Posted on 09/25/2012 11:58:09 AM PDT by Altariel
ll 11-year-old Camille Cruz wanted to do was play in her sixth-grade orchestra class at a Farmington, N.M., middle school using a violin her grandmother bought her.
This instrument is definitely different: Not only does it have sentimental value, it’s purple -- and that was where school officials drew the line. They insisted Camille had to play a violin the same color as everyone else’s, or she couldn’t play at all.
The student’s violin of a different color now has the town of Farmington (pop. 45,000) in a tizzy. After the local Daily Times newspaper published a story about Camille and her violin, online comments flooded the newspaper’s website. Folks are now discussing the story at coffee houses and over backyard fences.
“It’s been the talk of the town,” Daily Times reporter Ryan Boetel told the Los Angeles Times. “The reaction has been incredibly mixed. Half the people say an orchestra is a team that should come together as one. Others say that anything that prevents a child from joining a school orchestra is a bad thing.”
For Camille and her mother, Sherry Lopez, the brouhaha is all about standing up for who you are, even if the color of your violin is different from everyone else’s.
"This whole thing is like telling Axl Rose he has to use some guitar from Kmart," Lopez told The Times. "He doesn't want to use that. He wants to use his own guitar. And so does Camille. It’s a sense of pride. This violin is hers. She wants to use her own instrument. But the school was just so adamant. She didn’t match. She stood out. It was all about the color of the instrument and not her talents as a musician.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Farmington embarrassing us again.... ;)
Besides Hillary herself, the most insane, brutal and aggressive totalitarian monsters in this country are public school teachers and administrators.
Not even D.C. Democrats come near them.
They are frothing-mouth rabid.
Do they have a rule book? Does the rule book say that all instruments must have a uniform appearance? No? Then there is no violation, and they are being unfair.
People get caught up in superficial stuff and they end up paying too little importance to the stuff that matters. This is why we got Obama — a lot of people looked at his color and gave a big thumbs up, but they forgot to vet him or look at his proposed policies. His political philosophy didn’t matter, right? They guy had the color they were looking for.
Some day, perhaps we can all look a little deeper than the surface.
How would a Hendrix version of “Purple Haze” sound on the violin?
Sometimes some idiot puts a Steinway on stage when I have an engagement.
Which I refuse to play. They haven’t made a decent piano since the early 70’s.
If they don’t replace it with the appropriate Baldwin SD-10 I will, (and have), cancelled.
Let this girl use her own violin. I’m sure a real conductor wouldn’t care, only the untalented hack who couldn’t cut it as a performer and has to work for the public school system.
Herbert von Karajan and Georg Solti spin in their graves.
I bet if it had an Obama sticker on it, they’ll make a special place in their trophy case for it.
Hate to say it, but I go with the school on this one. If it’s an orchestra, that means something in terms of a performance group. They all dress mostly one way, they perform as a unit.
The proper response is to start your own group with your own rules. Once you consent to ‘the man’ supporting your art, ‘the man’ gets to make rules.
The principle of the King’s Coin does not apply here given that the students have to buy their own instruments.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I have a grandchild in 6th grade who plays the violin...
I dont think the color matters in TN schools...
I’ll ask her though...
Wrong.
Its not up to the school. If it was its only up to the conductor. And in the world of classical music, the conductor IS the absolute dictator.
But no one, not even Toscanini with his legendary temper, would criticize any of their players’ personal instruments.
Yep, I think you called it right. No documented infraction, no foul. This is silly. Would a blond wood violin have set them off as well?
What she should do perhaps is stand on the sidewalk outside the school, put a blanket on the ground and play for passersby. She could also put up a sign saying she is playing for tuition money for a new school.
OK people lets get real and judge this case on the facts and circumstances as they exist in the real world.
These are sixth graders and we are trying to teach them music. In the real world teaching sixth graders only happens in an environment of discipline.
Discipline goes out the window when you start making exceptions for individuals. Either everyone is the same or everyone is different.
Also if you remember the sixth grade as I do anyone who could be singled out became a target. It may end up being a mercy they did this girl by not letting her have her special violin.
do all brass players have to use brass coloured instruments, or are chromed ones ok?
do they have to use trumpets or are coronets ok?
tubas or sousaphones?
ridiculous. there’s probably plenty of colour variation in the school provided ones anyway.
Did you read the article or the comments?
The instrument is actually very cheap and goes out of tune constantly.
There are instrument companies that hit up unsuspecting parents with cheap instruments that break and sound like crap.
I think the issues is more with quality than the color of it.
Exactly.
Be a part of the TEAM.
Wear the uniform, respect the rules.
If there is no rule that says all of the instruments have to meet certain specific criteria, it is not “good discipline” to come in and make a rule that applies only to the one student. IMHO, Another element of teaching music to children involves some flexibility. What do you do if someone is out the day of the concert? Someone skips a page in the sheet music? Is it all over, give up, go home? Or do they try to improvise and do their best?
