Amaal Ladha ’18, Adelynn Anderson ’18: Many of EA’s top musicians have recently been dropping out of orchestra with a common dilemma: scheduling.
Felicia Zhu ‘17, who was unable to take orchestra as a junior, says, “I doubled up on science and language, so I couldn’t fit music into my schedule.”
Due to EA’s seven block rotation schedule, students who take six classes are often forced to leave orchestra off their list. Pia Singh ‘19 who wished to pursue other interests, explained that she had “no choice but to let go of music this year.”
Unlike EA, who treats orchestra as a built in class, many other schools incorporate orchestra as an extracurricular before school starts or after the final bell has sounded.
However, when asked about this, most students favored EA’s policy. Elias Lindgren ‘18, says, “I don’t think it would make much sense for orchestra to be scheduled before or after the regular school day. In either case, I think enrollment would drop even lower.” Zhu also says, “Music also requires a different style of learning compared to academics, so it’s nice during the school day to take a break from academic styled classes.”
Along with scheduling issues, EA’s music program also suffers heavily from the school’s sports requirements. A bigger question is therefore raised: How do the arts survive, and how do students balance both, in an arguably sports-heavy school?
Singh asserts, “People like me who want to do [two] different art programs and are more interested in arts rather than sports should be given the option to pursue their artistic endeavors rather than have to compromise and spend that time on sports.”
Zhu, however, states, “Though the art programs definitely don’t get as much attention as the sports programs at EA, it’s important that EA offers a diverse range of programs to cater to the diverse range of interests of its students.”
Jim Erwin, Chair of the Music Department, provides a teacher’s perspective. He disagrees that Episcopal is a ‘sports-heavy’ school, explaining, “We have fantastic artists, musicians, and actors. There are many more graduates who have jobs in the arts than have jobs in athletics.”
He continues by addressing the scheduling conflict, explaining, “The benefits they receive from participating in an arts class, be it performance or visual, far outweighs the mistaken necessity to take the most difficult courses.”
Music classes, and any arts classes, are just as (if not more in many ways) helpful to developing skills necessary throughout life. The heavy burden placed on students at EA to develop academic and athletic skills can take away from the equally important role artistic pursuit can play in a young student’s development. These three aspects often work together and there is value in pursuing them equally. As Erwin explains, “The arts do not take away from academics—they enhance it in every way.”