The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

Fine Arts Thrives at YES Prep Amid Talk of Budget Cuts

April 05, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

In a climate where “budget cut” is heard more often in newscasts than the local weather, special programs in the public school system seem to be shrinking or disappearing all too quickly. As a professional musician, I can’t help but wonder what the future for music holds. What will happen to orchestras when there are no students growing up with music in the schools? What will happen to students as an important part of their cultural education disappears?

Luckily, charter schools seem, even with all of the budget issues facing the nation, to be taking this fight head on. At YES Prep West, every student learns to take an instrument. 76% of our students participate in orchestra. When it comes to the future of our orchestra, there was little doubt who I should talk to about creating a top-notch music program.

In January, I flew 1600 miles across the country to visit KIPP Academy Middle School, in the Bronx, NY, a school known nationally for its orchestra program. These are not just students who happen to play an instrument “just for fun”. These are the up and coming professional musicians of our future. They don’t just “take a music class”, they LIVE music class.

Here’s a typical day for a 7th grader at KIPP Academy:

• School day starts at 7:30, ends at 5:00.
• They take math, science, reading, writing, social studies- exactly what any other school child would have, with one addition- they have 2 hours and 20 minutes of music class.
• Music theory, sectionals, rehearsal, and lots and lots of music to learn- that’s the life of a KIPPster musician.

Every student has a 50 minute music class during the body of the day, where all students in their grade level or homeroom practice, learn new material, and prepare their music. Then, at 3:30 pm Monday through Thursday, all middle school Academy KIPPsters leave class and travel down four flights of stairs to the auditorium that is shared by three KIPP Academy, PS 31, and PS 151. By 3:50, over 150 students are sitting in a perfect formation, a formation that they set up and take down every day. There are violins practicing their hardest high-note passage while the basses and cellos master their grooving rhythms in their newest piece, a Michael Jackson medley. The piano players smile as they play around with some improvisations, just for fun.

One-hundred and fifty students practicing on their own, the cacophony of sound overwhelming even my own ears, which are accustomed to the sounds of an orchestra rehearsing. Suddenly- silence. They all come to perfect attention with a simple but silent hand gesture by one of their three incredible teachers, Ms. Annie Givier, Mr. McClenty Hunter, and Ms. Davina Wu. The drum set takes off and the students, without any need for a teacher to show them or tell them what to do, deftly break into an arrangement of songs by Coldplay. One hour later, the students have played over 20 songs, occasionally stopping to rehearse a few notes here and there. But in general, they just run through the songs, like an internationally-touring band getting ready for a concert.

And they do have concerts- sometimes as often as a few per month. Most recently, they performed in front of 11,000 people at the Teach for America convention in Washington, D.C. Not only did they perform in front of 11,000 people, they performed alongside the incredible talents of pianist and vocalist John Legend.

Two hours and 20 minutes a day of music. Even with this kind of focus, these students are not slackers when it comes to academics. These students are role models, for their families, for their friends, and for three hundred musicians at YES Prep West. The KIPP Academy students are well prepared for the world, both culturally and academically. In the moments I wonder what will happen to music in our country, I can sit back and smile, assured that my own students, thanks to trail being blazed by the KIPP Academy Orchestra, ARE the future of music in our country.
 

Tina Wilke teaches music at YES Prep West. 

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