there are lots of good reasons why kids should have access to music education throughout their school careers, no matter where they go to school and no matter what else they are studying. learning to read music, to play an instrument, to be part of an ensemble, and even just to sit there and practice and practice and practice until a single note comes out right is learning to use a whole new part of the brain, one that's underutilized in typical classroom activities. I think that's reason enough to consider it valuable, but for the more pragmatic among you, there are several more: people who have studied music are better at spatial reasoning, creative thinking, and even standardized testing.

the problem is, music is expensive. instruments are expensive. most public school systems have a hard enough time keeping the wall maps in their history classrooms up-to-date; music programs are seen as luxuries, not necessities, and are given low priority. charities like the mr. holland's opus foundation work to help change that, by providing school systems with new and refurbished instruments, to help defray the cost of maintaining a music program.

I'm a musician. I played around on a half-size casio keyboard when I was little, playing from beginner's piano books and by ear, but I didn't get a real instrument until I was nine, when then school district's music teacher came to our fourth-grade classroom and told us that we could all take lessons provided we could choose our instruments and our parents would rent them for us. that's a fairly steep entry-level requirement, especially for a school populated by children whose parents' taxes couldn't even pay for real grape jelly to accompany the peanut butter in our school-lunch sandwiches (they used bulk-purchased blueberry pie filling instead). I knew that my parents appreciated the arts and were willing to make sacrifices to make sure they were a part of my education; I'd taken drawing classes and dance classes even when spending money on something like clothing was out of the question. still, I was hesitant to ask for a significant financial commitment from them (when I was invited to join a summer music program I almost didn't ask my parents if I could do it because I feared it was presumptuous, and when my father agreed to my timid request without batting an eye I was thoroughly shocked). with a different set of parents, I'm sure I would have felt that music was completely beyond my reach. it shouldn't have to be that way.

after a year of playing the clarinet, I decided I wanted to learn to play another instrument as well. this time, though, my teacher told me that she could pull some strings and get me a borrowed instrument, so that my parents wouldn't have to pay for another one. and so, after several weeks of waiting, I was presented with a beautiful old baritone (that's the thing I'm playing in that picture up there). it was ancient and dented and I loved it. several years later, in high school, the school department loaned me a similarly ancient wooden clarinet, and opened up a whole new world.

this has been much more than just an extracurricular for me. it's given me a new method of self-expression, inspired my interest in music of all sorts, and driven me to write music of my own. I love looking at the sheet music for a concerto and hearing it in my head and knowing that if I sit down and spend enough time working on it, I'll be able to play it. I love noodling. I love sitting down without any music and all and just playing whatever comes to mind. I love hearing a song and trying to figure out how it goes. I love being part of a group, whether it's the orchestra (where my part is often incidental) or the wind ensemble (where it's one voice in the singing melody) or chamber group (where it's all my own).

I know I've been lucky; not all kids have the same kind of support, opportunities, and resources that I did. money shouldn't be the limiting factor in anyone's music education. help make sure it isn't. every little bit helps.

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on the day(s) of the blogathon, I'll be keeping myself awake by making collages. when it's all over, I'll mail them out to my sponsors as a thank you. as soon as I finish each collage, I'll scan it, post it, and write an entry to go along with it. it could be fiction, an anecdote, a poem, anything; most likely, by the end of the twenty-four hours, it will be something only vaguely resembling english. but that's the fun part!

if you're one of my sponsors, I'd love for you to tell me what to collage and write about. anything you like! entertain me, and I'll entertain you.