Longy President Responds To Criticism

Last week ARTery published Karen Weintraub's essay critiquing Longy School of Music's decision to end its youth preparatory and continuing studies music lessons. Below Karen Zorn, president of the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, responds to that and other criticism. — Ed Siegel, WBUR.

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Since announcing our decision to close our Preparatory and Continuing Studies program as of Aug. 31, we’ve received a great deal of passionate feedback, both positive and negative. It’s gratifying to see how strongly our community feels about music education for youth. That’s why I am confident that this decision will receive wide support once it is fully understood.

Several people have worked hard to portray the decision as an epic disaster that will crush the musical dreams of children throughout greater Cambridge. They have also accused us of abandoning our commitment to music education.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In ending our Preparatory and Continuing Studies program, we are actually redoubling our commitment to music education at both a local and national level. And we are placing a special focus on providing music education for children who lack the means to pay for it.

It’s clear that many who are disappointed with our decision know Longy only through their children’s involvement in the traditional, part-time private music lessons delivered through our Preparatory and Continuing Studies program – a program which is, for the most part, available only to families who can afford it.

But our Conservatory programs – larger by far in scope, revenue and resources required – are actually the heart of the school and the place where we are fulfilling the school’s mission to "prepare musicians to make a difference in the world." By refocusing our limited resources on this critical mission, we feel we can have a much greater impact on the cause of music education locally and nationally.

We will have a positive impact nationally by giving the next generation of musicians and teachers the tools to use music as a powerful force for social change. Rather than focusing on training students to be elite musicians and teachers in a world with a dwindling number of jobs for these skills, we are training students both to be excellent musicians and to use their skills to make positive change in any number of ways. The more conservatory students we train, the greater the number of students they can reach in their own communities, particularly children in underserved communities who might never otherwise be able to experience music instruction.

The more conservatory students we train, the greater the number of students they can reach in their own communities, particularly children in underserved communities who might never otherwise be able to experience music instruction.

Karen Zorn

While we appreciate and understand the emotions of those who want to keep the Preparatory and Continuing Studies program, it is important to address a number of myths that have sprung up as a result:

We are proud of the quality of the experience offered by the Preparatory and Continuing Studies program, and truly appreciate the hard work of its faculty. However, the time has come for us to move music education beyond Harvard Square and into the community in a way that best reflects Longy’s forward-thinking vision of music as a force for social change.

Karen Zorn is president of the Longy School of Music of Bard College.