Jeremy Keil

1/21/03

Editorial #2 – Arts are Needed More Than You Know

Have you ever seen those ads in your paper that says something along the lines of, "Does someone say ‘God bless you’ when you say ‘Tchaikovsky’?" It may sound absurd, but sadly, our society is in danger of having exactly that happening. In several states, my own home state of Oklahoma included, there are budget crunches. The money, used to stabilize the budgets in areas such as state expenses, is being drawn from the education department, causing school districts to cut or streamline programs within their district. More often than not, the first programs to go under the axe are instrumental and vocal music. In my own hometown, the vocal music department was a victim of such a budget squeeze. The number of instructors in the middle school and high school was halved to one after one teacher retired for personal reason. Being the man that I am, I will not elaborate on those reasons for the teacher's protection. Two teachers running choirs at two different schools in the same district (already a money saving move, if a difficult one), cut down to one. I do not blame the superintendent for this, though; the blame lies on the legislature for allocating tax funds towards the construction of a capitol dome (although the project was supposed to be funded solely by private donations). In addition, my hometown will most likely not have a band program next year if the budget needs to be trimmed again. (There are extenuating circumstances here, but if you really wish to know, e-mail or IM me.) What makes this even worse is that neither the former governor nor the state superintendent said anything about it, and I am very certain they knew about it. This lackadaisical attitude toward the arts is endangering our ability to be truly human.

Why do I say a lack of arts will dehumanize us? Well, think about it: what is it that makes us truly human? Common sense, which I previously thought was an innate human trait, isn't (although some fortunate mortals such as myself possess it). Reasoning? Well, consider dolphins. Dolphins can be trained to hit certain targets in a certain order. The reason for this, though, has its roots in behaviorism: animals will willingly learn something if they are rewarded for doing it right. Humans are much the same way, except we are much more open about it. After all, only a few dolphins learn to hit targets. Everyday, humans do certain tasks for a reward. The task is called a job, and the reward is some kind of currency or necessity. Animals must be mature, but not too mature, in order to be able to be taught; humans exhibit such behavior all throughout their life-span. This ability to learn and adapt is innate in humans and not in any other species (well, aside from the fact that I'm not sure I'm human…again, if you really want to know, e-mail or IM me). One of our better known ways of adaptation is music, both played and sung.

Before I continue, an aside: the basics of sound. Sound is caused by the air vibrating; our ears pick up the vibrations and send them to the brain, which interprets them. The pitch of the sound is affected by the frequency of the vibrating air; the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. But not all sound has a definite pitch. Most every percussive sound, from your head hitting a low doorframe to an explosion, doesn't have a definite pitch. Most every other sound, despite how dissonant it sounds, has some kind of pitch. Some sounds, such as a piano note or your favorite singer's voice, are pleasant, and other sounds, like a baby's scream or a siren, are unpleasant. It is these pleasant sounds that we choose to combine into music. (Unless you count the Jingle Cats, the Barking Dogs, or whatever else…)

What makes a sound pleasant? Is it in the composition of the sound? To an extent, yes. If a pitch has a high frequency and amplitude, it can be piercing and annoying. Yet, for some reason, this is not the case for the other end of the spectrum. In fact, almost all low pitch sounds are quite pleasant. This explains why singers with low voices (e.g. Barry White) cause positive feelings (sadly, this has never been the case with me and my baritone voice). But "pleasant" does not simply mean causing pleasure in this case; pleasant sounds can be manipulated in many different ways to portray different emotions. This arrangement of sounds is called music. Whether by voice or by instrument, music is an effective way to release your feelings. I personally like to sing to myself when I'm feeling down, and it works rather well.

It seems to me that anyone who deliberately cuts music from schools (for any reason other than the fact that the program is going downhill, mind you) has apparently not read a lot of history. Instruments were invented many thousands of years ago as methods of communication as well as for musical purposes. The very people who discovered the mathematical background of modern music were the Greeks, better know as the intellectual powerhouses of the age. In fact, in a related note, students who take music classes alongside math classes do better in both. Since music is based on math, math and music complement each other. Also, studying music helps a student learn about different periods of time in human history, thus enhancing history. Tie that in with the mathematical roots of science and computers, and you already almost have a full curriculum. Also, one can learn multiple languages through singing music, thus giving them help in both their foreign and native language. Music complements the entire curriculum of education and can enhance learning in all subjects greatly.

Music's original roots were in communication. Since music and language have a deep history together, I fear that if we lose music, we will lose our ability as a species to communicate effectively. It is imperative that music continues in all schools. Without it, I feel that the very foundations of humanity will collapse.