Even though Mr. Schwarzenegger’s state deficit began to swell to a size that dwarfs his collective box office returns, music education is in grave danger. Sadly layoffs are a comin’. And music teachers are fair game.
Arnie, if you happen to come across this article on a random Google vanity search, please read:
Take a look at your destiny, dear Terminator. Music teachers are like the Resistance, get rid of them and they’ll come back in larger numbers… and stronger. And they’ll scavenge your metallic arms and legs and use them against you; metaphysically, I mean. You don’t need twisted brass to make music. It comes from the heart. When the heart’s in the right place a musician can elevate a flat, analog tune to the beauty of the “Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29.”
Turns out the drum machine does have a little soul.
It all started with Robert Moog. Wendy Carlos dressed it, then finessed it. But Afrika Bambaataa took the beat to a whole new plateau and sent aftershocks to the far reaches of the UK and the rest of the world. Mr. Governor, Bambaataa proved on “Planet Rock,” that you can steal the reed from a child’s woodwind but as long as a drum pattern exists, music will survive and thrive. All the wonders those tykes from the South Bronx created with a turntable and mom’s Al Green record collection.
C’mon you can’t be so out of touch that you don’t know the origins of Hip Hop.
Okay no more history lesson, but let’s look to the future. Fewer kids playing classical instruments leads a movement that will gain an unlikely twinship to that of the Hip Hop kind. This is hardly a bad thing. Be aware, Mr. Governor, of the fate you call upon. A bigger, badder and more cutthroat form of music will meet the scale and endurance of Skynet Corporation.
And to my music teacher comrades. Be encouraged. To quote the great Grand Master Flash, “it’s like a jungle sometimes/it’s [us] wonder/how [we] from going under.”
Wendy Carlos – “Sinfonia to Cantata No.29″
