As a new school year begins, many of us are delighted to see the return of music programs into the Fresno Unified School District. The decision to restore these programs was truly music to my ears. As an educator for more than 44 years, I have been a passionate advocate for music and the arts, in large part due to my own experience as a young person.
Self-expression
As the child of Greek immigrant parents, music was a staple in our home. It was a vital part of our culture and the soul of our heritage. As I entered school, it broke the barrier to language and emotions, and served as an expression of self that could be shared with others. Throughout my own education, the arts offered a creative outlet, a source of inspiration, an expression of personal and spiritual self and, above all, it was fun.
In this coming school year, the outlook for music offers even more promise as Fresno County has been selected to be the pilot site for an innovative program called Keeping Score. Keeping Score is a project initiated by the San Francisco Symphony, aimed at offering young audiences a connection to classical music and the powerful emotions it conveys. Part of a national multimedia program that began in 2003, this project (the brainchild of Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony) is poised to make an impact.
Fresno was selected as the pilot site for the Keeping Score education component as a result of its longstanding commitment to the arts, the size and diversity of its community, the vitality of the arts and cultural organizations, and the potential to make a significant difference over time in the quality of public education and the lives of children.
Keeping Score is designed to train teachers to integrate music into the core curriculum by providing them with the vocabulary, the history and the emotion of the classical genre. To that end, 20 teachers from throughout the county were selected to participate in this unique and innovative project spending one week of their summer break developing curriculum, learning about classical music and working together to establish best practices for the 2005-06 school year.
Instrumental player
Thanks to the commitment of Congressman Jim Costa, Fresno County will be the first to experience the magic of this program, and the initial response from teacher participants has been outstanding.
One teacher described her experience as one that "reignited her passion in music" and confessed that with all the pressures of time and other demands, music had taken a back seat to other subjects and content areas. She, like many others who candidly share their frustrations about having to teach so much in so little time, now feels a renewed optimism and enthusiasm.
Furthermore, the program does not add music as "one more subject matter," but rather, it offers strategies for infusing classical music into core subjects like math, history, science and literature.
Tomorrow's workforce, especially its leaders, will need broad abilities beyond technical skills. There will be a demand for people who are creative, analytical, disciplined and self-confident — people who can solve problems, communicate ideas and be sensitive to the world around them. Art helps cultivate and grow these abilities.
I firmly believe that the visual and performing arts are the soul of our education system. They bring beauty, creativity and culture into our classrooms. As a community, we are fortunate to have a rich variety of museums, theaters and cultural institutions. Each welcomes and encourages families and young people to visit. With the addition of Keeping Score, we can bring this experience into the classroom.
Community involvement
In the coming months, the Keeping Score project will launch a community-engagement phase that will invite our entire community to join its chorus. You will learn interesting facts about classical music, be encouraged to tune into special broadcasts and performances and literally help "raise the bar" of classical music appreciation in Fresno County.
We are proud and honored to be the first community in the nation to be invited to participate in this innovative and visionary endeavor. If you would like to learn more or contribute to this program, visit the Keeping Score Web site at www.keepingscore.org.
Peter G. Mehas is Fresno County's superintendent of schools.