It is a sad truth that too many people have no idea and do not want to know how powerful music, whether instrumental or choral, can be in their lives.  They stand silently by when parents, such as we here in Fairfax County, fight a deadly assault on our children's education, now and in the future, in the form of elementary string and band programs being slashed mercilessly in the name of "budgetary concerns" and "not increasing taxes" (the result is that half - yes, half - of the elementary music teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools will be laid off - 442 of them - while freshman athletics has been spared.)  They see music as some frivolous exercise in "snooty, high-falutin'" stuff that doesn't mean anything to them.  And yet, the day after 9/11 (if memory serves) Congress went onto the steps of the Capitol Building, tried to reassure America, and sang "God Bless America" - not well in all instances, not on pitch - but they SANG.  And why did they do that?  It wasn't going to solve the problem of terrorism.  It was as "frivolous" an exercise as any.  But it meant so much to those 538 people that it seemed to be the ONLY way to express themselves.  And they had probably not sung, most of them, in 20, 30, 40 years in any kind of organized way other than at Christmas parties.  And they found it a good way to lead America, to remind America about what this country means.  It's dedicated souls like "Mr. K" and his colleagues throughout the year that have given us that "silken bond" of sound that reaches beyond ears and minds into the very soul.  If you believe in music, and you must because you're reading this, convince your neighbors and friends who don't make music or whose children aren't in music programs to come to the next concert your child or you give.  It is an increasingly darker world out there, and it is only faith and music that will pull us through.

 

Ron Duquette

Catholic Choir Director

Fort Belvoir, VA