New keys to learning

Rosette Gonzales

When the lunch bell rang at Burbank High School, most students pushed

their way through classroom doors and headed straight to the quad to

eat and socialize. But other students headed back into class, opting

to use their lunch break for music rehearsal in the band room.

Students tuned French horns, flutes, trumpets and bassoons and

warmed up on the piano as they prepared for the 14th annual

solo/ensemble performance Saturday at San Marino High School. This

year, they have three new ways to maximize their rehearsal time.

Well, not completely new.

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission in December donated 10 used

pianos to the Burbank Unified School District as part of its “Arts

for All” program, a long-range initiative to restore arts education

in local schools.

“This whole purpose is to change the perception of how arts are at

the back of the bus,” said Ann Bradley, media consultant for the

commission.

Arts programs are often the first to get cut or remain in the

curriculum only if enough external funding is raised to support them,

she said.

To provide comprehensive learning, the arts should take as

prominent a role in education as other subjects, she said.

“The arts engage students to flex their entire mental muscle,” she

said.

Alexis Sheehy, assistant superintendent for Burbank Unified School

District, agreed. The district applied last year to participate in

the Community Arts Education Project, part of Arts for All’s 10-year

plan to restore dance, music, theater and visual arts in schools.

“We have been working on creating K-12 curriculum for arts ... a

strategic plan to be able to implement the arts at every grade

level,” Sheehy said.

Burbank Unified School District will discuss board policy

regarding arts education at its meeting Thursday.

As one of the perks, the district was given the opportunity to

place 10 used pianos, donated by Forte Marketing Group, in Burbank

schools. Burbank High School received three pianos. John Burroughs

High School was granted four. David Starr Jordan Middle School, Ralph

Waldo Emerson and Theodore Roosevelt Elementary Schools each got one

piano.

But the pale, wood-finished pianos needed a little loving care,

and Burbank High School had to retune the three the school received

before students could use them for music accompaniment and

instruction.

Rehearsal time is still a little chaotic, said Burbank High School

band director Dean Immel, as students tuned and played their

instruments simultaneously during Monday’s lunch period.

“Sometimes I feel like a referee,” he said. But the extra pianos

help rehearsals run a little smoother, especially when preparing for

a performance.

“I can always send somebody into the practice room and get them to

work on something,” he said.

Students working with piano accompanists said the additional

pianos streamlined music learning.

“Before you had a very short time to practice and get it right,”

said Eileen Santos, 16, who is accompanied by a pianist as she plays

the flute. “There are a lot of people that have to practice with a

piano accompanist, and you have to take turns, but when there are

three, you can all work at the same time, in less time, instead of

waiting.”

But some of the pianos were beyond fixer-uppers, said Mary Rago,

choir director for John Burroughs High School. One of the four pianos

delivered to her classroom had no legs, and others were very badly

out of tune.

One of the pianos at Burbank High School is mildly temperamental

and risks going out of tune if moved, Immel said.

But even if the piano grants did not turn out as everyone

expected, intentions were good, music instructors and Los Angeles

County Arts Commission employees agreed.

“The commission would never have donated a defective piano if it

knew it was defective,” Bradley said. “It’s a thoroughly correctable

situation.”

For now, correcting the situation means getting rid of one of the

pianos at Burroughs.

The commission will pick up one faulty piano given to John

Burroughs High School but might not be able to replace it, because

the 28 pianos originally offered to local school districts have been

liquidated, Bradley said.

The commission’s goals are long-term, and the pianos were meant to

be a helpful bonus. The delicacy remains in considering the

unintended consequences of a donation, she said.

“The intentions could not have been more solid and, forgive the

pun, sound,” Bradley said. “But we will take a look at the

ramifications, to not make more of a burden than a gift.”

* ROSETTE GONZALES covers education. She may be reached at

(818) 637-3205 or by e-mail at rosette.gonzales@latimes.com.