Superintendent
Lake Forest School District

First, a disclaimer — I have a strong bias for this subject due to my personal experience. Music has always been a part of my life. I was only nine years old when I agreed to take accordion lessons (even though I didn’t know what an accordion looked like). Over the years I’ve fooled around with various guitars, banjos and a few odd instruments.

My family always sang in church. On long trips in the car we could sing four part harmony to lots of my parents’ favorite old songs. I sang tenor in touring choirs in high school and college and played major roles in various college and community musical productions. A few years ago I joined the local barbershop chorus, a fun hobby that has been suspended for awhile due to the time commitment.

So, I’m a big fan of school music programs.

In 2003, I learned the Lake Forest music program included general music for all, plus band and chorus through 6th grade. I was also surprised to learn that only instrumental music instruction was offered after 6th grade. No general music at the middle school. No opportunity to sing on a regular basis at the middle or high school. Some could remember when they had a choir at LFHS, but none could remember when or why that stopped.

When enrollment earns additional positions, we give our principals great discretion in determining just what kinds of teachers need to be hired. State accountability puts pressure on them to hire teachers who have the better chance of increasing student achievement in reading and math. It is hard to expand opportunities in music education in this kind of environment. But, we are expanding anyway, a little at a time.

The Lake Forest Board of Education has established a goal that aims for increasing student participation in the arts and in extra-curricular activities. In our most recent referendum, we approved fine arts additions to Lake Forest High School that include specialized instructional spaces for both band and chorus. We’d like to see our high school band grow and we’d like to see our high school students get the opportunity to take chorus as an elective. Maybe someday we could have a select show choir.

With the relocation of the sixth grade to the middle school we have made time for a 6th grade chorus to have class during the school day. We hope this is the seed that will lead to elective chorus classes for all students at all grade levels in the future.

Why support such expansions? How can you teach a canary not to sing?

I believe that all children have music inside of them. They are like canaries and they need to sing. Even those who can’t carry a tune in a bucket, need to sing, play a horn or bang on a drum. Through music, children can learn to express themselves. They can learn history. They can learn about other cultures. Than can learn to sing in different languages. They learn self confidence. They learn to be comfortable in front of others. They learn that a magical musical sound can come from a lot of different parts working together. Most of all, they can carry their voice and the songs they learn with them for the rest of their lives.

I don’t even have room here to go into the academic benefits of learning to read music — the vocabulary, the fluency, the rhythm, the understanding! Those who learn to read music, rarely struggle with reading.