December 14, 1999

Dear Editor,

The music critic of the New York Times recently observed on the occassion of an international music festival in Havana, that the Cuban musicians are among the best trained in the world.

How does tiny, poor Cuba do this?? Through a wonderful public music
education program.

As an aside, the critic also observed that the American "musicians" who
attended were, in comparison, (to paraphrase) an embarassment.

If music is cut out of Santa Monica city elementary schools, a city so rich that there isn't enough land to build all of the mansions that are in demand, where millions are spent on public projects, like a park that is crumbling into the ocean, for the rich, where office buildings that command the highest rents in LA are sprouting up like mushrooms after a rain, then I think we should have a huge recall of the elected officials who make it all happen.

Run the bastards out on a rail, clean house, let in some fresh air, close down the back rooms where the dirty deals are made, power to the people, bring back rent control!!!!! We need to act .

The Chinese call our government a curious form of legalized corruption, and they are right. But enough is enough. When the greedy start eating our children then I say it is time to put up a fight to stop them.

Just let us know what we can do to help change the priorities of greed, profit and corruption. Not enough money? HA HA HA. And while we're at it, what about the pool at Lincoln School. still a wreck years after the earthquake that did it in????

Please let me know what YOU are going to do about the music program . If we can contemplate spending hundreds of thousands of city tax dollars on a new home for the historical society, we can think about spending a couple of hundred on the living in the schools in the music program.

Bridget Walsh
Santa Monica

Dear Editor,

As a product of public school music education myself, I emphatically protest the proposed cuts in the public school music education program budget for the Santa Monica-Malibu district. As not only one of the most outstanding, quality public school music programs remaining, the immeasurable loss to the individual development of these students would be unrecoverable.

In a world where the "almighty dollar" has been allowed to cover up the lack of emphasis and opportunity to foster human creative ability, the loss of an excellent school music program would only open the flood gates to more materialism and lack of personal growth for thousands of students, only adding to the horrific human dilemma already so prevalent in our communities and society as a whole.

I implore you to look elsewhere for your "hidden" costs for I'm sure there are MANY not related to direct school programs.

Sharon Koga
Inglewood, CA
employee of RAND
(all above opinions are my own)

Dear Editor,

As a graduate of SAMOHI and a music student from grade 5 on, it is shocking to me that cuts in not only music education but fine arts as well is being considered. Music is one of the loves of my life and it started with the
opportunity to be a part of one of the greatest programs I experienced
throughout my school years in the Santa Monica school system. A school system which was one of the best.

Although I ultimately chose a different career path, my major through my college days at Santa Monica College wasFine Arts with an emphasis on music until I discovered the theatre. From there, I chose the U.S. Navy in which I still serve as a U.S. Navy reservist (currently in an active duty status). One of the best thrills I still experience is the opportunity to hear either the Navy or Marine Corps bands.

The individuals in these bands did not start learning music once they reached junior high or high school. The musical caliber of these active duty personnel is well beyond what I could have ever hoped to achieve. One has to be able to not only play an instrument, but to write, conduct and feel the music. These skills must be learned at an early age. Not everyone is a Beethoven or a Mozart. Cutting these programs is a great disservice to the many talented people in the Santa Monica school system. Please reconsider.

As a current resident of Hawaii and a former employee of the Hawaii State
Department of Education (DOE), I can understand the financial constraints any School District may experience. The State of Hawaii has experienced budget cuts for many years now and still more cuts are mandated.

Although I am no longer with the DOE, I will be returning to my State job as soon as I complete my current set of active duty orders. I am not speaking about the normal two weeks a reserve is required to perform. I am working on my third set of orders this calendar year and will have completed 264 days of active duty in 12-month period. Even the Federal Government has its share of woes due to past budget cuts.

Cutting teaching positions is also a great disservice to the students. Overcrowded classrooms do nothing to help those students who need extra help. More often than people realize, these students fall through the cracks. I experienced this when I worked for DOE here in Hawaii. I always dreaded spring and graduation time when I had to talk to parents whose children would not be graduating high school (I worked in the public information office).

Without an adequate teaching staff and I'll call them extracurricular activities, a student can be overwhelmed by the required core classes. There has to be a structured outlet in which an individual can relax and lose themselves in. Music is this outlet for many students. I know it was for me.

Sincerely,

Joan F. (Yamanaka) Church
SAMOHI Class of 1971

Dear Editor,

For decades, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District has been
exemplary -- famous, really -- for providing its student body with an
excellent, well-rounded education. Up until now we have been able to resist the budgetary axe in our fine arts and music programs -- something we should be very proud of.

WE MUST NOT CAVE IN NOW!!!

