No Sounds of the Season - Our Policy will not Allow it!
The holiday hub-bub at the West Orange/Maplewood
School District carries ominous signs for Music Education
The recent coverage of the holiday performance
policy of the West Orange/Maplewood School District have been widely reported,
lampooned, accurately maligned and wildly blown out of proportion.
One thing that is dangerously close to becoming urban legend which is a outright lie is the statement that Nick Santoro, the district supervisor is "The Grinch who stole Christmas." he is not. hat role is reserved for the Superintendent of the district. A person who should step forward and not hang his arts coordinator out to dry for SCHOOL BOARDS policy. This is not Mr. Santoro's policy. Mr. Santoro is one of the best arts coordinators I have ever encountered. It is just too bad the district has allowed Mr. Santoro to take all the heat on this issue. Mr. Santoro is such a class act he has followed orders and towed the foolish line of the School Board.
That is not to say there are not some very important issues here at stake. There are. Big issues all arts educators must be prepared to face with each passing holiday.
The big one for me is:
When does a musical note become a religious symbol?
Is it when words are attached that infer religious meaning? If the words are detached from the music does the music retain the meaning of the words? If music programs cannot perform instrumental versions of any music that may have religious lyrics... is it possible to divorce the music and lyrics to any song? Should we no longer use the Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem because the original words were tied to the consumption of alcohol? Can the Messiah no longer be seen as a great work of art?
Another example would be how the lyrics have been changed in some songs performed at the holiday time in public schools. "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" is now "We Wish You A Happy Holiday." Why is it we can change the words in a song and it is OK to perform but performing the same song WITHOUT ANY WORDS is somehow a problem. Using this logic, simply changing the words would no longer be an acceptable middle ground. This is because somewhere along the line it was determined that the music itself now embodies the meaning of the words, regardless of wether or not the words are performed.
What about other art? Can we divorce the artist from the artwork? Will the artwork now embody all the history of the artist that creates it? To what extreme do we take this whole discussion before someone sees just how absurd this all is.
I personally support the idea of celebrating all cultures and all heritages. But, if a school cannot perform an instrumental version of a holiday song because the lyrics, which are not going to be performed, refer to a fat man with a beard in a red coat who rides in a sleigh pulled by flying reign deer (including one with a 65 watt red bulb where his nose belongs) filled with toys made by imaginary elves because the sound of the notes that go along with the words makes a person project their own values and beliefs onto these notes ... can any music ever be performed again in a public school?
So, before this whole thing spirals out into an out of control mess that will bring the music police into our schools to sanitize the cannon of highly offensive instrumental music that has been celebrated for centuries (OK - maybe one), I beg the fine members of the board of education at the West Orange Maplewood School District to.....
LIGHTEN UP!
The Stories:
Star Ledger
New York Post
Associated Press
One thing that is dangerously close to becoming urban legend which is a outright lie is the statement that Nick Santoro, the district supervisor is "The Grinch who stole Christmas." he is not. hat role is reserved for the Superintendent of the district. A person who should step forward and not hang his arts coordinator out to dry for SCHOOL BOARDS policy. This is not Mr. Santoro's policy. Mr. Santoro is one of the best arts coordinators I have ever encountered. It is just too bad the district has allowed Mr. Santoro to take all the heat on this issue. Mr. Santoro is such a class act he has followed orders and towed the foolish line of the School Board.
That is not to say there are not some very important issues here at stake. There are. Big issues all arts educators must be prepared to face with each passing holiday.
The big one for me is:
When does a musical note become a religious symbol?
Is it when words are attached that infer religious meaning? If the words are detached from the music does the music retain the meaning of the words? If music programs cannot perform instrumental versions of any music that may have religious lyrics... is it possible to divorce the music and lyrics to any song? Should we no longer use the Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem because the original words were tied to the consumption of alcohol? Can the Messiah no longer be seen as a great work of art?
Another example would be how the lyrics have been changed in some songs performed at the holiday time in public schools. "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" is now "We Wish You A Happy Holiday." Why is it we can change the words in a song and it is OK to perform but performing the same song WITHOUT ANY WORDS is somehow a problem. Using this logic, simply changing the words would no longer be an acceptable middle ground. This is because somewhere along the line it was determined that the music itself now embodies the meaning of the words, regardless of wether or not the words are performed.
What about other art? Can we divorce the artist from the artwork? Will the artwork now embody all the history of the artist that creates it? To what extreme do we take this whole discussion before someone sees just how absurd this all is.
I personally support the idea of celebrating all cultures and all heritages. But, if a school cannot perform an instrumental version of a holiday song because the lyrics, which are not going to be performed, refer to a fat man with a beard in a red coat who rides in a sleigh pulled by flying reign deer (including one with a 65 watt red bulb where his nose belongs) filled with toys made by imaginary elves because the sound of the notes that go along with the words makes a person project their own values and beliefs onto these notes ... can any music ever be performed again in a public school?
So, before this whole thing spirals out into an out of control mess that will bring the music police into our schools to sanitize the cannon of highly offensive instrumental music that has been celebrated for centuries (OK - maybe one), I beg the fine members of the board of education at the West Orange Maplewood School District to.....
LIGHTEN UP!
The Stories:
Star Ledger
New York Post
Associated Press
Posted: Fri - December 10, 2004 at 06:41 PM Email Feedback
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Total entries in this category: 61
Published On: Apr 20, 2005 11:04 PM
Total entries in this category: 61
Published On: Apr 20, 2005 11:04 PM