Remarks on the "VH1 Save The Music Today" Campaign in New York City - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 19, 2000

June 16, 2000

The President. Thank you very much. Good morning.

The President. I'd like to begin by thanking Barry Rosenblum and Time Warner; Sumner Redstone. Thank you, my long-time friend Billy Joel; and Brian McKnight, whom I admire so much. Thank you, Chancellor Levy.

Audience members. Good morning.

I'd like to thank the student band over here from Dr. Susan MoKinney Junior High School. Thank you for being here. I see Comptroller Green, President Fields, Senator; thank you all for being here.

I'd like to thank Randi Weingarten and the people from the United Federation of Teachers who are here. I don't know if any Members of the Congress are here. I think they're still voting-[laughter]-which is not a bad thing.

So what I would like to do now is to begin with the important things. First, my longtime friend John Sykes--I say "long-time friend"; we've only really known each other about 4 years, but I've spent more time with him in the last 4 years than anybody but Hillary, I think--[laughter]--because of our or music and because of this project, which--there have been only a few days when I wondered if I made a mistake volunteering to help, because he took it seriously.

But I do love this, and I'll say a little more about it in a moment. I love it because of the potential it has to transform the lives of these young people. And I would like to say, first of all, Kelvin, I thought you did a great job speaking up here. One of the reasons I like music, is it gives young people self-confidence and a sense of the reward you get for disciplined effort, so more of them would be able to speak like you in public. That was good.

And I would like to say especially and most of all how much I appreciate the remarkable work that Victor Lopez, the principal, and the teachers and the parents have done on this school in the last few years. I can't thank you enough.

This school, a couple of years ago, was identified by everybody as a low performing school. Eighty percent of the kids weren't reading at grade level. Enter Mr. Lopez and his team and the supportive parents: smaller classes; after-school programs; parental involvement; school uniforms; and now a commitment to music education.

In the last year alone, the number of P.S. 96 third graders reading at or above grade level has gone up more than 300 percent. In 2 years, student performance from 20 percent at or above grade level to 74 percent--in 2 years. This is astonishing for the school. And now they want music education. Why? Because it's also good for academics, as you've already hear ci.

But I want to just--everybody stop and take a deep breath. Look at these kids. All children can learn, and all children deserve a chance to learn. And the teachers and the principal and the parents here have done this. So given them another hand. This is unbelievable. Bravo! [Applause]

You know, I often say that I might not have been President if it hadn't been for school music. And it's really true. I started playing an instrument when I was 9. I started singing in the school chorus when I was younger than that. And then when aging took my voice from three octaves to about three notes--[laughter]--which, thankfully, didn't happen to my buddies over here--I just had to concentrate more on my saxophone.

And I want to say to all of you who are fixing to start this program, the first music I made was not very nice to hear. But my mother tolerated it, and I just kept on working at it. And what I learned was that if you're willing to have patience and discipline and you practice, pretty soon you can make something really beautiful, and it can help you be a better member of the team; it can help you be a happier person; it can make you a better person; and it can also be an awful lot of fun.

I still play my saxophone. A couple of years ago, Hillary made a music room for me in a little room on the top floor of the White House that we weren't using, that was way at the end of a hall, and it had two doors, so no one could hear me when I was playing. [Laughter] And I still go in there.

I have musical instruments now I've collected from all over the world. I have saxophones from all over the world now, made in China and Russia and Japan and Poland and the Czech Republic and Germany and France and, of course, the United States. And I have lots of other instruments from every continent. And I just go in there, and I play. And no matter what else is going on, I can go in and play for 15 or 20 minutes, and I'm full of energy and ready to start again. That's what you can have if you get into this music program.

But the other thing I want to emphasize is, one of the things that we know--and John Sykes mentioned this--is that learning improves in school environments where there are comprehensive music programs. It increases the ability of young people to do math. There is a lot of math in music. It increases the ability of young people to read, and as I said, most important of all, it's a lot of fun.