Former B.C. teacher who inspired School of Rock warns against VSB music program cuts

'Music and art are those subjects that create citizenship in a school ... a sense of belonging'

By Liam Britten, CBC News Posted: Jun 07, 2016 8:58 PM PT

Original article here with audio interview.

On Tuesday, June 7, parents, students and others rallied outside VSB offices in Vancouver to oppose cuts to music education. (@Jonathan_Girard/Twitter)

Parents, students and musicians gathered outside the Vancouver School Board offices Tuesday with musical instruments in their hands to stage a "silent orchestra" in protest of proposed cuts to music programs.

For five of the past seven years, the Vancouver School Board has threatened to cut the band and strings program for the district, and Hans Fenger says that would be a mistake.

Fenger is a former music teacher from Langley, B.C., whose story served as the inspiration for the 2003 movieSchool of Rock.

• VSB budget cuts would eliminate 200 jobs, increase class sizes
• Protesters rally against Vancouver School Board's proposed band and strings program cuts

"Music and art are activities which allow children to think in a more abstract way … a kind of thinking that allows children to be more open to new ideas, to be more retrainable," Fenger told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn.

Hans Fenger's work in Langley served as the inspiration for the 2003 movie School of Rock. (CBC)

"Music and art are those subjects that create citizenship in a school, gives kids a sense of belonging, gives kids a sense of working with other kids together, and it gives your school the kind of feeling that you want to be there."

Fenger didn't always have such lofty ideas about music education. He admits he took a teaching job because he had a young baby and no money, and being a long-haired hippie in a band in the '70s wasn't going to put food on the table.

He found that as a music teacher for young kids, he almost had carte blanche to teach as he saw fit — the only thing that mattered was if the kids were happy or not.

So, he taught them the music he knew: rock music by artists like The Beach Boys, Phil Spector and David Bowie.

"So I would come in and teach what I knew and find an academic way of justifying it," he said. "We did David Bowie's Space Oddity … so I could say, 'Oh, it's like an opera.'"

Fenger even recorded some of his kids' performances for two LP records in the '70s, which were rediscovered and released on CD early in the 21st Century.

Vancouver students stage silent orchestra to protest budget cuts to music programs

 Published June 7, 2016 in the Straight. Original article here with images.

More than 150 students and parents showed up at 4 p.m. outside the Vancouver school board office today to protest the elimination of elementary band and strings programs.

The student-led initiative titled “Save Our Music” saw music students standing in silence, holding their instruments and various signs that read “I’d rather play.”

“It’s more than just an optional arts program,” said Bianca Chui, a Grade 11 band student from Sir Winston Churchill secondary, to the Straight. “It’s something that enriches all of our lives and I think that it’ll be really sad if elementary students no longer have the opportunity to learn or play an instrument.”

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) conductor Bramwell Tovey was also present at the demonstration, and spoke to the large group of music students.

“I want to apologize to you for all the grownups who make funding decisions. The grownups have failed you,” Tovey said into a megaphone. “We need to have grownups that say music must be part of the school curriculum.”

The strings and band program operates in 44 Vancouver schools. It is estimated that cutting it would save the district just under $400,000 per year.

In 2015, the yearly fee to participate in the band program was upped from $25 to $50 in an effort to make the continuation of the program more feasible.

However, VSB chair Mike Lombardi said in March that senior management proposals called for the elimination of the program unless the provincial government provided the VSB with additional funding.

One of the students at the protest expressed his passion for the program.
“We’re depriving kids of an opportunity that they have had under the Vancouver public school system since it was instated,” said Xiaoyu Huang, a member of Sir Winston Churchill Secondary’s music council, told the Straight. 

“The impact on kids who have been in a program and are now removed from it is especially devastating because it’s an interest that can blossom into something for the rest of their lives,” Huang added.

Christin Reardon MacLellan, president of the Coalition for Music Education in B.C., told the Straight that the idea of the “silent orchestra” came from a group of enthusiastic music students on the Sir Winton Churchill Music Council—a place that supports music in schools and collaborates with other student music councils across the city.

The band and strings programs are dubbed an “optional” program, but MacLellan believes that the issue goes beyond being able to play an instrument at a public school.

“That’s where the biggest problem lies—you cut an 'optional' program but you deny 2,000 students of music specialist teachers,” said MacLellan, who's also conductor of UBC Concert Winds. “Until they put an elementary music specialist in every single school, they can’t possibly be cutting a program that is the only access to specialists for so many students.”

How to Save Vancouver Band and Strings

This year might be the last for Band and Strings. Christy Clark's BC Liberal Government has, for the second year, disregarded the advice of the Select Standing Committee and chosen to decrease rather than increase Public School funding, and at the same time, increase Private School funding. Although the numbers increase for Public Schools, the amount does not account for either inflation or downloaded costs to School Boards that were once paid for by the Provincial Government.

If you want to do something about this, you must get vocal.

1. Write to your MLA using this handy email tool from Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE), my organization. Here is the background: https://facebc.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/209/
2.  Attend protests organized by parent groups Families Against Cuts to Education and the Parent Advocacy Network
3.  Join the Facebook Groups of Families Against Cuts to Education and the Parent Advocacy Network
4. Sign and share the Petition to Save VSB Band and Strings

 Write to Premier Christy Clark. Most importantly, let her know clearly, in the next election that we will not tolerate the destruction of Public Education and the promotion of Private Education.