I'm such a nerd. I had a blast.

Alex, Becky, and I rode down with Mrs. Pappas on Wednesday night to go to the IMEA (Illinois Music Educators' Association) All-State festival. Becky and Alex are really good and everything, so they were there to play, but I was there for the Future Music Educators' Seminar. It was actually really cool.

It was pretty much just two days of listening to concerts and attending little workshops on how to be a director. The workshops were geared toward people who already were band directors (I was usually the only high school student in my clinics), so it wasn't watered down or anything. And, at least for now, my doubts are gone about whether or not I want to be a band director. I still intend to get an endorsement in English, just to give me some more flexibility, but I've decided that I really want to teach in the inner city.

Reasons:
A) It's the city. Come on. How freaking awesome would it be to live in the city?
B) They really need it. I've come to learn, through this little dealy, that the majority of the public schools in Chicago don't have ANY music programs. AT ALL. That's a good sized problem.
C) My mediocre musicianship probably won't be questioned.

I'm a little racist. I mean, everyone's a little bit racist, sometimes, but I really don't have ANY exposure to black/hispanic people. I've isolated myself in this little ivory tower of fine arts kids - pretty much all of whom are white, and most of whom are a lot more racist than I am. I think THAT'S the source of a lot of the racism. The isolation. Fine arts kids are going to isolate themselves - it's natural, since fine arts kids are pretty much intellectually superior to the rest of the school population - but since most fine arts kids are white, it becomes an issue of voluntary racial segregation, too. I saw a grand total of about five black people at this convention of thousands of people. My group of thirty "Future Music Educators" was ENTIRELY white. Asians aren't really an issue, since there are always tons of Asian kids in fine arts, especially orchestra, but it's not fair that black and hispanic kids aren't given the opportunities that music affords just because of where they live. Black and hispanic kids CAN'T break into this stuffy, elite group of white and Asian music kids. That's not fair at all.

So, my reasons for wanting to do this are a little racist in origin. Inner city kids are dumb and violent, and music can help them be less dumb and violent. I'm a little like some kind of missionary, thinking I can save souls in Africa by shoving Christ down their throats. But then again, God isn't real. So maybe I'm a little more noble than a missionary.

posted at 11:44 AM by Alison

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