One of my main priorities I would advocate for in my school district would be to have
fully functioning instruments for the students to play on. I believe that it would be like asking
students to do math with an abacus or learning to write with a rock to get them to learn how to
play an instrument that is not fully functional.
Another priority would be to play music the students want to play. To get their buy-in on
performing music well, I believe they need to enjoy the music they are playing.
A third priority is teaching the students to practice well. I believe that teaching student
HOW to learn is often more important than just teaching them WHAT to learn. Learning how to
practice gives the students the tools to start to teach themselves.
The ways I would advocate for the above would be by doing the following:
1. Collect the broken instruments that are present in the school system and invite
local professionals to come play those instruments in front of administrators. The
punch line would essentially be “we are expecting our students to make music
with these instruments and professionals are not even able to. We need to ensure
our instruments are functional. They cannot be expected to make beautiful music
with broken tools.”
2. I would also invite local media to the above event (which I realize may shame
administrators, so I might rethink that depending upon how love I have been
asking for instruments to be repaired).

3. I would find out what students are wanting to perform by sending out some kind
of survey they can fill out. I would have a short list of 10 pieces with links for
them to listen to the pieces.
4. With the above professionals, I would have them sit down with my students and
teach them how they go about the process of practicing.
5. With professional and lay musicians, I would want to interview them about how
they got to where they are. I think of the podcast “Double Reed Dish” where they
interview well-known oboists and bassoonists about how they got to where they
are. I think it would be important for students to hear how professionals got to
where they are. But I also think it would be great for them to hear from lay
musicians (church leaders, local pub musicians, volunteer orchestra members, etc)
how they got to where they are as well.