It has been proven over and over that the study of music in the elementary
grades reaps great benefits later on -- not just for those who go into music
as a career (as many of our alumni have done) but for those of other
disciplines as well.

The SAMOHI Orchestra remains the "plum" of all youth orchestras in Southern California, and indeed one of the finest in the nation. Let's continue to support and cultivate the well-rounded education our students receive-not just for the artistically talented kids who are so deserving, but for the long-term health of our own community, and the quality of life for us all.

David Weiss
Principal Oboe, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Faculty, University of Southern California Thornton School of Music
Chairman, Music Advisory Board, Young Musicians Foundation

Dear School Board Members:

Please do NOT cut the funding for music education in our schools. These
programs, if anything, are vastly underfunded. Music is a truly important part of our childrens' education which will be appreciated and used during their entire lifetime. It is an enduring artform.

I have 2 children who participate in the bands and orchestra at Lincoln. This is and has been an essential part of their education not just because of  the "music" but because of the discipline and opportunities to perform. My first grader is anxious to begin playing soon, too.

Please look at other ways to balance the budget and allow the music program in SMMUSD to remain intact. Perhaps addressing the excessive number of administrators and/or their salaries might be a place to look. Please do NOT attack the music program. It is too valuable. Thank you.

Andrea L. Stein, MD

Dear Editor,

My music training began in fourth grade at Edison, continued through fifth and sixth grade at Will Rogers, junior high at John Adams, high school at Samohi and college at SMC. Although I also was involved in sports at Samohi, playing baseball and writing the sports articles for the Samohi newspaper and the Nautilus yearbook.

Today I consider my closest friends to be those friendships I made in band. A few years ago, Stairway to the Stars had a reunion event that was one of the most well-attended events in the city. Today, you can look at a Web site called: www.samohi.com. It is an unofficial site started by Samohi alums. A significant part of the discussion page deals with memories of band and orchestra events, and, specifically, Stairway.

I can't think of anything else in Santa Monica that so brings the city together, northsiders, southsiders, the Pico neighboorhood, Ocean Park.

As a person who has been involved in newspaper sports coverage for 30
years, I have seen the city's sports teams crumble and fall apart. Hopefully, you won't let the same thing happen to the music programs. Music is an extracurricular activity that not only brings student, but their families together, out of the classroom.

-- Chris Long, Samohi '70, SMC '72, USC '75

To Whom It May Concern:

When I was in junior high and high school, there was no music program. Growing up on the Westside of Los Angeles, the emphasis was on movies and television and not much else. Everyone I knew wanted to be an actor. Really, everyone just wanted to be famous. None of my friends wanted to be classical musicians. Why would they? Classical musicians were not regarded as stars.

Now schools are adding television classes and cutting music classes, (particularly elementary instrumental music classes). Shouldn't it be the other way around? On December 11, I read in the L.A. Times Our Times section that the Santa Monica-Malibu district music program is on the budget hit list. On December 12th in the L.A. Times Westside Weekly section I read that Malibu High School is planning to install a $100,000 television studio on campus by 2001. The article continued to say that Schools in Beverly Hills, Los Feliz and Pacifiic Palisades already have studios. Is that what we need, more kids learning "the business"?

I feel music is crucial to the improvement of the mind, heart and soul, especially classical music. It is an art form that brings one closer to whom he or she is inside. It is not an art form geared towards fame and fortune, like the film and television business. To cut music from schools is a mistake. Help children get closer to themselves inside, not fufrther away. Keep music in our schools.

Sincerely,

Maura Muhl
Pacific Palisades resident

Dear School Board members,

I am a student at Santa Monica high School and I would like to express my feelings about the idea the music education in elementary school is not important. It is my belief, and the belief of all of my friends and family, that the music lessons my classmates and i received starting in the fourth grade were vital to who we are today. Studies have shown that music education increases reasoning skills, math skills, and many other skills necessary to life in the world as we know it.

The SAMOHI Symphony Orchestra is going to Chicago to play for the music teaches of this country. That could not have happened if those students had not been playing since the fourth grade. I attended their concert last Friday, and they sounded amazing. I am sure some of you were there to hear them.

Music education is vital to us, the students. I am in the SAMOHI Choir program, and I enjoy every minute of class. I learned how to read music from my teachers in the fourth and fifth grade. I would not be in Chamber Choir now if I did not have that opportunity. Please don't cut the music. It would be a great loss to the entire community.

My parents' friends, residents of Santa Monica, all enjoy coming to my concerts, especially Stairway. if you cut the music, there will only be two steps in that stairway, and soon there will be only one. And that one will not have the pride to sit up there in front of  hundreds of people playing instruments they have not yet  mastered. Save the music.

Rachel Kirby
Sophomore at SAMOHI