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.
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 ...
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.
There’s no reasoning with an authoritarian statist Philistine who believes in conformity.
Orchestras are not run like football teams or the army.
A certain amount of individual flamboyance is not only allowed, but encouraged.
Check out the wardrobe of Jacques-Yves Thibaudet sometime.
Bovine Scatology!
Given the stupidity of school administrations, I bet these “teachers” would object if the child turned up with an authentic stradavarius(sp?). “it would be unfair to the other students”
Musical instruments are very personal.
As for your example, I think parents only see THEIR little maestro to the exclusion of all others.
I remember reading about an orchestra that was sued for discrimination.
HOWEVER it failed when it was pointed out the auditions were behind a visually opaque but sound transparent screen so those interviewing could ONLY judge based on sound alone. There was no way to have any appearance or look come into the judgment.
This thread seems to point out how some people are just would up a bit too tight.
I read a wonderful article in my newspaper yesterday about a10-year-old kid who is into surfboarding competitively. He’s homeschooled, has the freedom to go to the West Coast or East Coast to surf anytime his parents let him, or visit his grandparents in Florida for six weeks at a time when invited, all through the school year. He just promises them to keep up with his school work, and I guess he does.
Too bad more kids don’t have that freedom. They’d be a lot happier.
The kids are only free to bang each other like rabbits these days
Not when you're 5th deck 2nd violin it's not.
This girl needs to understand that society doesn't revolve around her (or more importantly, her mother).
Good question. I played a chromed f-key trombone in school while all the other trombone players had standard brass (non f-key) trombones and I never had any complaints from any of my directors/teachers.
Axl Rose would sound MUCH better if he used a guitar from Kmart. He's talentless, but noisy.
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