[Dixielandjazz] RE. donate musical instruments

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Go Bill   ---- Most of what you say is right on.  I don't know about
Sacramento but there have been many music stores that have done really well
renting instruments.  Mel Bay before his death used to rent them for almost
nothing and he certainly didn't go broke.  Parents will buy instruments when
they see their kids doing OK in a program.  Sacramento must be unique
because I don't know of any public system in this state that buys the
smaller instruments such as saxes/ trombones/ clarinets etc.  The private
school that I work for supports the music program very well.  We have 85
kids in two bands with only about 550 students.  The school rents
instruments to the kids that need them and provides many of the instruments
for the HS program.  They are more or less on a break even basis with their
rentals.  The school received a sizeable donation two years ago and we
bought many semi-pro step-up horns for the woodwind players that normally
buy their own.

You are right on about instruments wearing out.  My Tenors are both older
than I am (that's really old) and my alto was bought for me when I was in
7th grade. I have only purchased 3 new instruments in my life and they were
very expensive.

I only take issue with you about the teachers unions. You are blaming the
wrong people.  Why doesn't anyone ever blame the guys that run these
systems?

Most teachers are taught in school, as I was, that unions are unprofessional
and that teachers should be dedicated etc.  Most new teachers come out of
schools wanting to do good and have a very professional attitude UNTIL---- 
they are assigned to bus duty, riding busses to prevent fights, unpaid
overtime, chaperoning events, after school clubs and activities, selling
refreshments at the games, taking tickets and a lot of other things almost
always UNPAID.  Then put up with an often hostile public and a tax base that
won't pay them a salary that is commensurate with the time they put in and
other professionals with equal education they tend to get a little militant
especially by that time they have families, bills and other obligations.  I
have always found that teachers would do almost anything to avoid unionism
but almost always they are put upon by administrators who have a job to do
with not enough money to do it.  The reason for this is that property is
almost always taxed.  Property owners tend to be more conservative and older
often without children.  This leads to not enough funding.

The overall result is a disgruntled teaching staff and programs like music
are routinely cut.

Then there is another factor.  Teachers are assaulted on a regular basis.
School districts are just now having students charged for these but the
number you hear of is only the tip of the iceberg.  A trumpet player I work
with is band director of a middle school band and is the shining light in
the city school system.  He was assaulted by a student when he was practice
teaching.  The student was suspended and he was transferred to another
school but lost a semester which would have translated into about $15K for
the lost 6 months before he could start teaching.  He has been teaching for
three years and wants out already.

No one wants to pay for anything these days.  I completely understand what
people are saying when they don't like what the public schools are doing
with their money.  I'm not too thrilled either.  If you think the public
schools are crappy I think that we get what we pay for.  But having said
that there are areas that any institution can improve on.  I personally
would start with the mega bucks they pay their administrators and
Superintendents.  I personally have never met one or heard of one that
earned his money.  Do you have any idea how many instruments you could buy
or music teachers you could hire on the salary of any big school system
superintendent in this country?  Roughly it's 5-8 teachers.  there is no
need for multi layered responsibilities which are Superintendent, 1 or 2
assistant superintendents, District supervisors, Principals with sometimes
several assistant principals.  (At the private school that I teach at there
are three assistant principals -- less than 600 kids) Supervising teachers
or department heads, then the teachers are at the bottom unless there are
teaching assistants.  Everyone of these people above the teachers make some
serious money.

One of the big problems is kids who shouldn't be in regular schools but in a
work or technical program.  Over half of the kids fit into this category but
budget cuts at least around here have almost eliminated those programs.  So
what you get is a bunch of kids that are bored and can't learn what is being
taught.  Some become violent.  You get what you pay for.

It's no wonder that music programs get it in the neck and teachers join
unions.  Personally I would have given anything to have had a union.  We
only got "If you don't like it quit" as an answer on any issue that ever
counted.  Faced with a teacher rebellion and a whole lot of union talk the
state board fired a particularly stupid principal.  Fortunately for me I got
out a couple of years before the harassment got really bad.
Larry - St. Louis


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <BillSargentDrums at aol.com>
To: <NANCYink at surewest.net>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] RE. donate musical instruments


>
> In a message dated 6/24/2005 9:49:20 A.M. Central Standard Time,
> NANCYink at surewest.net writes:
>
> That's  fine, Bill. I hope you feel better now.
>
> One can go on and on, shaming  and blaming about the budget crisis in
> California, but the fact remains  that there is a need, and anyone with
the
> requested items can fill it  (thereby making room in their storage
closet).
> Recycling of any useful item  is a good thing.
>
>
> Maybe Sacramento's "budget crisis" would improve if there were no live
> musical performances in existence for them.
>
> I have no pity for budgetary problems of government (public) schools. You
> only have to look to the teacher's unions for the problems.
>
> This problem of tying in the lack of musical instruments with a so-called
> "budgetary crisis" is bunk. Musical instruments, properly taken care of,
do NOT
> wear out . . . they don't disintegrate. And yes, I know they need minor
> maintenance . . . but do you have any idea how many musicians there are on
this
> list that are playing instruments more than 50 years old and play them
with
> regularity and have been doing so for years? California did not ALWAYS
have a
> "budget crisis" . . . so what happened to those instruments?
>
> More to the point, with the exception of large instruments, i.e. bass
drums,
> tympani, mallet percussion, tubas & pianos, it is customarily the
PARENT'S
> responsibility to provide the personal instruments for their kids . . .
NOT
> the government's (read, yours & mine & your neighbor's).
>
> If I decided not to feed my kids breakfast . . . it now becomes the
school's
> or government's (read, yours & mine & your neighbor's) to  provide "free
> breakfast"? Same with lunch. How about my unwillingness to provide  proper
> parenting or daycare . . . so the school or government (read, yours &
mine & your
> neighbor's) comes up with pre-school and 4-year-old  kindergarten?
>
> If the parent's can't get the idea of music and education in Sacramento,
> then any assistance is like putting cheese down a rat hole . . . or better
put,
> like feeding hay to a horse . . . it goes in one end hay and comes out the
> other  as . . .
>
> Bill
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