Incidentally, one of the finest movies I have seen.
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 ...
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.
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