VIOLINS AND VIOLENCE

VIOLINS AND VIOLENCE
In 1993 The Utah State Office of Education in cooperation with Salt Lake City Schools determined to try a new program at the Jackson Elementary School in Salt Lake City for three years. It was an experiment to see if it could make a difference in what is a very compromised school. A series of presentations I made before the legislature and educational bodies throughout the state prompted the experiment. Why Jackson? They are very diverse. They are located in a unique environment consisting of residential, industrial, and recreational properties. The students live in homes, apartments, trailers and some are homeless. They represent every possible socio-economic group. Jackson’s ethnicity is 61%, poverty 88%, mobility 54% (those are students who enroll in Jackson but leave) Single-parent families 50%, and limited English proficiency is 35%. There is a high crime rate in the neighborhood including drive-by shootings, drug trafficing and prostitution. With all of these challenges, principal Marilyn Phillips views it as an exciting opportunity. When the State office determined to launch this wonderful program Marilyn Phillips asked me to come and speak to her faculty as the program was about to be launched. Somehow I expected they would be overjoyed that I was coming, and that this wonderful new program would lift their loads and make their day more productive. I was surprised to see that not everyone shared my enthusiasm. One teacher came to me very upset, saying that she had a given number of minutes per day to teach the concepts she was entrusted to convey, and now because of my idea of having every child participate in a violin program she would not even have that. She further explained that the allotted time was insufficient for success and now the shortened period would guarantee failure. She was very distraught. I felt terrible, but asked her to be patient and see what would happen. I explained that few things in life are written in granite, and if this did not succeed, we would certainly try something else. Within a few months I received a gracious letter from this teacher prefaced with an apology. She was astonished to find that the allotted time, even abbreviated, was now sufficient to convey her course subject with success. She was astonished by the change in paradigm. The reason she was now having success is that the children are now regularly using their entire brain (right and left hemisphere), thereby being better prepared, programed and formatted to accept data and process it. Some teachers at Jackson actually play with the children in the violin class instead of taking their designated preparation time, and have found the rest of their day to be more productive than if they had used it in the traditional way. Marilyn Phillips says the program has Helped students focus, which transfers to all the curriculum Enhanced their listening skills Heightened their patterning and math skills Built positive co-operative learning, which dept of labor considers most important skill to develop for success in 21st C Developed complex thinking and problem solving skills Students with limited or no English are learning at accelerated speed Special education programs have very positive results There are positive influences on the whole school Mobility rate has dropped More parent involvement Contributes to a positive atmosphere at school Increased willingness to take risks Helped students organize their minds Increase memorization skills Maestro Joseph Silverstein of the Utah Symphony Orchestra came to play with the students at Jackson and noted that “the only way we can improve our social problems is through arts education”. The important lesson learned through participation in the arts is community - working together, the same element that the U.S. Department of Labor explained in a report issued in 1991, was the most important in preparing for the future workplace. The skills recommended (working in teams, communication, self-esteem, creative thinking, imagination, and invention) are exactly those learned in school music and arts education programs. 1991 SCANS Report, U.S. Department of Commerce. Children with significant language barriers (35% at Jackson) find that they can succeed and “communicate” through music. Music is the universal language, it has no socio-economic, territorial, political, religious boundaries. The gang related problems at Jackson have significantly improved. Says Principal Marilyn Phillips, “Schools that do not teach the arts are not as civilized as they could be and more barbaric than they should be”