Pupils sing the blues over music education cutbacks
JEANNE PENGELLY / Examiner Education Writer
Local News - Tuesday, May 08, 2007 @ 00:00
The bands played on … outside Kenner Collegiate yesterday as about 100 young musicians gathered to celebrate one of their favourite pastimes.
They piped up to mark the third annual Music Monday - a day when school bands and choirs across the country make music simultaneously to raise awareness of music education in schools.
Many choirs and bands in the city and county played and sang in their respective schools yesterday as others from corners around the country did the same.
Music should be a pillar of education, said Coalition of Music Education in Canada executive director Ingrid Whyte.
“There’s such a huge focus these days on literacy and numeracy. Music and the arts are being sacrificed,” Whyte said. “Music programs are under siege across the country.”
The biggest problems happen in elementary schools where funding fails to supply trained music teachers.
Music is instead taught by classroom teachers regardless of their training.
“Would you want your Grade 4 student to be taught math by someone not qualified?” Whyte said.
What’s needed is more money and resources, she said, but even that is not enough.
Kenner Intermediate School teacher Deryck Robertson, who has taught music for eight years, said the program struggles to pay for new equipment or repair old instruments.
“But it’s so important. Music is a language that’s spoken everywhere,” Robertson said.
A new clarinet ranges from $300 to $500, he said, and a new baritone is more than $2,000.
“We go to the community so many times. You can only go back and ask for so much,” Robertson said.
One of his pupils, Tanner Swann, 13, said music adds something to her education. She started playing the trombone last year in Grade 7.
“It’s something I can put a little bit of me into,” she said. “Without music, we couldn’t really function. It is everywhere.”
Parent Sue Moser said she considers music education crucial. jpengelly@peterboroughexaminer.com
Music programs in tune, ‘untrained’ teachers help
Editorial - Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 00:00
Re “Pupils sing the blues over music education cutbacks” (May 
As one of the co-coordinators of this musical event at Kenner Intermediate School, I am proud of the way all the students performed at our Music Monday Concerts. After weeks of rehearsals, they were able to play with emotion and have fun. Performing and fun were our foci of the day, but unfortunately, the headline for the article and the story that followed put a negative spin on the event, focusing on funding issues.
Like the article said, Music Monday is meant “to raise the awareness of music education in schools;” however, the article failed to mention that there were three bands participating at our concert (Kenner Intermediate, Lakefield Intermediate and Lakefield Grade Nine bands, under the direction of Lisa Quackenbush) and one school choir from Kawartha Heights under the leadership of Heather Robertson. Before performing at Kenner, the three bands, along with the Lakefield High School band under the direction of Rob Roy, played an outdoor co
I would also like to clear up the funding issue that was raised by Ingrid White of the Coalition of Music Education in Canada. University teacher education faculties supply trained teachers, not boards of education. If trained music teachers are not coming out of universities, boards cannot hire them. And for the record, I am not a “trained music teacher,” just a classroom teacher who happens to be a musician. Should I not be teaching music? Maybe Ingrid White believes so.
Last year I was provided funding by our board to purchase some new instruments. Did it go far? No, but it’s a start. Yes, we’d all like more money to run our programs, but that should not have been the main story on this day. Congratulating and supporting the children on a job well done is
DERYCK N. ROBERTSON Spillsbury Drive
