I cant believe I found this! So, back in the early 70s, when Music class was still in public schools abundantly (this was Fairfax County, Virginia), our Music teacher, Miss Compton (whom Im pretty sure was a lesbian, who had a really butch roommate, Miss Savage, who would drop things off in class once in a while), would play this film strip (a series of images projected on a screen, like a movie but with still images), coincided with playing an accompanying LP (long-playing record, 33 1/3 revolutions per minute speed) on a phonograph (stay with me here; it was a long time ago!) on the closest class before Halloween (I think we had Music class once or twice a week). To this day, this piece of music, Danse Macabre, by Camille St. Saens, is still my favorite piece of classical music. I saw this film strip every year for 7 years, K-6. It was my introduction to classical music, and I went on to sort of Minor in Music at UCLA (we didnt have official Minors). It was also my introduction to the arts, where Ive had ties (especially to musical theatre) ever since. I say this because the awareness of how things used to be, when the arts and cultural issues really MATTERED, from a public school and governmental fiscal point of view, is important. Art and Music in public schools is not some liberal, tax-and-spend, nice-to-have, it is VITAL to childrens development, academically and socially. Cost-cutting is not really cutting; its just shifting one resource (spending on the arts in schools, for the benefit of many) to another (making the uber-rich even richer through tax cuts, for the benefit of the extremely few). Over 40 years later, I still remember, use, appreciate, and apply my elementary school public education in Music. Its worth fighting for. We, as a society, have to decide the kind of country we want to have. More money for the Koch Brothers, or a comprehensive basic education? As we approach election season, think of the big picture. We destroy our appreciation for culture and the arts, and dumb down our country, and our nations children, at great peril. There is a cost of comprehensive education, but what is the cost of NOT having it? Now, for the story, this is about the Dance of Death on Halloween night. The spirits rise from their graves at the stroke of Midnight, and dance all night long until the sunrise (I know a little thing or two about that). Then, the rooster crows the announcement of the dawn, and a forlorn Death plays one last coda on his fiddle before its back in the ground for another year. All of this is depicted in the music, but the film strip helps enhance it with images in watercolors (another art). Bless you, Miss Compton. We havent forgotten. youtu.be/Vd0w4L5i828
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:13:32 +0000
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