

  • To work toward short and long term goals

  • To assess themselves and others

  • To write, to read, to research, to practice, to organize, to collaborate, to share, and to learn.

The Importance of Small Group Instruction

In order to accomplish these things, students must study in large ensembles for curriculum designed for collaboration and performance. They must study in small groups for building technique and getting help with specific issues attached to their individual performance. Outcomes are designed for both. The complexities of learning a stringed instrument make small group time absolutely necessary. It is not possible for students to adequately learn technique to take them to a musical avocation or vocation through large group class time alone. A system which denies students access to small group instruction is setting up an elitist atmosphere in which only those students whose parents can afford private teachers will be able to adequately continue study on the instrument. Private study outside of school may not reinforce or support our curriculum outcomes.

Students learn the following primarily in small group time:

  • Technical skills such as scales and exercises

  • Instrument hold, position work, shifting

  • Different bowing techniques (sautille, spiccato, barriolage, staccato, loure, bow hold)

  • Vibrato and Intonation

  • Technical skills unique to their particular stringed instrument such as thumb position for cello and bass, and double stops for violin and viola

  • solo study and passage work for school recitals/concerts and District Solo and Ensemble Festivals

  • skills for good practice

In order for our students to reach their full potential as musicians, they must have access to small group instruction through 12th grade. This instrument will become their means of communicating musically later in life. It will help them to acquire self-discipline, creativity, and confidence to succeed. These can only be achieved if the time to establish solid technique and give feedback is available during school in small group instruction. There is no other subject in which this is quite as necessary, based on our observations. Perhaps the closest parallel would be in a writing or language lab situation. Lab group time in the science area might also compare.

The Value of Arts Education and Reverse Economics

The fact that small group instruction in the Oregon Public Schools is seen as something that could be cut points to the fact that we clearly are still not valuing an arts education. Taking out whole facets of a curriculum is different than increasing class size. The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President Bush in January, 2002, clearly states in Title IX, part A. Section 9101 that "The term 'core academic subjects' means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts , history, and geography." However here in Oregon, the orchestra program is still not recognized by some to be part of the core curriculum.

We must also consider the concept of John Benham's "Reverse Economics." In most cases (and definitely in Oregon), music teachers have a higher student-teacher ratio than other teachers. For example, director Haley Picotte regularly teaches a large group of 70 4th grade beginner orchestra students! Who will teach the children that are no longer in music? These students will not disappear; they will need services with teachers in other areas, classrooms, and programs.

If we diminish the education of these string students and they discontinue their study, how will that affect the school system and our community? The cost savings to the district will be minimal. The cost to Oregon string students will be great.

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