Teaching Music, Oct. 2013. “Building on the Resourceful Power of Music”
Jamie Knight from Huntington Beach High School in California deals with the struggles for funding his music program by using the “power of music.” He means using the very music program he has to fund raise by using his and their talents and thinking like a business person. Taking in the consideration of the local economy and what would be affordable in his community, he charges for musical events such as concerts, battle of the bands, and “touring” at nursing homes. He has also found that using his relationships with other teachers has been a tremendous help. He asks what the teachers could offer the music department, and what they could do for them in return. This leads to using labs and libraries as practice areas. He warns to not get territorial. He also brings up the opportunity to integrate technology in the music classroom by creating a recording studio using Career Technical Education funding, because his students would be learning how to run the tech in a recording studio and learning how to be sound engineers.
A lot of his ideas are great, ones I had never even considered like the CTE funding for a recording studio. Also, sharing resources so teachers/classes can help each other. I am not so sure about charging for concerts that are typically free, however, I feel that the community would be understanding as to why there is a small price on the tickets. Another idea I wasn’t so certain about was charging for concerts given at nursing homes. That’s something I would need to look into more but I feel that is something that should be free.
