Budget Cuts Will

Hurt Performing Arts Program

To the Editor:

My husband and I have chosen to raise our children in Newtown for one reason –– it is the music program within the public school system.

We are blessed that both of our high school children are very musically talented, and although much of that comes from being raised in a musical family, it can only happen with the support of extraordinary music teachers in an atmosphere where the fine arts are valued, where priorities look outside of the basic academic program to reach children with a wide variety of gifts, talents, and interests.

Newtown has an award-winning marching band and jazz ensemble. They have one of the finest instrumental, choral, and drama programs in the state with performances often packing the auditorium, attracting audiences that reach far beyond the performers’ families. Newtown sends not just one or two, but many instrumentalists and vocalists to CMEA regional and all state competitions, and our students earn top scores and seats in these highly competitive groups. Many high schools in the state are not even represented there.

We have sent music students to some of the finest music schools and conservatories such as Eastman, Hartt, Berklee, Boyer, and even Julliard. These exceptional students have not only benefited from our music programs, but from the support and encouragement and sense of belonging and connectedness that comes from being a product of a system where their talents and abilities are a priority rather than an “extra.”

We have well researched and documented evidence that the study of the performing arts has a far reaching impact on intellectual development. Scholarly journals have reported that musical study has been found to increase spatial problem-solving skills and kids who participate in the performing arts score measurably higher on the SATs. They demonstrate greater leadership abilities as well.

Finally, as an instructor of music education in Connecticut’s higher education system, I can tell you that those school systems that offer little or no opportunities in the arts produce graduates who are truly handicapped in being able to learn musicality in college. I have many of them in my classes. As future teachers, they will likely affect their student’s musical learning negatively. It is a fact that musical aptitude is established between the ages of 2 and 9, and after that time our brains have little capacity to develop musical intelligence. If what they have is not used, it essentially atrophies. Most of my students who struggle with learning music as an adult seriously regret not having had the opportunity to learn it early in childhood, since the success rate for learning music skills for the first time as an adult to any degree of proficiency is less than one percent.

We have an opportunity and responsibility to prevent such atrocities from happening to Newtown’s children. Additional cuts to our education budget will eliminate essential instrumental music programs. I urge the residents and leadership of this community to pass our already lean budget and avoid any budget cuts that will negatively impact the extraordinary performing arts programs this town is known for.

Sincerely,

David and Patricia Reinhardt

54 Taunton Lake Road, Newtown                                April 4, 2003