Karen Salvador
Happy New Year! As I contemplate the ending of another year and the beginning of a new one, I hope that each of you enjoyed a restful break sur- rounded by people you love. My home was filled with music… karaoke, my children singing, all of us playing piano and trying out garage band on the iPad (I have a lot to learn there) and my early work on learning ukulele. It was a much- needed break, and I feel galvanized to continue MMEA’s work toward music for all in Michi- gan. To each of you who are on the front lines of changing lives through music every day, I join your students and their families in offering my sincere appreciation and gratitude.
The upcoming Michigan Music Conference Jan- uary 19-21 is an important chance for all of us to reenergize our teaching, reconnect with our colleagues, and make new acquaintances. I very much look forward to seeing all of you there. If you see me, please introduce yourself and let me know what you think about MMEA. Our goal is to serve music educators, students, parents, and community members through leadership in the advancement of music teaching and learning. To that end, I welcome suggestions on how we can better serve our members as well as all music teachers and music students in Michigan.
One of the ways that MMEA supports music for all in Michigan is ensuring that some of the ses- sions at MMC include information on advocacy, policy, and inclusive instruction. I hope that you make time to learn more about how to advocate for our profession, about policies that will be af- fecting us (ESSA implementation is looming), and about ways we can better reach all students in school music.
After MMC, we will be focusing our energy on our third annual Michigan Music Education Advocacy day, which will take place 3/14/17 in Lansing. On Advocacy Day, teams of representa- tives from MMEA, MSVMA, MASTA, and MS- BOA, including practicing teachers, parents, and college students, meet with legislators to advo- cate support for music education. We also pres- ent a concert featuring student musicians in the Capitol Rotunda. In preparation for that event, we will be reaching out to each of you to ask you to make personal contact with your state legisla- tors. Phone calls and letters are most meaningful when they come from constituents. I hope that you will join in by writing a letter or calling. We will help you with “talking points.” Together, we need to convince our legislators that every child
in Michigan should have access to ongoing and sequential music instruction provided by a certi- fied music educator.
Then again, our most important advocacy oppor- tunities arise in the conversations we have every day. It takes tremendous courage to talk to people about things that are critically important to us. We worry that we will sound like we are just try- ing to preserve our jobs. But we know that this is only part of the story. The whole truth is, we know that music touches people’s lives—and we know that it is our privilege to work every day with kids and music. When we advocate for mu- sic education, we are really thinking about what music does for children every day and about the importance of music in our culture. Music is life, and we know it. But we don’t like “confronta- tion,” or we feel disempowered so we let people tell us that music is ancillary, that it is too expen- sive, that we are dreamers who need to live “in the real world.” But when we do not respond, our silence is interpreted as acquiescence. Moreover, when people who agree with us and people who are not sure what to think see us--the music edu- cators--remaining silent, they also remain silent. I am afraid maybe we, the ones who know the power of music and of education, are even start- ing to believe those voices that would take music education away from children.
But I DO live in the real world. And in the real world I live in, music is ubiquitous. People turn to music when they are angry, when they are de- pressed, when they are anxious—and to celebrate when they are filled with joy. I know that, in our increasingly disconnected society, making mu- sic with other people continues to be something that allows us to communicate and bond in ways that nothing else can. At a concert, we still come together in one place, turn off our phones, and listen. In an ensemble, we each contribute to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Music, as a subject that is so personally and culturally important, must be a part of every student’s education—and is vital to community health and wellbeing.
Furthermore, kids need to be active, engage with their feelings, and express themselves in order to function as a whole person. Children are not sponges who come to school ready to sit pas- sively and absorb what is thrown at them. They are humans who have active bodies and complex feelings. All too often, their active bodies are under- or malnourished and didn’t get enough
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President’s Message
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