Put more emphasis on music

You don't have to watch "American Idol" to understand how popular music is as a profession. Millions want in on it. What I don't understand is why the American educational system typically downplays its importance.

I think of a quote from Henry David Thoreau when he said, "Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it."

Music in the classroom has been treated as a nice thing to have, not a need to have. Fortunately, I grew up before it was disposable. I still remember listening in elementary school to the "Peer Gynt Suite" by Edvard Grieg, the Arabian mood music of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade," enjoying the "William Tell Overture" (otherwise known as the theme from "The Lone Ranger"). My one and only piano lesson used the familiar tune "Chopsticks."

Teachers understand the value of using classical music to put students in the mood to study, to calm them down and help them concentrate. We know music can stimulate intelligence and creativity. Some teachers use music very well to their advantage. 

But let's take this beyond music appreciation. Going back to "American Idol," there is big money in music. Music is in fact all around us in every visual and audio medium. Every movie, every commercial, every drama, any television series - everything in television, period - uses music to create a mood, tell a story and attract interest.

Someone has to compose, lay down the soundtrack or have an ear for the right sounds to match with an audience. Someone had to create the lyrics. Someone had to put together the sounds. This means not only thinking of music in terms of personal performers, but in terms of the creators.

Music lends itself as a vehicle to learn about a nation's history or geography. The biographies of composers and musicians contain enough drama to hold anyone's interest, whether it's the story of the nearly deaf Beethoven composing incredible symphonies, the business acumen of Barry Gordy Jr. and the creation of the "Motown" label, the secrets of success behind jazz musician Wynton Marsalis or the late classical tenor superstar Luciano Pavarotti.

America is a musical superpower amidst a cluster of world musicians. There is much to pull from and learn from. 

The point is, we have an omnipresent medium that is underused and undervalued in education. It's a multifaceted profession, yet the system rarely points to music as a workplace. It is enriching and motivating; yet we drop it and bemoan students' lack of enthusiasm. It can be a pivot point for learning history, geography and mathematics.

You want to get kids into writing? Have a setting for them to put their words to music. Need new sources of revenue? Put an emphasis on music. The reach of music is infinite.

Poetess Maya Angelou, in her book "Gather Together in My Name," wrote of music in a way many would appreciate: "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "Without music, life would be a mistake."

If we want to cut into the boredom at the root of dropouts, expand the working opportunities for teens and young adults, stimulate the mind and enrich the soul, we need to look beyond our current national budget woes and make room for music.

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Mike Shelton is a Yuma resident and guest columnist for the Yuma Sun. E-mail him at mikshelt@msn.com.