Monday, January 4, 2010

Music-A-Thon Supports Music at MDUSD Schools


Press Release also available here.


MDMEF’S MUSIC-A-THON

SUPPORTS MUSIC AT MT. DIABLO UNIFIED SCHOOLS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 AT CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL

NOTE NEW HOURS: 10 AM TO 10 PM


Concord, CA. December 22, 2009. More than ten schools from around the Mt. Diablo Unified School District will be participating in the Music-A-Thon to support the music programs in the Mt. Diablo schools. The Mount Diablo Music Education Foundation is hosting the Music-A-Thon, featuring music students from the various elementary, middle and high schools, performing different styles of music and vocals.

Participating schools include Clayton Valley High School, Concord High School, Northgate High, El Dorado Middle, Foothill Middle, Pine Hollow Middle, Pleasant Hill Middle, as well as elementary students from Ayers, El Monte, Highlands, Holbrook, Monte Gardens, Westwood, Woodside, and more schools are expected to be announced soon.

The music will start at 10 am at the Multi-Use Room at Concord High School, 4200 Concord Blvd. in Concord, and go until 10 pm.

Music students will be collecting pledges to on behalf of the performers and to support music education in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. Tickets for the event are $5 for adults and $3 for students. Donations will also be taken at the event.

Support is Critical – Elementary Programs Face Elimination

Support for the school music programs is critical since the 4th grade instrumental music program was eliminated this year, and because of the state’s budget crisis, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District is planning to cut 5th grade music the next school year. The Mount Diablo Music Education Foundation was formed to raise awareness of the cuts that have hit our music programs, and to solicit donations to support music education for our students.

It has been shown that students who become involved in music education become better students, attend school more regularly than other students, score higher on state standardized tests than other students, and stay engaged in school. Music programs enrich the students’ education and help students develop for adulthood. In turn, these programs and students support the arts and music and thereby enrich the community. While the area high schools in the district support a wide range of music programs, including orchestras, choral, jazz ensembles, and band, the elimination of elementary music will start to erode the quality of the secondary music program. Without elementary music programs, fewer students will take up music.

The Mount Diablo Music Education Foundation will be holding various fundraisers to raise money to save music in our elementary schools, as well as soliciting donations. You can learn more and volunteer by visiting http://www.mdmusicfoundation.org/ .

Mount Diablo Music Education Foundation is a non-profit foundation.

Tax ID 27-1292110.

For more information, call Michael McNally at 925-827-5706.


6 comments:

  1. Please support music in our schools. My kids both started in the MDUSD 4th grade programs and are now straight A students in middle school and high school. Both still play in their school bands. The band trips that their schools take (parents pay) are the most memorable events of their school year.

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  2. Will we be able to watch live at mdusd.net??????
    Could you put up a paypal link on your website to donate directly?

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  3. I wonder if any of this money will be going to attorney raises?

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  4. The MDUSD Music CURRICULUM is a critical part of our public education. Music education is not an extracurricular activity and it is not a hobby. Instead it is a language and a cooperative activity that is unparalleled in other academic pursuits.

    The MDUSD music teachers are knowledgeable, talented and dedicated to the hundreds of students who benefit from music education. Individually and as a culture, we all benefit from public music instruction.

    For the most part, it has only been parents, family and close friends who have had the opportunity to be included in viewing the many wonderful music performances that our students have given over the years.

    Post your VIDEOS now: Help share their talent with the larger community now. If you have video of recent or past performances, please upload them to www.YouTube.com and title them with "MDUSD" in the beginning of the name so that they will be easy to find.

    Outstanding school district performances feature choir, concert band, orchestra, jazz band, solo and ensemble performances given at general holiday or end of the year performances as well as award-winning performances in competition. Outstanding musical theatre has also been an important part of music education in our school district.

    You don't need to have a student in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District to value the incredible benefit that public music education provides to us all-- not only to those who play but to those who listen.

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  5. of course music is important. But at some point the community needs to prioritize. And when you're trying to keep quality math, reading, science, and history teachers, the choice isn't hard. Math and reading outweighs music by a ton. In a perfect world, students would get everything.

    But we all know that the world is far from perfect right now.

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  6. Music education funding is threatened even further. Last night at the MDUSD board meeting I was horrified by the impact State-reduced funding to Public Education will have on our schools. The previously estimated $17 million shortfall for next year’s budget has ballooned to over $35 million dollars. The painful cuts that were proposed to meet the original $17 million shortfall included 34 items including eliminating music programs, eliminating librarian positions, not purchasing textbooks, reducing special education services, eliminating small AP classes, cutting teacher’s salary by 3% with required furlough, and closing 4 elementary schools to name just a few. The sum of all the current proposed items will not get us half way to the budget cuts now required. As the state takes educational dollars to fill their budget shortfalls, our schools are left with massive funding holes. Everyone will be impacted by these cuts as shuttered schools or schools forced to consolidate K-8 on one campus will degrade, causing home values to continue to fall even farther. The parcel tax that barely failed to get the 67% is now more essential than ever. A parcel tax raises local funds and keeps those funds in the local schools, so the State Government is not able to “steal” those funds from Educational Budgets. Local support of parcel tax measures is critical to maintaining a basic public education.

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