You may have seen the headline in last week's Gazette. In case you didn't, it read, "School cuts put end to band revival."
The news sent a chill through me, like a sour note.
What's more, the story points out art and music instruction is being reduced to one period a week in the lower grades. At that rate, our students may be able to play a kazoo and paint by numbers once they graduate.
It's one thing to kill a band, another to put an end to a revival. A revival is intended to mend broken programs, like a business declaring Chapter 11. To put it bluntly, a school with no music, art and physical education is destined to fall into inertia. You know that, don't you?
Whoever is responsible for such a demise should rethink some priorities, whether it's our elected officials, school administration, or student body. I'm sure our band parents, what's left of them, are conducting a rain dance these days.
My thoughts turn to Joe Leary, the battled-scarred high school band director for the past three decades. The end — or hiatus, perhaps, if money can be found to revive the revival — of the middle school band can't have Joe whistling a happy tune.
Where will the high school musicians come from?
Already he has seen his lyrical mountain turned to a molehill.
I needn't remind you that it wasn't too long ago when our marching band was the envy of surrounding schools — the toast of our town. One trophy after another resulted from statewide band competitions, some as tall as a tuba.
Walk into the band room and it looks like Emblem and Badge.
Dozens of students over Leary's reign continued their music education in college. Several turned their talent into a profession. Others wound up in the classroom. Music was their stepping stone to success. I'm sure the same could be said for art education.
One such student is a man who goes by the name of Rob Zombie these days. Had he not found a creative outlet in the high school's art department, his astounding success may not have been.
Speaking from experience, I saw what the band did for my daughter. She played the flute and all the hours of private instruction with Mike Finegold of Northern Essex Community College paid dividends.
OK, so she wasn't overly thrilled about the demands. On the other hand, she was appreciative of the ethics Mr. Leary instilled and the introduction to good music he induced. To this day, Sonya looks back upon those days with fond recollection.
The band room was their shelter from an often chaotic world. Here, the musicians created good music together, provided solace for one another, connected on a creative level.
When we all turned out at the football stadium — athletic boosters and music fans together — we created community.
It's no lie when I tell you that the stadium crowd looked forward to the performances as much as the games.
There were no losing seasons for our band. It always came away a winner — a champion. Only political interference has done the band in.
One former city councilor summed it up in two words. He called the loss, "Disgustingly disgusting." I'm sure others feel the same way. OK, I'm done venting. Maybe there is a solution to this dilemma.
If there's no money in the city till, then why can't we get the townsfolk to help? Let's organize fundraisers, get businesses involved, collect sponsorships just like Professor Harold Hill did in River City.
Let's get aboard the bandwagon and get the music going again. Build up our middle school ranks, promote a logical feeding system, and march to the beat of a loud drum roll.
No way should this debacle sound like Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" or Mozart's "Requiem." Instead, let's strike up the band and play a different tune.
Let's call it, "Staying Alive."
Photographer and writer Tom Vartabedian is retired from The Haverhill Gazette. He contributes this regular column.
