Hello Eads!

August 15, 2003

First, let me introduce myself, my name is John Taylor and I am a musician. I play trumpet and piano professionally, as well as play and teach all woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. I have the honor of teaching music in your community schools for the coming year. My wife, Robin and I enjoy the pace and peacefulness of small town life, since we were both born and raised in rural communities.

Music has been an essential element in my life since my earliest recollections. Whether practicing alone, playing with a group or performing for a large audience, making music enlightens my life and nourishes my mind. It is my goal to share my love and knowledge of music with the students and the community of Eads. If you have ever played an instrument or thought you wanted to, I would like to invite you to do so regardless of your background or age. I will be giving private lessons before and after school, and on Fridays and Saturdays.

The most important thing that musicians bring to the world is our special ability to join others in a shared imaginative life. By participating in music in any way, we join others in a shared world. By making and teaching music, those of us who work in music make the world better. Though our paths are different, we arrive at a sense of music’s value for personal and social good not unlike that of Boethius when he wrote of "Musica Humana" fifteen centuries ago.

I believe that music education should be considered a core curriculum subject, and there has been sufficient research over the past 20 years to endorse my position. The study and practice of music has long-term positive benefits for all who pursue it. We are living in a learning revolution where knowledge has become the world’s most important commodity. Further, the learning environment that allows us to increase knowledge is undergoing rapid change at an ever-increasing speed. Music can be a place of refuge.

Music has an intrinsic value that creates an opportunity for us to have meaningful experiences. It helps us to deal with feelings and emotions that are related to subjective materials at a level and a depth that no other subject is able to achieve

Won’t you come and make music with me? We can have so much fun singing and playing together. If you have an instrument maybe its time to dust off the case, bring it by the band room, and we could build a community band.

If by now you have concluded that I am a music advocate for every one of all ages, you are indeed correct.

For the love of music,

John M. Taylor