Corporate Irresponsibility

Good evening everyone. I am going to step back from current situations for a little while, and pontificate upon the state of one aspect of music education in this country. (Mounts the soap box).

I never realized how much junk mail music teachers receive. It's amazing. Marching band and colorguard apparel and accessory catalogs are probably the worst of it (who poses for those pictures? Where do they find these people?) But in a close, close second is music publisher catalogs. Not only is most of the music they are hawking complete garbage, but the little description paragraphs they provide are even more offensive. But like all marketing, it must work, right? Or else they wouldn't do it. It scares me that music teachers must purchase music due to descriptors like "incredibly expressive" or "sweeping melodic lines". Yes, I do have a publisher's catalog in front of me. Ooh, this one is "heart wrenching". It must be good. I feel like I am trying to order from an Applebee's menu. Everything is a "zesty, tangy combination sure to keep you coming back for more".

I saw this one at the end of a long day and it proved to be too much. "Good King Wence-SALSA!", is a "salsa-style arrangement of Good King Wenceslas" which includes "a wealth of Latin percussion, authentic harmonies, and a ton of fun! With opportunities for the band to sing, a Latin-style flute solo, and a mesmerizing orchestration, this arrangement is sure to be the highlight of your next program!" This publisher describes this as "absolutely stunning!". More like, absolutely disgusting.

It is too bad that someone even thinks to write stuff like this. Even more disheartening is that many publishers actually print and hawk it. In my book, this puts them on par with other corporate scum like BP, Halliburton, Enron, and Apple. But the most revolting thing of all is that music teachers everywhere must purchase garbage, and purchase it by the truckload. It really makes me sad, because the students are losing out. Yes, music should be comprehensive, multicultural, and fun. Music is all of those things naturally, but it must be brought out by creative and intelligent teachers who demand quality content. Those things should not be injected like flavors and hormones into cheesy melodies, boring structures, and cheap cliche titles.

I feel that music education preparation programs (at least mine, for sure!) should include much more coursework on appropriate and quality repertoire for all levels of ensembles. Having a major clue beforehand may help the situation. I have great respect for composers like John Mackey and Steven Bryant who do their own publishing. Bravo. I also admire certain publishers for their integrity, such as the Windipendence series offered by Boosey and Hawkes. Thank you to those editors for only permitting quality. But at the end of the day, you, as a music teacher, should have standards. End of story. I know that there are limitless "real-world challanges", but please have standards. There is no problem that cannot be solved through creativity and hard work.

Here's my counter proposal to the piece described above. Play a real arrangement of a real 'Latin' piece - maybe actually teach your students something truly authentic; like what rhumba, tango, or Son rhythms actually are and where they come from. Then, you can play your Christmas song.