“Music education isn’t just about creating incredible musicians, it’s about creating incredible humans.”
Kris Bowers, film maker of “The Last Repair Shop,” said the above when accepting the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short a few weeks ago. It’s a lovely, heartwarming – and, to my mind, entirely spot-on – sentiment from the co-director of a documentary which does an excellent job highlighting the passionate undertakings of four individuals who work hard every day to keep 80,000 (give or take) musical instruments in working order for the Los Angeles Unified School District. There’s a lot to appreciate about this film and quite a lot to unpack about the state of music education in the nation – particularly when you factor in that the L.A. Unified School District is one of the very last districts in the nation to provide freely repaired instruments, free of charge, to its public schoolchildren.
In the very opening minutes of this short film, 12-year old Porchè Brinker, a student at Palms Middle School (who, frankly, stole the show at the Oscars as she took to the stage to accept the trophy in her princess gown and with beaming smile that absolutely lit up the room), says, “If I didn’t have my violin from school, I would probably… I don’t know what I would do! Don’t even jinx me with that!”
I could easily – happily! – walk you through the entirety of this special film, scene by scene, but what “The Last Repair Shop” does so successfully is underscore the inexorable connection between humanity and music and how irrefutably vital music is to the developments of young minds. Anyone reading this column has, no doubt, read repeatedly within the pages of MMR and elsewhere of the collateral benefits of music scholarship – how math scores go up, social interaction skills improve, self-confidence elevates and senses of solitude and fear diminish. What certain moments, interactions, and testimonials such as this documentary achieve, however, is so much less clinical. You and I know how vitally valuable music and music education is to the human spirit and the culture, at large, but it is sometimes instructive for someone to hold up the mirror and put those truths right in front of our faces. I know how important music is to my own life – it’s a secret language, a magic, and a drug more powerfully appealing and addictive than any. But even I can use the occasional impactful reminder.
In this issue’s “Small Business Matters” installment, Menzie Pittman pays tribute to executive director of the NAMM Foundation and NAMM director of Public Affairs and Government Relations, Mary Luehrsen, who will soon be stepping down from her long-held roles. Luehrsen has spent her entire professional life advocating for music education and government support of the types of free-of-charge services profiled in “The Last Repair Shop.” I first met Ms. Luehrsen at the 2009 NAMM Advocacy Fly-In – one of the first such campaigns – during which MI retailer and supplier members of NAMM, along with like-minded celebrities and political figures, lobby sitting legislators to ensure that music education remains a core component of public education in this country. This was one of the first Fly-Ins ever and Luehrsen struck me as intimidating, no-nonsense, driven, and of precisely the correct character to lead and instruct the group of mostly clueless, “So how do we do this? What are we doing?” types (speaking for myself, at least) she was presented with that week. With patience, confidence, and an exhaustive wealth of knowledge Mary Luehrsen brought us all up to speed and guided the team to an extremely successful campaign that led to real, meaningful changes in core curriculum across the U.S.
If I hadn’t been gifted violin lessons as a young kid, if I hadn’t landed the lead in the 4th grade school musical, if my dad didn’t teach me the three chords to play “Crimson and Clover” on guitar when I was 13, and if I hadn’t continued my studies through classes at Berklee, casual get-togethers with friends, and hundreds of shows… I don’t know what I would do. Don’t jinx me!
You may, understandably, believe that you’re crystal clear on your own mission to spread the culture of music-making. You almost certainly are correct! That said, do yourself a favor and spend the less than 40 minutes it’ll take to watch “The Last Repair Shop” – it’s free on YouTube – and I bet you’ll be surprised at how much more sharp that crystal-clear understanding of the importance of music in the human experience comes into focus.
I tip my hat to powerful activists like Mary Luehrsen for her decades of hard work on behalf of others, and to creative supporters of music education such as Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers for their wonderful film.
