LJWorld.com

We're not long for this place, I know, as I watch my youngest of three daughters in Free State's Chamber Choir dress and pearls. She's a senior this year, and as I see her on stage it's not hard for me to conjure visions of her two sisters there before her. I can pretty much fill the stage with memories of concerts and Encores, ensembles and competitions. French horns, clarinets, mellophones and saxophones. I can crank up my internal iPOD (be glad I keep it on mute) and sing you strains of music from 12 years of public school music, multiplied times three.

"There's Sweet Music in this Place," another Free State choir is singing, and indeed there is. I'm always struck by the earnestness I see on stage, as well as the talent, the devotion and the triumph of a job well done. What a privilege it is to hear them sing, to watch their faces and know, once again, that they are our best hope and our hope is well placed.

I'm a fan, I guess you could say, of public school music education, of the fine teachers we've known to pour heart and soul and a passion for excellence into their students. Our three have benefited immensely through the years on every level - technically, intellectually, emotionally, socially. They've been challenged and motivated. They've been engaged and inspired. Neither Merit scholars nor athletes, music gave them a chance to shine and a fine, fine group of peers. Music gave them pride and place and purpose.

Yet several years ago, as our girls were participating in music programs that regularly earned highest accolades regionally and even nationally, we saw music education in Lawrence looking a bit threatened, a bit frayed around the edges with budget constraints limiting programs and even eliminating them entirely. Fifth-grade instrumental music was the first to go. Funds to keep instruments in good repair, to purchase sheet music, to hire clinicians and replace uniforms dwindled.

We knew we couldn't have much effect on the tax base or the district budget. We couldn't raise teachers' salaries. But my husband, Bob, more do-er than dreamer, quietly determined to see what he could do to raise some dollars to enhance and enrich, protect and preserve public school music. In his few spare moments, he managed to gather an amazing group of like-minded community members. We named our group Music Works! and signed on with the Lawrence Schools Foundation to establish a special fund for music education.

We learned some statistics about music's power. Its instruction increases math and reading scores, teaches self-discipline, lengthens attention spans, reduces anxiety. Music helps keep top students in public school and instills community pride. It helps retain students who might otherwise drop out.

Jim and Alison Nye, beloved and long-time Lawrence teachers and parents of former music students, stepped up to help assemble a database. In 2006, Edith Clowes, Kansas University Slavic language and literature professor and mother of former LHS French horn player Sam Huneke, organized student performers for a Concerto Concert to benefit Music Works! The second annual Concerto Concert is scheduled Nov. 11. Jean Milstead stepped forward to put her amazing energy and enthusiasm for music into publicity. Larry Kane and others came forth to brainstorm, solicit and give.

After much persistent and patient effort, we had the dollars necessary to establish an endowed fund. And then, last spring, the Schools Foundation was able to award its first round of music fund grants, more than $3,000 to music educators who had applied for funding for an all-city junior high jazz band, a guitar choir for Deerfield and in-school small group music lessons for students at South Junior High.

Since then the Lawrence Schools Foundation Music Endowment Fund has grown to more than $250,000 in cash and pledges, enough principal to spin off grants to provide encouragement and practical help for our music educators for years to come. The community will have another chance to both support and participate in music education when the Kansas City Symphony presents a concert at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Lied Center. The concert is part of the symphony's "Support School Music" series. Proceeds will benefit the Lawrence Schools Foundation's Music Endowment Fund.

There was a standing ovation after that Free State choral program. And I'm pretty sure a night or two later the Lawrence High choirs had the crowd on its feet as well. I'm glad to be a part of a community where the folks show up and stand up for something worth applauding. And I'm thankful deep down that my girls know the value of song.