Planting the Seeds

I hope you'll grant me a little leeway here; I'm a proud dad. I dropped off my daughter this morning for summer theater camp. This year, she'll be performing in a version of "Treasure Island" - she's graduated to the "big kid group" after having done three previous shows with the 5-9 year-olds. She's a bit nervous (tryouts are today) but excited. 

I'm also nervous - in this COVID-19-aware climate (and with kids who are still too young to get a vaccination) it's a bit concerning to be getting so many kids together - but this camp really has their act together and is strictly enforcing masking at at all times. (They're also positively MILITANT about peanut allergies!) And thus far, they've had a very successful string of camps where no one has gotten sick.

In previous years at this camp, she's played "Nala" in The Lion King, "Sleepy" in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and most recently, she positively crushed it (as an 8-year-old) in the title role in Annie. (See video at the right).

I was exceedingly fortunate to have musical parents. My mother was a school music teacher and a theater/choir director, and my dad -- as if you didn't know -- has been a performing musician since before I was born. There was always music in the house, and was always support for musical endeavors when I was growing up. 

With the declining status of music programs in many of our public schools nationwide (a misguided effort, and one that would require far more space than I have here to debate) it's even more important that we support our kids outside the school system with encouragement and opportunity.

Now, my kid will be fine, even though her elementary school scaled back her music teacher position to part-time a few years ago. Between me, her mom (a Broadway stage alum) and Grandpa Bob -- never mind all the other family members and friends who surround her with the arts -- she'll have plenty of support and inspiration.

And I think that most other kids will be fine, too... the theater camp registration closed out early, and over the years, they've had several groups filled with talented, eager kids putting on impressive shows for pretty full houses of parents, friends, family members and others. 

Hopefully, there's this much homegrown support for performing arts where you live, too. And we'll keep working to re-establish to our local school boards and state legislators just how important they are to our children's' development and abilities. I hope that you can, whether you're a parent yourself or not, do what you can to be an advocate to help assure that music education is supported in communities everywhere, so that all children have the opportunity to learn and grow with music.

In the meantime, I know that music will always find a way!