I believe in the impact that opportunity makes on kids as they grow old. Privilege should never be taken for granted and should always be cherished. I grew up with several opportunities that some kids never saw in their lives. One of which was access to music classes and instruments to play. I was surrounded by musicians in my family, this made it the ultimate breeding ground to start playing an instrument. In school I was able to join the orchestra and play the trumpet, which I did for about three years. I was even capable of choosing a different instrument later in life, the guitar, which for one reason or another grabbed my attention for the next 10 years. My point is, I played instruments because they were around. They were at arm's reach.
As I grew older, I heard of more and more schools cutting music programs, gentrification aided in the closing of local music stores (and major music stores). At this point, I'm frustrated for the next generations of musicians or kids who just feel out of place in the world. I felt it. I wasn't into the sports so much, I wasn't the most obedient kid, so I didn't have good grades. I didn't consider classrooms a place where I would learn, it was out in the world, with real people who had heartbeats. Classrooms were for fun. School for me was a place where I'd try to make friends and try to get away with doing bad things or cracking jokes. I wasn't too emotionally involved in school and I needed to find something elsewhere. Music was my answer. I did struggle with the learning curve on the guitar because of the quality of my instrument. I didn't have the greatest guitar around, it was a student guitar. I did learn a lot on that guitar however, but I didn't feel truly accomplished until I heard myself play on a quality instrument. My original guitar was made with China, with what sounded like plywood and cheap glue. I understand it's purpose was to teach basic chords, sure. But I think if I wasn't so determined to learn I would have easily given up the instrument. It really sounded like crap now that I think back. Now with a better quality guitar, I can't put it down. Therefore I think students should have the chance to play better instruments, as it would encourage them to exceed in their passion or else they may hear themselves as mediocre players, or worse, never play an instrument in their lives. I think music stores should be a vital part of our communities as well because it maintains a certain skill that these students may have. Without local support, it not only limits kids, it keeps away exposure to the music world. It seems we live in a society based around sports, comparison and competition and we should allow kids to flourish on their own. Some kids weren't meant to be particularly social and we shouldn't force them into groups they don't want to be in, nor should we push them into a day care service that teaches the kid to kick a ball when all he really wants to do is learn to play bass.
