124 members of 6th Grade Band

Tonight I went to my sixth grade daughter’s middle school band concert. She is a percussionist just like her two old brothers before her and who now are in the high school band. Music plays a major role in my grandchildren’s life and has taken us, grandparents, on band trips to the 4th of July parade in Philadelphia to the Outback Bowl Football game on New Year’s, to a parade in the Michigan Upper Peninsula and in 2017, to Durmline competitions and perhaps to the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena Jan. 1, 2017.

I thought of the extensive music programs in Venezuela that I saw pervade all aspects of the culture, even in the barrios. Music was an integral part of education even before Chavez and the Socialist gained power 17 years ago. They only enhanced it and the hope now is the new government will continue to sustain the integration of music in everyday life.

In Memphis I saw how local music programs in high school was crucial to the development of famous music studios like Stax and Sun studios. Stax Studio is now a museum but the site host the Soulsville Charter School and the Stax Music Academy nurturing the next generation of music lovers.

In Milwaukee Public Schools music education along with art and physical education were the first victims of budget cuts. We all agree that quality education is important in preventing high unemployment and imprisonment in young adult African Americans yet we deny them a full education that music brings. My granddaughter has three full time music teachers in her middle school and there is more in the high school program while Milwaukee Public Schools are fortunate to have one full time music teacher for several schools.

If we believe music is part of a well rounded education some cities, like the small town my grandchildren live nearby are excelling. However the school systems in poverty stricken and racially segregated cities like Milwaukee are failing. Milwaukee needs to ask where is the music?

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