It's
Tuesday, Tuesday, get to read The Notes on Tuesday!!! Welcome to
Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Even better than that...welcome to Passion
Week for believers all around the world!!! Many followers of Jesus
memorialize this week as they take each day and trace the footsteps that
Jesus took as He lived his last week as a human on earth. It all
culminates at the beginning of next week with an empty tomb and a Savior
that is alive!!! He is risen! He is risen indeed!!! If you would
like to read the story of Jesus last week, it can be found here: John 12:12 - 20:31.
The reaction of Jesus' followers to His resurrection was joyful, bold,
and exuberant...in short it was a joy they could feel all over...
"Sir Duke" - Stevie Wonder
"...with
an equal opportunity, for all to sing, dance, and clap their hands."
Stevie Wonder wrote this song as a tribute to some of the musicians that
inspired him. Most of these musical pioneers are considered Jazz
stalwarts by our musical genre "boxes" today. But in their own time,
they were creating popular music for the masses. Much like today's
Country and Rock acts, Glen Miller, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis
Armstrong and Duke Ellington made music that inspired and encouraged
their generation to bigger and better things. In the words of American
Bandstand, their songs "had a beat and you can dance to it!". With the
exception of limited collegiate classes, these great days-gone-by
standards are rarely exposed to the modern day listener. As you scroll
across the radio dial, (I know, we "scan the radio frequencies" now) it
is rare to hear one of these great musicians. The advent of
subscription radio has exposed a new generation to these aficionados of
musical prowess, yet without an increased saturation, we may be 1
generation away from losing the opportunity to hear "Ella's voice
ringin' out". If this happens the band is sure to lose.
According
to a recent CBO report regarding discretionary Federal spending, 1.7
billion (yep!!! BILLION) was appropriated in 2013 for Federal spending
on the arts. (Reducing Federal Spending for Arts and Humanities - CBO November 2013) The beneficiaries of this tax payer funding are:
"Recipients of the subsidies include the Smithsonian Institution ($776
million), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($422 million), the
National Endowment for the Humanities ($139 million), the National
Endowment for the Arts ($139 million), the National Gallery of Art ($122
million), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ($48 million),
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ($35 million), and
the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program ($2 million)."
It
is certainly not The Notes intention to be critical of the benefits
that each of these august institutions provide to our Republic, however,
one must question the ultimate cost vs. benefits of each of these. How
could our country be transformed if PRIVATE institutions were to take
on this funding, (pocket change for Warren Buffet or George Soros), and
those tax payer dollars were rolled back into funding for Choir, Band,
Drama, and Art programs at our public schools? While we cannot be sure,
one would imagine that there would be some pretty dramatic changes in a
myriad of areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment