Thursday, May 14, 1998
Concert sings praises of music education
PREVIEW: Foundations raise money to provide instruments,
support
By Louise Chu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Often when celebrity musicians gather in support of a special
cause, they are motivated by unique personal concerns. But in this
case, their motivation is universal, and their concern is
self-explanatory.
On May 20, world-renowned musicians will gather at the Veteran
Wadsworth Theater in support of music education. The concert,
hosted by Grammy-award winning composer Michael Kamen, will benefit
the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation and the Young Musicians
Foundation. Both are organizations that support the development of
music programs in schools.
Inspired during the making of the film "Mr. Holland’s Opus,"
Kamen, along with actor Richard Dreyfuss and director Stephen
Herek, founded Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation in 1996. The
foundation works to supply low-budget schools with new or
refurbished musical instruments.
"It should be more important to a lot of people who may not be
aware of the benefits that we’re denying kids because we don’t
think that it’s an important program," insists Felice Mancini,
director of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. "It’s a
quality-of-life issue. I mean, music adds to the quality of
people’s lives socially, cognitively, behaviorally."
Mancini cites a number of research cases in which music
education has proven beneficial to a child’s emotional and
intellectual development. One study reveals that students who took
music appreciation courses scored over 100 points higher on the SAT
than students with no arts participation.
"The United States just doesn’t support arts programs in
schools," says Bob Garcia, an organizer of the benefit concert,
which is called "Michael Kamen and Friends." "We’re probably the
only country that doesn’t, in fact. I’m all for starting kids on
instruments the minute they get out of the bassinet."
The concert, the Foundation’s first public fund-raiser, features
actor and singer Eric Idle ("Monty Python"), pianist Mona Golabek,
and singer Julia Migenes (the film version of "Carmen"). Joining
them will be about 70 young musicians from high schools throughout
Southern California, as well as several musicians from UCLA. The
music will include some of Kamen’s most popular scores from "Mr.
Holland’s Opus" and "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," and selected
works by Chopin and Lizst.
In addition to raising funds for music education, the evening
will hopefully do some educating as well. The foundation will
invite about 900 young people from leading high schools with music
programs, including Hamilton Academy and Garfield High School, to
the concert. During the show, they will also present musical
instruments to schools that qualify for the endowment.
Mancini, whose father, legendary composer Henry Mancini, worked
extensively with music education, realizes the importance of
music:
"When I heard about the foundation and there was an opportunity
to work for them, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, when (my father) was
alive, this was such a cause for him – working with young kids.’"
Mancini reflects. "And also he had a thing about, if you were going
into music or into anything, you’ve got to study and get it young
and be thorough. If he hadn’t gotten his piccolo at eight years
old, I’d hate to think what would happen to him.
"I’m a musician myself, I have a love for music, and I think
this is important personally. It’s affected my life in a very
dramatic way."
MUSIC: "Michael Kamen and Friends" will be at the Veteran
Wadsworth Theater on May 20. For tickets, call CTO at (310)
825-2101.