Incidentally, one of the finest movies I have seen.
You take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline.
Except there's no exception here; the instrument is the person's own, not the schools. (And a previous poster indicated that the students themselves buy their instruments, therefore there is no irregularity.)
Your argument is like saying that because someone shows up to gym class with green socks [and everyone else has white] there is no discipline; that's just ridiculous.
True.
One of the enduring images of musical history in America is Gershwin at that snow-white deco-styled piano.
I played Euphonium, i used my dad’s pro quality Conn, in high school marching band, my band director made me use the school’s Besson (still a great horn) just so we all matched. Concert band, pep and everything else I could use my Conn.
when kids then and now buy instraments they can buy from the school suggested outlet or go off on their own.
Her grandmother bought it, that makes it a gift worth more than gold.
Also the discipline is for the result not the appearance. She was not using a mohawk and goth outfit.
Never heard of a purple violin, but these neon violins were featured in the production number The Shadow Waltz in the movie "Gold Diggers of 1933."
Orchestral discipline has nothing to do with collective conformity, except in the execution of the music.
Obviously you’re no serious musician.
Here it is by a string quartet.
how about the electric violins of the girls in the group “bond”
Amen...I could have been stuck playing some AWFUL instruments over the years. I have always brought my own keyboard, even if I am assured the place “has a piano”. And when I do a recital for the kids, each brings his or her own guitar. They get lined up on the stage in the order of performance.
In a REAL orchestra, everybody owns their own instrument. So they are NOT going to all look the same.
That’s a viola joke.
Actually, the instrument that is constantly out of tune is the school district’s violin that they foisted on the girl.
Any TEAM that doesn't respect its members, is a PRISON.
Any RULES that don't respect its members, are TYRANNY.
Every person, in my entire life, who I have ever known to pound on RULES, was a tyrant. No exceptions.
Every single one had a PERSONAL AGENDA they were ABUSING RULES to enforce.
The litmus test for RESPECTFUL LEADERSHIP is RESPECT in applying RULES.
The TEAM is NOT WORTH THE HARM OF ITS MEMBERS.
And DISRESPECT IS HARM.
If I were the Superintendent, and you were in charge of this decision, you'd be out of a job.
BUT - like TYRANTS always do (read the article) NO ONE FROM ADMINISTRATION is taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for this decision. They aren't even answering their phones!
And now, the girl dropped out of orchestra.
Mission accomplished - obey, or be destroyed.
So (after recieving permission), The Collective smiled.
:: spit ::
Mark my words: America will not be free until public education is utterly destroyed. These public teachers and administrators are MONSTERS. They are destroying the very essence of freedom in children. They are fantastically evil.
What should be provided is VOUCHERS. Not funding for these soul-destroyers.
MAKE THAT ONE CHANGE, and America will be restored, and the Democrat Party will collapse.
THAT is the TRUTH.
/rant
I spent sixteen years in The United States Army, wearing the uniform and following the rules. When I decided I wanted some individuality, I left.
If a different-colored violin upsets the team, it’s a problem. If not, no big deal. I’ll leave it to the leaders of the team to make that decision.
If she decided to drop out rather than conform to the team, the maybe she’s the one who didn’t value the team or its goals?
BTW, uniformity is more a feature of private education, not public (government) education. I’m actually surprised a private (government) school had any rules or standards to begin with.
I bet they only allow orange violins in Tennessee... ;-)
If there's no rule, then no exception is being made.
This violin is hers. She wants to use her own instrument. But the school was just so adamant. She didn’t match. She stood out.
&&&
Then let her use it when she is performing alone; when she is performing with the orchestra, she is to blend in. That is why the members dress similarly, idiot.
Yes, she stood out, and, most likely, what you and her idiot grandmother wanted more than anything was attention.
There ya go...
;)
First, I never claimed to be a serious musician.
Second, "collective conformity" for the sake of conformity actually has nothing to do with music's execution. The precise timing, synchronized between players, is exactly independent of the instrument's appearance; if it were not orchestra and any other mixed-instrument band/group would be impossible.
What if someone wanted all the musicians to be the same color?
And you miss his essential point:
Any TEAM that doesn't respect its members, is a PRISON.
Any RULES that don't respect its members, are TYRANNY.
I, too, was in the military and I have to say that the rules themselves weren't disrespectful of people, though there were those in leadership positions who would abuse the rules (by wither making selective exceptions, or more frequently additional rules). {Indeed, the constant non-application of rules regarding promotion was a big reason I left the national guard.}
Blue is my favorite color.
Let the girl play. Encouraging kids to practice is THE hardest part of teaching them. Destroy her enjoyment of it now, and she'll have that history color every musical experience for the rest of her life.
If she was in a concert with the others, just who would be looking at her and the violin? The audience. Everyone looks at their own kid or G’kid, but in this situation all eyes would be on her. Not fair to the purpose of the music program.
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