Rosette Gonzales
When the lunch bell rang at Burbank High School, most students pushed
their way through classroom doors and headed straight to the quad to
eat and socialize. But other students headed back into class, opting
to use their lunch break for music rehearsal in the band room.
Students tuned French horns, flutes, trumpets and bassoons and
warmed up on the piano as they prepared for the 14th annual
solo/ensemble performance Saturday at San Marino High School. This
year, they have three new ways to maximize their rehearsal time.
Well, not completely new.
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission in December donated 10 used
pianos to the Burbank Unified School District as part of its "Arts
for All" program, a long-range initiative to restore arts education
in local schools.
"This whole purpose is to change the perception of how arts are at
the back of the bus," said Ann Bradley, media consultant for the
commission.
Arts programs are often the first to get cut or remain in the
curriculum only if enough external funding is raised to support them,
she said.
To provide comprehensive learning, the arts should take as
prominent a role in education as other subjects, she said.
"The arts engage students to flex their entire mental muscle," she
said.
Alexis Sheehy, assistant superintendent for Burbank Unified School
District, agreed. The district applied last year to participate in
the Community Arts Education Project, part of Arts for All's 10-year
plan to restore dance, music, theater and visual arts in schools.
"We have been working on creating K-12 curriculum for arts ... a
strategic plan to be able to implement the arts at every grade
level," Sheehy said.
Burbank Unified School District will discuss board policy
regarding arts education at its meeting Thursday.
As one of the perks, the district was given the opportunity to
place 10 used pianos, donated by Forte Marketing Group, in Burbank
schools. Burbank High School received three pianos. John Burroughs
High School was granted four. David Starr Jordan Middle School, Ralph
Waldo Emerson and Theodore Roosevelt Elementary Schools each got one
piano.
But the pale, wood-finished pianos needed a little loving care,
and Burbank High School had to retune the three the school received
before students could use them for music accompaniment and
instruction.
Rehearsal time is still a little chaotic, said Burbank High School
band director Dean Immel, as students tuned and played their
instruments simultaneously during Monday's lunch period.
