Music vs. sports, and who do you suppose wins?

Blake Karas, activities director

Stardate April 27, 2023. It is incredible but the weather does not improve that much. My mom died on April 24 of 2018 and I remember that in the days immediately following, I walked downtown very comfortably in the morning. I had been very sedentary taking care of Mom, so I went out of my way to get some exercise. Heavens, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon three times in the 1980s!

So the weather was far more pleasant back in the 2018 spring. I even walked across the University farm field in front of my neighborhood - the non-maintained road that has been there for (seemingly) time immemorial. It is very easy for that road to be more muddy. Would not consider using it today, Stardate April 27, 2023. 

So it's Thursday, a day for which I had on my calendar the big junior high (grades 5-8) band concert. Don't underestimate how exciting a junior high band concert can be. Last spring I felt it was right on par with the senior high concert, honestly. And this is not to take anything away from senior high band. I wouldn't dare insinuate anything different, lest I risk incurring the enmity of the director Wanda Dagen. 

We all know Ms. Dagen is brilliant and if anything might push the kids a little too hard sometimes. Oops, there I go risking her enmity. I hope to catch her this summer directing the Swift County Band when it plays in Appleton again. It was a delight to take this in last summer, at the park. What a wonderful setting for the performance. Some very large and majestic trees there. 

I wish Morris could have a community band that is just as active. We have the plus of a college music program right here. Some of those faculty are even involved with Swift County. People are evasive when I bring up the suggestion. It's kind of a Morris trait. Never admit to lethargy about anything, just sort of hem and haw and point fingers back. They might say "why not do it yourself?" I must be prepared with a rejoinder. 

People have long connected "apathy" to our Motown. People discuss this without even being concerned. It's the proper order of things I guess. Time immemorial. I was here for the Centennial in 1971. I even played in what MHS band director John Woell called the "German band." Our small group spent some time literally wandering around and playing for people. That's how I got inside the Met Lounge the first time! 

I'm on a tangent now - let's get back to the current MAHS instrumental music calendar. There is an issue here. The grades 5-8 bands were originally on the schedule for performing tonight, Thursday. And yes it would have been a most special affair. I'm certain that director Andrea DeNardo was looking forward to it, greatly. It's neat to see how the youngest kids in the band program have progressed since fall. Andrea has talked about this. 

Tonight's concert hasn't exactly been canceled but I would argue it has been diminished. It got moved to Monday and will now be paired with the jazz concert that was already on the slate. The jazz concert was originally slated as grades 6-12. That would mean we'd hear the most accomplished "Jazz I." Well, the best laid plans of whomever can get jarred by school administration. 

This fellow Blake Karas in school administration - I refer to him as "Alex Karras" based on the old football player - requested that tonight's concert be moved. Oh my, guess the reason. Can anyone challenge the absolute primacy of high school sports? A fool's errand. Like crime, death and taxes, the primacy is etched in stone - we are only left to shrug ours shoulders and complain some. Maybe more than some, but it is futile, n'est-ce pas? 

I could write volumes because I wrote for the Morris newspaper for 27 years. I wrote for the Hancock paper for 15 of those years too. Now I'm just getting old and tired. 

I strive to be an advocate for school music. In December I contributed $1000 to the Morris Area School Foundation (West Central Initiative) with a designation of music as a priority. I don't know if the Foundation honors such requests. I just left it at that. 

I don't like to see administrative decisions that have the effect of cheapening the arts. Oh Mr. Karas would never admit as much. I have never met him. The present administration has no idea what they are missing, as they do their work in a time when Brian Williams is not with the Morris paper. I began my career when Watergate was fresh and writers in the press were expected to go over the edge sometimes. This would be totally disallowed today. The standards today are totally taken for granted by everyone. I remember the changes over time. 

So Mr. Karas - "Alex Karras" - approached the senior high band director and wanted today's concert moved for sports reasons, because all hell has broken loose with our lousy weather this spring. That must have school people pulling their hair. Why do we accept the risk of this happening? There is no such risk for the fall and winter sports. 

Spring is a wild goose chase, which maybe I could accept some if sports wasn't put up on such a cotton pickin' pedestal. Of course it should not surprise me. I didn't come into town on a turnip truck. 

Sports parents can have explosive tempers. I wish they could get out of the way for the arts a little more readily. The school should have adhered to its original schedule of having the spring junior high concert tonight (Thursday), come hell or high water. But no, the sports sacred cow had to be acknowledged. 

As stated earlier, the Monday jazz concert should be grades 6-12 but it has been adjusted. You can see that with the poster image that I include at bottom of this post. No Jazz I ! Excuse me but that's a letdown. Jazz I, whether for MAHS or UMM, is always the much-anticipated highlight. Now it is scrubbed at least for Monday. Monday was originally set as the total showcase for jazz. 

The directors won't appreciate these words but now I feel this event will be watered down. I can't accept that without saying something. But administration will have the satisfaction of technically getting these events in. The events get shoe-horned in while accommodating some track meet or whatever. Those athletes have so many competition opportunities. They'd have a lot even if one or two events got cancelled. 

Band concerts really come along rarely. They are to be savored. Schools should have certain dates etched in stone for accommodating music, dates where the musicians and parents can focus 100 percent on music! Just as they would on a track meet. Is that so radical? No it isn't, Mr. Karas ("Karras"). 

Maybe Wanda will be mad at me for writing this. If she is, I might have to put down some whiskey.

Addendum: I have often been at Caribou Coffee, Willie's, at the same time as Andrea in the morning. Unfortunately they have been out of my favorite breakfast sandwich the last three times I stopped there, so I might have to change my pattern. I hope they fill Andrea's needs.

Addendum #2: In addition to being activities director, Blake is "dean of students." Dean of students! Strikes me as an arduous and maybe thankless role, reminds me of the school principal character in movies like "Teen Wolf" and "WarGames."

On the slate for Monday night: MAHS instrumental music.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com