It is disquieting to learn that financial difficulties are to be solved by liquidating instrumental music in the public schools. Many people feel that nothing has value unless it can be locked in a garage or deposited in a bank. These things are good but perishable.
Man must have bread. But man has a higher hunger and cannot live by bread alone. Bohumin Makovsky, Oklahoma A and M, said it well: Music is the builder of unity. To have integrated personalities, schools and communities, we may well ponder these impressive truths and make music the core of the curriculum rather than the whipping boy. Teach children to blow an instrument so they won't grow up to blow a safe.
Adam S. Bennion said: "Music is life's great accompaniment. I have never seen a good school but what I saw a school with a good music program."
Music is not a frill on the skirt of education but a part of the coloring. Playing an instrument brings health, happiness, success and longevity.
Harold C. Christensen
Salt Lake City