THE MUSIC ROOM

My wife’s younger sister lives in a typical suburban home in Murrysville, PA, with her Husband and two teenage sons.   What is not typical in this middle class home is the “music room”.  Several years ago, the family added a large addition to the existing house.  For most growing families it would have been the opportunity to spread out with a family room, large screen TV, lounging furniture and maybe a pool table.  In this house, the new room is captivated by a large piano and musical instruments of various shapes and sizes.  Music lessons are given, new pieces are rehearsed and impromptu jams are known to break out.

What I have come to realize is that the music room defines this family.  Options and priorities were discussed and music won.  The eldest son is tall, athletic and outgoing.   He is the perfect candidate for various high school varsity sports.  Instead, he is an accomplished cellist and has won awards throughout his high school years.  I have heard him play at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Youth Orchestra and most recently solo, with his Mother accompanying on piano, prior to the spring school band program.  His younger brother holds out promise of being an exemplary musician on the saxophone.

While the mother teaches piano, there is no evidence that any member of the family will have a symphonic career.  The high school graduate would like to be a pharmacist. The father, an accomplished musician in his own right, is a manager in a utility company.  This is simply a family that values lives well lived, enriched by music.

Two thoughts strike me about the music room.  First, in the Victorian era, music rooms were common, as were libraries.  These rooms were places to enrich the soul and sooth the spirit, apart from the drudgery of day to day labor.  In the absence of organized sports, around the clock social media, fixed media and the internet, the music room was a welcome respite.

Second, Federal Title IX has just celebrated 40 years of making sex discrimination in school athletics illegal.  This provision has made incredible progress in women’s sports throughout our country.  Women’s programs are often indistinguishable from men’s programs.   Some would argue that Title IX has touched much more than sports, by changing the role of women in society.

Perhaps we need a mirror Title IX program for equality in the creative arts.  The provision would outlaw discrimination against our young musicians, painters, writers, dancers and sculptures.  The finite resources available for activities would go toward sports and the arts, share and share alike.  We might see more music rooms spring up in suburban America and that would be a good thing.