Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

In the era of standardized testing, the No Child Left Behind act’s aim at education has created an unforeseen cost for students in the public school systems.

The cost is creativity, and since the acts initiation in 2001, music and arts departments nationwide have suffered, where Kansas is not an exception.

“There’s been numerous studies that have shown the benefits of a kid involved with music doing better in other subjects as well,” said Dan Merrill, Guitar Instructor at Spencer’s Music Room in Olathe.

And these studies have not gone unnoticed. Where our parent’s generation emphasized music and arts backgrounds, many parents are continuing to do so today without the role of public schools. As core subjects of reading and mathematics continue to be pushed towards the forefront of education, parents are enlisting the help of private music instructors to fill the void that public school systems had once done for them.

The impact of music and the arts – creativity as a whole - is often un-measurable, a placement in today’s world under NCLB that leaves music unaccountable for its importance in a child’s earliest developments.

“These music kids just develop a greater discipline for anything and everything,” Merrill said, citing the larger picture of music education than simply notes on a page. Today, this discipline is shaping into a rare thing.

While Kansas in its 2004-2005 school year tested grades four, seven and 10 with the Kansas State Math Assessment, and grades five, eight, and 11with the Kansas State Reading Assessment, the school district began testing third graders up through high school students the following year with standardized tests yearly under NCLB requirements. With reading and math scores holding schools accountable, it’s often music and the arts that are suffering the greatest setbacks.

The increased role of private teachers is drawing larger numbers of students to music stores, often increasing sales

“There’s been less young students that I’ve gotten that have any sort of music background,” Brendan Bondurant, Guitar Instructor at Spencer’s Music Room in Olathe said. While before Bondurant averaged around half his students having some sort of music background from public school band or strings programs, the number seems to be diminishing within the past several years.

But Bondurant isn’t entirely complaining, as it offers him the chance to share with students music experiences he didn’t have growing up in the public school system, before he sought private instruction himself.

“In schools your simply playing notes on a page, it wasn’t until I began taking private lessons when I was younger that I understood why it was those notes,” Bondurant said.

Private instruction allows for a greater understanding than through traditional books, such as Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method series

Regardless of public school music exposure, it’s only through private instruction that students get the one-on-one attention necessary for a thorough understanding of music theory and harmony.

While it’s a task that can last an entire lifetime, studying music theory, harmony and composition through private instruction will serve as the foundation to creating the next Beethoven or Brahms; or maybe simply tomorrow’s next garage-band success, an outcome that’s more than fine with Merrill. “Regardless of the type of music they’ll study, it will get kids thinking in ways they wouldn’t normally, and that’s what counts.”

Take a look at No Child Left Behind results according to NCLB.gov