How Do You Keep the Music Playing in the Boondocks?
Mike Banos
April 28, 2006
How indeed? Culture and the arts, especially in the provinces, or regions, as modern government bureauspeak so quaintly puts it, have almost exclusively been the purview of the academe. Schools, colleges and universities often are the only institutions around in the boondocks with the size, facilities and most important, qualified personnel to mount cultural and artistic events for the appreciation and education of their faculty and student body in particular, and the community in general.
Which is well and good, and how things should be given the limited resources in the rural areas. So we of the great unwashed often derisively referred to as the ?general public? of the matinee shows by ?la alta sociedad? who consider gala presentations their exclusive turf and domain, laud the efforts of educational institutions to bring culture and the arts to the masses.
For how else could we possible revel in Broadway musicals such as ?The Sound of Music,? classical ballets like ?The Nutcracker Suite? and Original Pinoy Musicals such as ?Minda Mora? accompanied by the Manila Symphony Orchestra if not for the colleges and universities which so graciously invest precious time, talent and treasure to bring these priceless gems of art and culture to our dusty towns and cities? True, the indigenous talents who populate these local productions would hardly pose a decent competition to La Salonga and company but heck, who cares if Maria should sometimes change keys in the middle of ?My Favorite Things? or that Mary Poppins? ?A Spoonful of Sugar? should elicit more grimaces than smiles from patrons who look like they just ingested a shaker of salt?
But wait, should these ends justify the means by which some of these academic institutions resort to in mounting their fancy, homespun productions of ?Cats?, ?Evita? or ?The Phantom of the Opera?? A little birdie tells us one such production entailed a mandatory pay cut of P1,000 per faculty member whether they saw the play or not. Students for their part, earned or lost 10 percent of their grades in a particular subject, depending on their attendance of the matinee. Doting parents, of course, readily paid through the nose the price of admission since it was for a noble cause: not the culture or the arts, pendejo, but their children?s grades!
We?ve all heard how some well-meaning public grade or high school teachers have compelled their students to make mandatory contributions for items or events not provided for in their pitiful budgets, including materials for stage props and tickets ?considered-sold? just to at least give these students a feel of what ?Macbeth?, ?King Lear? or ?Othello? is all about.
Sadly, many of these teachers and other school officials often have had to answer to their superiors or to bureaucrats in the Dept. of Education or Commission for Higher Education with suspensions and fines as a reward for their efforts and self-sacrifice while members of ?La Alta Sociedad? who consider self-imposed titles such as ?Patrons and Patroness of Culture and the Arts? their birthright get away with the academic equivalent of murder and homicide.
Perhaps DepEd and ChED officials should take a closer look at local ?cultural and artistic? events to evaluate their priorities in this aspect of education, especially for the Great Unwashed. Mandatory pay cuts on unsuspecting and often underpaid faculty and staff members to underwrite such productions can never justify the rationale that it?s for a noble cause such as arts and culture for the poor, especially when such have been made without the prior knowledge and consent of the unwary ?donors.?
And neither can compulsory attendance for school plays and musicals with academic incentives for students who indeed come to see them foster the right attitude for their appreciation and contribute to the ultimate goal of building their character and integrity.
Far better to allow Pedro, Juan and Maria to do ?Florante at Laura? or ?Ang Ibong Adarna? with costumes and props made with their own materials and efforts. Still nothing beats accomplishing something with your own personal best for instilling the virtues of sacrifice, perseverance and resourcefulness in young minds because these build firm resolve, stout hearts and integrity of spirit necessary for the long term task of building a strong nation, (or republic, if we must).
INDNJC -
Which is well and good, and how things should be given the limited resources in the rural areas. So we of the great unwashed often derisively referred to as the ?general public? of the matinee shows by ?la alta sociedad? who consider gala presentations their exclusive turf and domain, laud the efforts of educational institutions to bring culture and the arts to the masses.
For how else could we possible revel in Broadway musicals such as ?The Sound of Music,? classical ballets like ?The Nutcracker Suite? and Original Pinoy Musicals such as ?Minda Mora? accompanied by the Manila Symphony Orchestra if not for the colleges and universities which so graciously invest precious time, talent and treasure to bring these priceless gems of art and culture to our dusty towns and cities? True, the indigenous talents who populate these local productions would hardly pose a decent competition to La Salonga and company but heck, who cares if Maria should sometimes change keys in the middle of ?My Favorite Things? or that Mary Poppins? ?A Spoonful of Sugar? should elicit more grimaces than smiles from patrons who look like they just ingested a shaker of salt?
But wait, should these ends justify the means by which some of these academic institutions resort to in mounting their fancy, homespun productions of ?Cats?, ?Evita? or ?The Phantom of the Opera?? A little birdie tells us one such production entailed a mandatory pay cut of P1,000 per faculty member whether they saw the play or not. Students for their part, earned or lost 10 percent of their grades in a particular subject, depending on their attendance of the matinee. Doting parents, of course, readily paid through the nose the price of admission since it was for a noble cause: not the culture or the arts, pendejo, but their children?s grades!
We?ve all heard how some well-meaning public grade or high school teachers have compelled their students to make mandatory contributions for items or events not provided for in their pitiful budgets, including materials for stage props and tickets ?considered-sold? just to at least give these students a feel of what ?Macbeth?, ?King Lear? or ?Othello? is all about.
Sadly, many of these teachers and other school officials often have had to answer to their superiors or to bureaucrats in the Dept. of Education or Commission for Higher Education with suspensions and fines as a reward for their efforts and self-sacrifice while members of ?La Alta Sociedad? who consider self-imposed titles such as ?Patrons and Patroness of Culture and the Arts? their birthright get away with the academic equivalent of murder and homicide.
Perhaps DepEd and ChED officials should take a closer look at local ?cultural and artistic? events to evaluate their priorities in this aspect of education, especially for the Great Unwashed. Mandatory pay cuts on unsuspecting and often underpaid faculty and staff members to underwrite such productions can never justify the rationale that it?s for a noble cause such as arts and culture for the poor, especially when such have been made without the prior knowledge and consent of the unwary ?donors.?
And neither can compulsory attendance for school plays and musicals with academic incentives for students who indeed come to see them foster the right attitude for their appreciation and contribute to the ultimate goal of building their character and integrity.
Far better to allow Pedro, Juan and Maria to do ?Florante at Laura? or ?Ang Ibong Adarna? with costumes and props made with their own materials and efforts. Still nothing beats accomplishing something with your own personal best for instilling the virtues of sacrifice, perseverance and resourcefulness in young minds because these build firm resolve, stout hearts and integrity of spirit necessary for the long term task of building a strong nation, (or republic, if we must).
INDNJC -
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