The Great Void of Public Education

Never officially have I used my Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Chapel Hill was unique in that it provided a broad liberal arts education.  Experiences there both social and academic were far reaching.  My music ed. degree  highly was influenced by a change in the music faculty.  The previous wind ensemble director was not granted tenure, and while I was enrolled in the music department they conducted a national search for a replacement.  Who knew that this choice also would be responsible for the core music education courses?  Needless to say these courses were useless.  James Arrowood, while being a competent conductor, was no classroom teacher.  Our two hour long in depth teaching courses were nothing more than listening to him ramble about nothing.  There is no curriculum, no syllabus, no tests, nothing.  All that was required was we were supposed to turn in a notebook at the end of the semester filled with things we had learned.  Because there were no lectures, there was nothing taught and therefore nothing learned.  I was criticized because mine was empty.  Simply I told him, "You didn't say anything worth writing down."  It was true.  Because of this failed procedure, I did not feel prepared to take a job as a band director.  Almost thirty years later I discovered why.  While I had learned a lot at UNC-Chapel Hill, I was not taught the craft of band directing.  I learned to play major scales three octaves on the clarinet and flute.  I did this well, although today I cannot remember the fingerings.  I learned to play rudiments on the snare drum.  I did this well.  I learned how to be a good musician.  I understood musicality.  I had a broad understanding of music as an aesthetic.  What I didn't know were the specifics of how to organized, teach, and graduate a band.  After my father was accepted at the North Carolina State Veteran's Nursing Home, I was stricken with the task of organizing and sorting his things.  These were a lifelong collection of tools, clothing, musical instruments, and memorabilia.  It took well over a year to crack this nut.  While gathering and keeping important sentimental items, I discovered his course schedule at Appalachian State University for earning a Master's degree in music education.  Also I discovered the text books.  Upon looking at the list of courses it made perfect sense to me why I felt unprepared to teach band.  At UNC as an undergraduate I had not had the classes I needed to feel prepared.  What I received was a BROAD base of musical knowledge including four specific periods of music theory and history.  I learned to write tonal counterpoint.  I learned to part write in four voices.  What I didn't learn was "Band Pageantry," "Instrument Repair," or "Teaching Beginning Brass and Woodwinds."  I guess four years is not really long enough to get it all.  Inasmuch I managed to avoid teaching in the public schools my entire life.  I am not a skilled conductor.  I can read, interpret, and feel music at a high level.  Consequently I can convey this to other musicians, but with only one semester of conducting under David Serrins, I grossly was underprepared to sling the baton in front of a band.  Jazz is different.  If you can snap on two and four, you can count off a big band arrangement.  This I did for two years as a Graduate Teaching Associate at the University of South Carolina.  The only remorse I have about this whole process is teachers today highly are undervalued and underpaid.  I am sorry to have to say it is beneath me to teach in the North Carolina public schools.  I want nothing to do with it.  Why you may ask?  Because public education has failed our youthful generation with a vengeance.  It is so simple to see.  Open your eyes and look at them.  They are exactly what we have given them.  Droopy pants, bling, smart phones, selfies.  What we haven't given them are the  "Three R's."  Remarkably most will not remember Bush senior and his presidential agenda.  "Reading, Writing, and Rhythmatic." We gave up on the public schools and therefore the youth of America.  Instead we have picked their pockets like greedy misers.  We have victimized them.  We have eaten them for our dinner.  Now as the Baby Boomer generation dies out, there is no one left to take their place.  There is no one with the kind of integrity, experience, and soul present in generations proceeding them.  It is a lost art.  Talent is a thing of the past.  Artistry is a thing of the past.  When I drive around Fayettenam often I am afraid.  It is exactly the same as it was thirty years ago.  The inhabitants of this city are scary.  They are intimidating.  They are big.  They look mean.  No where do I see the kind of people I have seen working in the cruise industry for twelve years.  It is a shock.  Why do I feel compelled to own guns? Why do I feel compelled to have a gun in the car?