I was talking to my Mom the other day and she let me know that the choral department at my old high school had been cut. This news didn't complete surprise me, as arts funding is being cut around the country in record numbers. It does really sadden me though. I was hoping that the old hometown would buck the trend. During the many years that my family was in the school system, the high school choral program had students go to All-State and All-New England Choral competitions. T thanks to the music program, my brothers and I travelled to Puerto Rico and participated in events around the region. The choral department was an established community presence. We had holiday sing-alongs in the mall and retirement communities. We had fund-raisers that were annual events. Students looked forward to going to high school to sing in the chorus.
The choral department was literally my lifeline in high school. I wasn't a cool kid. I wasn't a jock. I wasn't one of the popular girls. What I was, was the musical girl. The one voted most likely to ... um, actually end up where I am now, ironically. I was in almost all of the various choral groups, but mostly I was the primary pianist for the school from my sophomore year through graduation. If it needed piano accompaniment, there I was -- for college auditions, spring and winter concerts, various recitals, the major high school spring musicals, you name it. While I did get to sing occasionally, I usually had to "shut up and play." Fine with me. That was my niche. I was comfortable with that. I was good at it. I had a place. I had friends. More importantly, because I got to hang out with very talented and diverse actors, musicians, and singers, I had a community. We had our own wing where we used to hang out. We had a common bond and a common language. Until senior year, all the cool kids and the jocks used to taunt us, until they realized that a) they needed tutoring from us "smart" kids and b) they needed extracurriculars like chorus and the musicals on their college applications. Once they spent time with us, they realized that those hey, those music nerds weren't so bad. I even have yearbook entries to prove it.
I bet that if a survey was done on my fellow choral program alumni that most of us have done pretty well for ourselves. I'm sure that there are college degrees of varying advanced levels. I'm sure we've gone on to a variety of professional and interesting careers. While we may not have gone on to be professional or even still-practicing musicians, I bet most of us still have a love of the arts that was fostered in those hallways, in those practice rooms, on those stages, and on those rickety risers. Thanks to the choral program, we learned to sing in unison and harmony, so I wouldn't be suprised if they could join in me in a chorus of protest about the situation. We should "pitch" a fit.
I think that it's just shameful that, in order to save money, or for what ever reason, this important program has been cut. I feel for those poor kids in my hometown and the local communities. Somewhere out there in the quiet corners of Connecticut are students who have the desire to be musicians, but may not have the money for an instrument or lessons. Chorus may have been their one way to participate, their glimmer of hope at some musical fulfillment. What will those kids do now? Where will they find their community? Will the instrumental programs be next? What about the fine arts classes?
For shame hometown, for shame.
