A big “thank-you” goes to the student musicians who performed on the Common for Halloween festivities. The bewitching flute duo, Sarah Steranka and Amy Valladares, a glorious string quartet of Jeff Lee, Kristina Kronauer, Marissa Dickson and Eva Kenna, and rockin’ Friday Night Delight, Will Byler, Ty Borton, Phil Stapleton and Ethan Chadwick, as well as Russell Phelan on audio equipment, all contributed their talents to the music tent sponsored by Fanfare!. Thanks also to Harvard Realty for sharing their venue for the evening.
Music in many flavors is alive and thriving in Harvard. It makes our community rich and brings us together to enjoy the “give” of the performers and the “take” of the listener. Music education in our school curriculum is vital. Innumerable studies link music education at the middle school and high school level to better subject performance, higher scores on aptitude tests, and better social behaviors and attitudes.
I am particularly fond of this quote:
“During the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to music, and it brought to me great peace of mind. I have shared my love of music with people throughout the world, while listening to the drums and special instruments of the Far East, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far North, and all of this started with the music appreciation course that I was taught in a third-grade elementary class in Princeton, New Jersey. What a tragedy it would be if we lived in a world where music was not taught to children.”
—H. Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army, retired
It is interesting to note that these concepts ring true with many in the Harvard community as a whole, for there are contributors to Fanfare! who have no children in the schools. Fanfare! raises funds to benefit the music programs at HES and the Bromfield School. Our young performers are grateful for the support.
Lillian Burkart
for the Fanfare! board
