Alex Makuch is a senior majoring in English.
I’m writing in response to the article, “Music department faces drastic cutbacks as officials look to remedy budget woes,” by Mary Ellen McIntire (p. 1, March 23).
If you haven’t heard about these cutbacks, here’s the gist: The department is being hobbled. Ensembles and instructors are being cut, and the Friday jam session – the longest-running jazz jam session in D.C. – will end. The remaining faculty will have their hours, as well as their salaries, slashed.
Some of these professors have been at GW for more than 30 years, teaching and guiding music students through hours of private instruction, band rehearsal and open jamming. These men and women are being discarded like finished cigarettes – used and then forgotten.
In addition, students will have to pay higher fees for their lessons, and the department as a whole will shrink drastically.
I’m a senior. Since I’m leaving, this will not affect me. But there’s one other change that, had it been made sooner, would have: Lessons will now primarily be limited to students who are either music majors or minors.
I am not a music major, nor am I a music minor. Despite that, I have spent the last three semesters as a jazz guitar student, taking lessons one hour a week and playing in a jazz combo with four other students under the guidance of my guitar professor.
This involvement, though seemingly small compared to what others have done, has been the most stable part of my GW career. During my four years here, I have declared three different majors in three different schools, and none of them have felt satisfying. I have, in short, been a bit of a mess.
The music department gave me something to look forward to every week, even when I was behind on practice. Here’s the thing: Learning calculus or how to write policy reports can help you get a job, but competency with an instrument can give you peace. I don’t think the value of music – or any creative expression as a hobby – can be overstated.
Some people draw and some people dance and some people play the trumpet, but they don’t all aim to make a living with these things. This, to me, is the crux of the “well-rounded student” you hear so much about in academic circles: a person who has passions and skills in areas outside of his or her primary area of study.
Without the opportunity to take music lessons, I wouldn’t have been a part of the music department at all. I wouldn’t have had enough spare credits to complete even the minor.
The instruction I’ve received in the music department is the best I’ve ever received since I began playing my instrument. I would’ve counted it as an immense personal tragedy if I hadn’t been able to sign up for lessons and been welcomed with open arms by the department’s gracious faculty and students.
I sincerely wish that I had taken that step earlier. If these cuts bar access to music for others like me, I count myself as profoundly lucky to have started college when I did.
My perspective is a bit different than that of younger students in the department, who will directly feel the effects of the changes. My outrage and sorrow, however, are the same. An open music department improved my life at GW in ways beyond measure, and seeing that door close to others is heartbreaking.
