Music Education

If Gov. Pete Wilson and California's legislators succeed in suspending Proposition 98, they are undermining the future of the most populous state in the nation by kicking the legs out from under California's already fragile educational system. Their blind disregard for education in general--and especially for education in music and the other arts--will mark the beginning of an era that will come to be regarded in the history of California education as the Dark Ages.

Geoff Boucher's article decrying the lack of creativity in much of today's music ("Selling Millions on a Sour Note," Feb. 20) illustrates a perfect example of Marshall McLuhan's observation that "the medium is the message." So what is the principal message behind the lackluster music that was nominated for the Grammy Awards this year? The demise of creative and lasting musical talent did not happen overnight.

On Tuesday, the Board of Education for the San Diego Unified School District will vote on about $37 million in proposed budget reductions necessary to attain a balanced budget for fiscal 1991-92. Many of these proposed cuts will come in the areas of administration, maintenance and support programs. But only one item on the agenda takes away an existing educational program involving direct teacher-to-student contact. Supt. Thomas Payzant has proposed the elimination of the instrumental music program that currently serves 80 out of 108 elementary schools.

Tamir Hendelman has the experts spinning. Joel Kabakov, a Harvard-educated composer who has coached him in keyboard harmony, says he's "a young Chick Corea." Phillip Keveren, a jazz teacher and studio musician who has played his compositions, calls him "an early Miles Davis." Both agree that Hendelman, 16, has the sort of musical talent that sets him apart from the run-of-the-mill prodigies that seem to proliferate with every passing piano competition.

Helping to bolster music programs in Los Angeles schools, a music education campaign donated $150,000 worth of instruments to seven elementary schools. Executives from the "VH1 Save the Music" program presented an average of 30 instruments, including cellos, flutes and trumpets, to each of the seven schools, said Bob Morrison, spokesman for VH1.

Re Interview, Judith Balfe, Opinion, Feb. 25: My ticket to the magic and creative world of music started in 1958 with a 10-cent school bus ride from Bell Gardens Elementary to the L.A. Philharmonic. With the downbeat of the conductor's baton, a whole new world became alive before my eyes and filled my ears with a love and appreciation of music that grows to this day. It's not too late to inspire and educate through music. A string or wind ensemble can travel to the elementary schools where children await with open minds and ears.

Shakespeare wrote about the "sweet power of music." Now scientists are finding that the bard was more correct than he could have possibly known. A team of UC Irvine researchers Friday released results of a pilot study they said strongly indicates that music education stimulates the brains of preschool children to enhance learning. "There are growing indications that music serves as nurturing stimulation to exercise the intellect," said Norman Weinberger, a psychobiologist at UCI.

How can the issue of arts education programs be made as compelling as, say, global human rights? Put Stevie Wonder in charge of it. Who else could turn the phrase "music education in the schools" into a funky call-and-response chant? That's what Wonder did--twice--in appearances during the taping of the fourth annual VH1 Honors concert Thursday at the Universal Amphitheatre, an annual benefit dedicated this year to music education.