MSU’s Music Education area plays an active role in guiding community input regarding the importance of music education at the elementary level.

In response to a budget deficit in the Spring of 2013, the Lansing Public School District eliminated 87 elementary art, music, and physical education positions in the Lansing School District.

After a month into the school year, Mitch Robinson, associate professor and chair of music education at the MSU College of Music, continues to be interested in how the Lansing School District has been adjusting and how instruction is being delivered in these crucial subjects in Lansing's elementary schools.

This has played out in a couple of key rolls for Robinson. On September 30, he served as a panelist during a community forum discussing this topic that was webcast live through the NAMM Foundation’s "SupportMusic.Com" initiative. And on October 4, he was interviewed for WKAR’s “Current State” radio show along with Barb Whitney from the Greater Lansing Arts Council to talk about community arts providers and the role of teaching music and the arts in public schools.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Click here to read about how the MSU College of Music initially provided guidance on this matter.