Mom Speaks In Support of Music in the Schools

I am the parent of a fourth grader, in band, and a second grader, looking forward to band.  This year has been the first that I haven't had to bribe my oldest to go to school because she has band.  She is an exceptional student academically, and band has provided her with an outlet to offset the stress of school.  

There are so many reasons not to cut band. Band is there for those who need it to express their feelings, or to excel musically where their talents may not be as strong in other areas, or to be a creative outlet after studying so hard for MCAS and other academic challenges.  It's sad to see in a world where adults who go to work every day and are facing cuts to programs and wages of their own, come home to their children who face the same struggles when they are supposed to be nurtured and supported at this point in their lives.  What are we ultimately teaching our children?  To give to a system everything you have, and not be supported by that very system?  Music is a basic human need.  As I write this I listen to a beautiful symphony.  If our children aren't given the opportunity to be exposed to the world of musical instruments in school, are they as likely to pick up a flute, or trombone, or piccolo as an adult?  How many things do we not do as adults because we weren't exposed as children?  

Where is the future of symphonies and orchestras to be if we don't keep it alive in the hearts of our children?  

"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th century philosopher.

"The woods would be very silent if the only birds that sang were those who sang best..."- Henry David Thoreau.

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy" - Ludwig Von Beethoven.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." - Red Auerbach, famous basketball coach.

"Music is a defining element of character." - Plato.

"Music is a moral law.  It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flights to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything.  It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good and just and beautiful." - Plato.

"When words fail, music speaks." - Hans Christian Andersen.

"Nothing exists without music, for the universe itself is said to have been framed by a kind of harmony of sounds, and the heaven itself revolves under the tone of that harmony." - Saint Isidore of Seville, Archbishop and historian.

"Music must never offend the ear, but must please the listener, or, in other words, music must never cease to be music." - Motzart.

"My music is best understood by children and animals." - Stravinsky, famous composer.

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend." - Beethoven.

"If music be the food of love, play on." - William Shakespeare.

"Musicians don't retire, they stop when there's no more music in them." - Louis Armstrong.

"You can take away music, but p