World War 3

What do you think you are doing! Getting rid of band is an all-time low for this school district. I think it is unfair to let the younger kids to have all these cool things. Do you not think that having Spanish and whatever else we have isn’t a privilege? Well to answer that question it is. They should be happy with band, orchestra, and music class. They should appreciate what they have and wait for the best classes when they get older.

When a child is in music and another activity they benefit. They are more involved in their community and are getting more exercise. They then grow up to be successful with friends who like the same stuff they do because they had the most amazing life experiences they can ever get in their school careers. They are also more fit. Today, about one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese; nearly triple the rate in 1963. With good reason, childhood obesity is now the No. 1 health concern among parents in the United States, topping drug abuse and smoking. Music also teaches kids responsibility. Like a good pet that demands commitment, so does music. Music itself picks and chooses who is willing to stick with it. The wrong people are the people with a certain mindset. This is that music is stupid, however they are wrong. The people who are just right keep at it and are successful in their journeys toward acceptance and friends and life in general.

I, myself, am a trumpet player for our great school. Music has taught me a great deal of life skills. These are maturity, leadership, responsibility, social skills, team work and time management. Some members, especially freshmen, are not mature or responsible. These people may be right for our lifestyle, but have a few jagged edges to smooth out. However, some freshmen like myself and others are more mature and responsible for our names. Last year, my freshmen year, I was told by a junior that my friend and I were and still are the most mature freshmen he has ever known. I have learned time management skills from music by doing my homework in a certain set amount of time or it will not get done. I have gained friends from music as well. These people understand me because they are in the same activities.

Music has personally benefited me. I have more friends who have the same interests as me. We get to hang out more because of the band competitions and the extra and co-curricular activities that partake in. It also feels like I have gained more homes than the average person. What I mean by this is that wherever we go; I am content with my surroundings and the people. I can truly be myself at competitions. I also like to say that I have a big extended family. Certain band mothers are like my mother and I like to think of them as other mothers. It’s really great to know awesome people to hang out with, you know. Anyways back to the story.

Music is cross-curricular as you may have heard. By teaching notes and rhythms, we teach math skills, reading, English, history, and many other subjects kids need to learn to achieve greatness. Or at least a good grade in their class. Along those lines, Duncan's letter said "the arts can help students become tenacious, team-oriented problem solvers, who are confident and able to think creatively. These qualities can be especially important in improving learning among students from economically disadvantaged circumstances." In INTER-DISCIPLINARY cross-curricular learning a similar stimulus may be used to generate thinking and learning but the intention is to combine the subjects in understanding the experience. Two subjects intertwine usually in some kind of ‘performance of understanding’ where each subject complements and supports the other. Teachers should plan integration of the two subjects - planned objectives for both subjects and planned linkages. The children in the photograph made a complex map of their journey through a nature reserve marking on five stopping places and at each stopping place they made records of the different sounds they could hear. Later they presented their journey as a musical composition which used their maps as graphic scores and as visual backing for their soundscapes. The result of the combining of these two subjects was measurable progression in both geography skills of mapping and symbol use and musical skills of composition, in particular extended musical structures and sensitive timbre choices.

What impact will music have on me in the future? Only time may tell. But I will say one thing. This thing is the truth: I will continue to play in the band for the rest of my high school years. And when I get to college, I will play there too. If a college does not have a music program for me to join, I probably won’t go to that school because I love marching band and want to compete in the competitions while I’m in college trying to get my master’s degree. I am not saying that I’m going to a superhero band person. However, I can still enjoy what I love. And when I am out of college I will have all the music that I was allowed to keep from high school to the end of college. I can then play again the music that turned me towards this life. If I can I will send my own children through a music program if not the same school experience that I have a part in now. But that is only possible if the music program isn’t cut in the next four years just to give undeserving 5^th graders Spanish class. Right now as I type this paper I am listening to music. Music has a way of moving me and I love to listen to it whenever I have to do a school project. My Spanish teacher put on the Spanish version of a song I like in English and then I went home and found two other songs that I like in Spanish. I don’t care if I don’t know all the words to them, but it’s cool to listen to them anyways. Still, I am deadest in my feelings that the younger kids shouldn't’t get Spanish class because we all served our dues and waited till we could take that as freshmen. That is like one of the big things we wanted to do so we waited like one waits for Santa Claus.

In conclusion, music is beneficial to all concerned. If you are not concerned then it is safe to say we as a family are doomed. But we need hope and that hope comes from the spirit and understanding of music. I love music; don’t take that away from us. A great man once said a great phrase and I am going to show you how that ties into our future. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. That ties in to what we are about and what needs to happen for us to keep on living as we are because without the people who care change will not happen. We are the ones who care but we need the assistance to keep going. Be the change that you want to see in the world. Don’t tear us down please. I say let it grow. Growth is needed to succeed in life. Without certain activities in my life, I might turn into a husk, a shell of my former self. I, like so many others, can manage this life we have come to know. I participate in track, band, and two different clubs. Some days it’ll be interact in the morning, band lesson in the afternoon, and jazz band at night. But my homework always gets done and I continue to shoot upward like a shooting star because I know I can go the distance. But can you? Can see the light and realize that Spanish is our privilege and should stay that way; so we can live on and bring great honor to this school?