The time is now.(Forum focus: arts awareness and advocacy)

Arts Awareness and Advocacy--it's the name of MTNA's former Community Outreach and Education Committee. Advocacy is a word that used to scare me until I realized it simply means to promote or support something you believe in. For MTNA members, it means to promote our love of music and, more specifically, the benefits and joys of playing a musical instrument. This is the mission of Arts, Awareness and Advocacy and can be the mission of every teacher in our organization. Promoting music is similar to marketing. If we market the benefits of music, we market our profession as well. Few of us have the resources to run expensive media ads, but all of us, collectively, can make a difference if we learn to advocate music in our communities, one voice at a time.

While advocacy can mean to write your elected officials, speak at school board meetings or campaign for issues, it also means to spread--one voice at a time--the message that music can help people, in unique ways, reach their full potential. This is not solely MTNA's responsibility. Each member shares responsibility in presenting the message, because who is better able to address the importance of music study than the independent music teacher? If we don't promote music, who will?

Teaching is our specialty, but it must not be confined to our studio. Part of our job is to speak outside the studio, empowering parents and students to say "yes" to music at a time when other influences are pressuring them to say "no" and providing information that assures them music is a wise investment of their time and finances. We've entered a time when we can no longer depend on others to promote the importance of music and our profession.

With the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act and its emphasis on boosting math and reading skills, music is once again under the gun. And although music is defined in this law as core curriculum, many districts are pulling teacher and classroom resources away from the arts to fuel math and reading programs. With this environment, we simply cannot assume parents and community members will somehow understand the complex nature of music making, the mental discipline needed to play, the emotional enrichment and other benefits music provides in all life experiences, without fully articulating it. Students, parents and your community need to hear from you.

Armed with enthusiasm and a passion for the art, every recital, community performance, studio newsletter, prospective student phone call and parent/student interview can be used to exchange information about the value of music. This column in the August/September 2003 issue of AMT contained a list of music advocacy websites that can be used to keep up to date on the latest findings in music research. Each site contains a vast amount of useful information. The creative teacher might insert the Learning to Play Brochure, from the American Music Conference's website www.amc-music.org/advocacy/brochures, in recital programs or studio mailings, or show the VH1 News Special Report: The Case for Music Education video from AMC at parent open houses or new student interviews. Simple conversations also have impact. In addition, AMC has available a "Music Education Advocate's ...