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this happened to us years ago. We haven't had orchestra and band since I was in 5th grade 7 years ago. We still have choir and singing, but students have to wait until they're 6th graders at the middle school before they can take orchestra.

I totally agree though, taking music out of the school's is just wrong. I strongly believe that none of the classes are as important as music. I also stongly believe that music is the key that will one day lead to the bridging and acceptance of other cultures.

On a shallower note, who do they think is going to make the music for blockbuster films and background music for tv shows if they take music out of the schools? A computer CAN'T DO EVERYTHING, contrary to popular belief. Sure some kids can afford private lessons, but that's a completely different experience than playin IN an orchestra with OTHER PEOPLE..

Oh, and don't just do that website thing, go out and be proactive yourself. Do a fundraiser or organize a way to make your personal community aware of the situation. Get involved! You can't always let someone else do things for you. A great idea would be to organize a concert with a minimal charge to get in that would help raise money for your community music program. If you can stop them from removing the program from elementary schools, more power to you, but if it does get cut... DON'T LET THEM TAKE IT FROM JR/SR HIGH SCHOOLS!

It's a sad world we are coming to live in, with this recession and all, but if you are active and make your community aware of how important this is, they will back you up. You can do it, regardless of how old you are. There is bound to be SOMEONE out there who can help you get organized and get the message out there, i learned that through personal experience with my school's telethon(yes run COMPLETELY by students for 7 hours^^). You've got a good cause, so you've got nothing to fear.

Our school is kinda like that too. All they do is talk about how well the sports teams do at competitions and stuff, but no one in the school has any idea that we go to state every year too and get gold and silver medals. Our hockey team has a ridiculous budget, and if the music dept had even HALF that, we could probably by at least one new instrument, countless bows and more music. It's kinda sad, when you think about it

It is sad, especially for strings. Even at my university, we get hardly anybody at our concerts, when band gets a decent crowd and choir is so popular they can charge 17 dollars a concert. We're doing a big project to help with "marketing" you could say, to make the community aware of our program. Sure, people can complain that it costs...5-7 dollars to get in, but we play at a professional symphony's level and that's WAY cheaper than going to the symphony. It's just depressing to look out into the crowd, after putting in hour after hour after hour, and playing something profound to a nonexistent crowd. I didn't practice three hours a day for 3 months to not be heard. I suppose if I touch one person with my music, it's worth it, but it's still sad.

My elementary school never had a music program. You just had to wait until sixth grade.

If they cut my school's music program I would just die. My viola is pretty much my entire life. Orchestra is already underappreciated. The band and chorus are having another fundraiser but orchestra is just stuck with what we earned in the first fundraiser, which wasn't a lot. AARRGGHHH I hate it when the Band Geeks and La-La Losers get more appreciation than the Orkadorks! It's so unfair. Sorry that that kind of got off topic.