SCHOOL - Music Inc. Magazine

8 I MUSIC INC. I OCTOBER 2010
PERSPECTIVE I BY ZACH PHILLIPS
SCHOOL MUSIC
LIFE SUPPORT
Iknow firsthand that NAMM’s Support Music works. How? Four years
ago, I watched Music Inc. Publisher Frank Alkyer help save his district’s
junior high music program using little more than Support Music’s Web site.
Alkyer found out that the junior high was squeezing band and orchestra
out of the curriculum, relegating them to after-school activities. He
jumped on supportmusic.com’s Make Your Case page and crafted a counterargument
using its simple checklist-style template. A
round of e-mail exchanges got his letter circulating
among PTA members. When the next school board
meeting rolled around, he had an army of new advocates
for the program.
More than 50 of these parents went before the
board to make their case. They spoke passionately
about how music education keeps kids out of trouble.
They cited Support Music’s research. They were the
only people who bothered coming to the meeting.
To put it lightly, folks on the school board heard
what the community wanted. The program stayed put.
This month’s cover story, “School Music
Advocates,” features accounts from several retailers
who’ve made an art of saving programs — often using
Support Music and other NAMM-sponsored resources. (It begins on page
50.) We’ve timed the article to coincide with what may prove to be one of the
toughest years ever for school music. Learn from these dealers’ examples.
Mobilize parents to fight for programs at risk, or even better, make a pre-emptive
strike to preserve stronger programs. In this climate, none is safe.
Sadly, George Quinlan, president of Quinlan & Fabish in Burr Ridge, Ill.,
pointed out in his contribution to the article that sometimes “the water is
too deep, and cutting a program is the only solution.” When traditional
advocacy fails, there are still options. Most notably, Quinlan has coped by
hosting fee-based after-school programs. These meet five days a week and
cost students roughly $30 a month. Tuition payments are made to his sister
corporation, Music World Service, to prevent confusion among customers.
Most of the tuition goes to the teacher, with a small percentage to cover
administration expenses.
“Since the mission of [World Music Service] is to provide temporary
assistance until the program can be restored by the school district, Quinlan
& Fabish absorbs many of the expenses to achieve that objective,” Quinlan
said. “We consider it an investment in our future.”
Yes, fee-based programs aren’t ideal. They’re time-consuming. They
require a good relationship with school administration just to get off the
ground. And ironically, they’re almost exactly what Alkyer was fighting
against four years ago.
That said, they’re better than no program at all. And for Quinlan,
they’ve kept several band programs afloat during tough times — programs
that went on to be reinstated once funding returned. MI