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The Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius, is a Hendiatris, or a figure of speech.   These three word phrases were typical in ancient Greece and Rome (Veni, Vidi, Vici, etc.).    Citius, Altius, and Fortius translate to English as Faster, Higher, and Stronger.  The Olympics bring about a sense and feeling of the common good and a brotherhood among humanity.  

One can hardly watch the Olympics without being awestruck by the excellence that is achieved by the athletes of the games and the feeling of goodwill that is perpetuated by the event.  Although perfection is rarely seen (if even possible), excellence abounds and we as musicians should literally, take note of what it is that makes these Olympians truly great.

Let us start off our new school year by reflecting on how our music students, music ensembles, and even we as teachers and educators, can obtain excellence within our music programs:

1. We must first know what excellence is…
      What are the best examples of our music, ensembles, teaching techniques, etc.?  Without an acute awareness of “the best” we are blindsided by our own ignorance and any comparison that we make of what our achivements might be are foolery.  
2. We must be goal oriented and disciplined…
      What are our musical goals and what must be done to achieve them?  Without a goal and the discipline necessary to achieve it, we are simply wandering quickly to nowhere.  
3. We must believe in our cause…
      Without believing in what we are doing, we are destined to mediocrity at best.
4. We must persevere…
      As students and teachers, we must not be afraid to fail in order to achieve. Whether something we are working toward takes one time or one thousand times, we must be ready to make the commitment to continually improve and move forward.   Even the most disciplined and goal-oriented of people must persevere to achieve things worthwhile.
5. We must strive for perfection…
      Perfection can never truly be achieved.  There will always be someone better, or something that can be done better.   Our struggle for perfection leads us to excellence in what we do.  In order to be excellent…we must first know what excellence is… See number 1 above...

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We all can “talk the talk” when it comes to supporting Fine Arts Education among our friends, but what about really doing something about it on a local level?  Can we do anything at all?  To quote Bob the Builder… “Yes, We Can!”.

Local School Board meetings are not just for conducting the day-to-day affairs of the school districts, they also provide a public forum for discussion.  Literally, there is mandated time, in all school board meetings for guests, visitors, and residents of the district to express their opinions, concerns, and praise for the the anything related to the school district.  You have the right and quite possibly, the moral obligation to go to these meetings when something concerns you about your school district.

Recently, I was asked to sign a petition about the perceived lack of FINE ARTS facility space in a proposed new middle school building of a local district.   When I became aware of this, I immediately started to gather what information I could about the subject.  Fully realizing, that I may not have all the pertinent information, I decided to draft a letter to the school board and present it, personally, to the school board when they met next. 

Thankfully, the school board was comprised of well-meaning, intelligent folks who really do have the interest of the children and their education in the fore-front of their minds.   After a chance to speak for about 5 minutes about the importance of Music/Arts Education in our schools (in a meaningful and non-threatening way), the school board responded to me with more questions for me and at the end of the meeting took the time to go over the plans of the proposed new building, personally, with me and other interested parties.  

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Maybe you missed it…

Harris Interactive released the results of their Music Education Poll mid-November of last year.  Here’s a summary:

• Music education is associated with those that go on to higher education.
• Music education is also associated with higher incomes.
• Music education has some influence on people’s personal level of fulfillment.
• Music education is important in giving people the ability to strive for individual excellence.
• Music education is important for providing a disciplined approach to solving problems.
• Music education is very important in teaching how to work toward common goals.
• Music education is very important in creative problem solving and helping people to be flexible in work situations.
• Music education equips people to be team players in their working environment.
• Music education provides a sense of organization to people.

There is much more in this report.  To view the whole report click here.

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I joined the International Society of Music Educators (ISME) mid-last year.  I did this to become part of a larger music education community.  One that transcends national boundaries.   As many of you know, I am trying to get as many musicians and educators talking about what they do, why they do, and join a “global conversation” about our field.  ISME is trying to do just that…

Part of the ISME website includes a list to a number of FANTASTIC music advocacy articles.  There are over two dozen articles written by some of the finest music minds of our time.  These articles are free to download and view and you do not need to be a member of ISME to access them.  Reading articles like these will provide a real basis for music educators and musicians to be able to answer the questions posed to us as to why music is important!

Others and I have written a lot about music advocacy here on http://www.mustech.net.  View our advocacy and advocacy related articles here and page back through them, you will find a lot of “great stuff” in those articles:
http://www.mustech.net/category/music-advocacy/

Become an advocate yourself and join our 100 ME Bloggers campaign.  You have what it takes to talk to the world about what you do best!  Don’t wait, just do it! We’ll help!

Here are the titles and authors of the music advocacy articles that can be found at ISME:

1: Music Education as a Powerful Stimulus for Brain Plasticity     
Eckart Altenmüller: Full professor at the Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine University for Music and Drama, Hanover, Germany

2: Brief Comments on Music Education Advocacy     
Wayne Bowman: Professor, Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba Canada 

3: Road Rage and Musical Community     
Nicholas Cook, FBA: Research Professor of Music, University of Southampton, UK 
 
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