Professors push importance of music programs
Kimberly Morice
-Sr. Staff Writer-
Gary Gackstatter sits behind a cluttered desk, his fingers flicking the edge of his coffee-stained desk calendar as a tea pot boils water on his bookcase. Gackstatter has been a music teacher at STLCC-Meramec for the last five years.
“You meet people every day that don’t even know we have a choir, or an orchestra, or a jazz band or a band here. That’s been my goal the five years I’ve been here, to raise the profile,” Gackstatter said.
Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Jerry Myers sits across the hall in his office, glancing at the piano covered in sheets of music to the right of his desk. Myers explains the importance of music programs in schools.
“Prior to college, when you think about elementary school, middle school and high school, music programs are just as integral to the well-rounded education. It’s not just for the students who might have a talent for it, it’s for the students who might want to learn about as many possible subjects as they can and have the opportunity to be a well-rounded person,” Myers said. “I think that speaks to a better society, overall a more intelligent society.”
Unlike high school and middle school, colleges often offer a degree in music, which Myers says is one main difference.
“We’re fortunate here with so many of the high schools that feed into this program that there are some outstanding music programs. I really consider us very fortunate that students that come here already have that love of music there in some way. Maybe it’s that I need to help bring that out even more,” Myers said. “I hope they’re involved in the program as much as they want to be.”
According to Gackstatter, Meramec is a good example of administration giving freedom to their music program. Gackstatter says he realizes the importance of music and art programs staying in schools.
“The problem with St. Louis Community College is that we’re big, there are a lot of great teachers here and everyone does their own thing,” Gackstatter said. “I’m trying to involve the art, the theater and getting involved in the theater was a great thing for me. I’m trying to get our name out.”
Myers also finds himself appreciating the college’s ability to recruit so many talented musicians.
STLCC is very supportive of their art programs, which Myers says is unusual at the community college level.
“I’ll tell you one thing, this college supports the arts. That’s one of the things that excited me the most about this college is how much they support the arts,” Myers said. “It honestly doesn’t take a lot of financial support, especially to maintain a program. It just takes the support that this is important and that it needs to be a part of the daily life of the college.”
Many instructors of the arts find themselves having the subject on their minds every day. Gackstatter says his love of music is apparent in his day-to-day life.
“I live and breathe it as much as I possibly can. I’m either thinking about it, teaching it, writing it or talking about it,” Gackstatter said. “The only other thing I do is art. I’m kind of right-brained in that way.”
Myers said that music is not just a hobby, but a way of life.
“It becomes your life. You ask what our hobby is and it’s music,” Myers said. “It becomes our lives; it’s not a separate job and a separate hobby. Once you dive in, if it’s the right fit for you, that’s it. That’s what I try to encourage in students, to just be.”
The main hall of Humanities East is almost always filled with the sound of students singing, playing instruments and rehearsing for plays.
Myers says this is one of his favorite parts of the music program at Meramec.
“The music students that we have, whether they’re music majors or not, that I see so successful, they just live out here,” Myers said, motioning in the direction of the theater. “It’s become a culture here and I’ve seen that spike within the last couple years. There are days that I’m walking through and I’m kind of disappointed to leave. I want to be a part of it. But sometimes you just have to leave it to them and let them have their fun.”
Every day, students walk into a music classroom expecting to learn and to change. Two of Meramec’s music teachers say their biggest hope is to help be part of that change.
“A love of music and I think that’s it,” Myers said. “It’s going to be completely different for every student. How they’re going to apply this in their life–maybe it’s just a hobby and they’ll attend concerts, or perhaps their aspiration is to be on the concert stage, to conduct, to teach high school. That part doesn’t matter unless they have a love for music.”
Gackstatter said that music stays with people forever.
“That’s why we’re in the business. Music isn’t something that you just take and then you leave, it’s a lifetime of playing. That’s what all of my teaching, whether it’s in general music or conducting, that’s what it’s all aimed at. It’s to get them involved,” Gackstatter said.
