In her work as professor of music education at Arizona State University, Dr. Sandra Stauffer sees how music affects young people every day. Here, she instructs a group of graduate students.
Eager to show how one melody can convey many emotions, she held up a sign that read, “Sleepy,” to Baverstam. “He got right into it,” she says, “and he started playing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’ He played more and more slowly, started missing a few notes, and finally he was completely bent over, his head was down and he dropped his bow on the floor. And the kids, of course, loved it.” To music’s quantifiable benefits, Thomas would add some critical “intangible” ones as well. Of these, joy, selfconfidence and aesthetics top the list. “To hear Salazar play,” she says as an example, “is something that brings me to tears. He’s that good.” For the musicians themselves, the emotions music elicits can be even more powerful. Mia Laity, for instance, is a 16-year-old violinist who’s been taking lessons since she was 3. Articulate and poised, she likens her musicianship to a relationship: It may get frustrating at times, but she can’t imagine life without it. “I just always loved to play,” she explains, “and I loved playing whether or not I was good. So I think it wasn’t like I said, ‘Well I’m good at this, so I should keep playing it.’ I just loved it so much that I didn’t want to stop.” Literally. Laity’s musicality informs her every interest and hobby, from her childhood drawings of home, where musical notes fluttered out the window, to today, when she examines films in terms of their soundtracks rather than their scripts. With more outlets for exploring music than ever before (think software, Internet and iPods), it might be easy to get lulled into a false sense of security about the future of music education. But Stauffer warns that budget cuts and certain legislation mandating chunks of time for other subjects threaten to extinguish formal musical education in schools. “When kids are young,” Stauffer explains, “particularly in elementary school, they need as many ways of learning as possible. To remove music from their potential is, long-term, probably the least good thing we could do, particularly since it’s such a unique way of learning about the world.” If it weren’t for music in public schools, after all, Salazar would probably be pursuing entomology instead of music. (Like a moth to the flame, Salazar abandoned an early interest in insects for music.) Yet every once in awhile, some school administrators make noise regarding the potentially detrimental effects of elementary-school pullout programs where students leave class for half an hour to receive instrumental music instruction. “The children who are participating in those pullout programs for music education are scoring just as high if not higher than the kids who are not participating in pullout programs,” Stauffer asserts. But maybe more compelling than test scores is yet another intangible benefit: “A lot of kids are excited by their involvement in music,” she says, “which makes them more interested in school. And why wouldn’t we want that?”
“It’s not that music makes you smarter, but music is really good for your brain.”
‘From the Top’ Visits the Valley!
ome people grow up on cartoons, others on soccer. But for 16-year-old violinist Mia Laity, the experience was different. As a child, she would travel about a hundred miles to violin lessons each week, and wake up during the morning drive to From the Top on the radio. “I heard the kids, and they really inspired me to keep practicing and playing,” she recalls. Laity, of course, is in melodious company. From the Top is a nonprofit organization that showcases the talents of up-and-coming musicians on radio, television and the Internet, as well as through live events and educational programs like schoolbased performances. “It’s not a park-andbark situation for the kids,” explains Laura Breeden, From the Top’s director of education and community partnerships. “So in addition to having them play and enjoying the music and sharing their joy in the music, we also get to know the kids as part of the format. And we think that
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makes classical music accessible to a bigger audience than it might be otherwise.” Each show features about five performers who come from various backgrounds, disciplines and regions. Laity joined their ranks in February 2008 when she appeared on the program herself, playing Wieniawski’s “Scherzo-Tarantelle.” “My husband says that he always knew on our drives for lessons that she would one day be on From the Top,” says Mia’s mother, Kathy. On Nov. 18, 2008 at 8 p.m., From the Top will be taping at the Mesa Arts Center. Tickets are available through the Mesa Arts Center box office (480-644-6500) or online at mesaartscenter.com. When ordering over the Web, enter promo code KBAQ, or mention the station when purchasing by phone to get the following special rates: $25 per ticket for adults or $15 for students. Use the promo code SCHOOL to get the special rate of $6 per ticket for groups of six or more students. You can also view From the Top’s new television series online at pbs.org/fromthetop. Fall 2008
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