By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

In the 1970s, the Western Hills High School Studio Choir toured extensively around Cincinnati, performed on radio and TV, recorded several albums and "was the talk of the west side of town when it came to choral music," says retired music teacher Alan Coleman, who taught there 1990-2000.

Western Hills' illustrious musical alumni include Andy Williams, Betty and Rosemary Clooney, big band star Bill Berry and Broadway's Eddie Roll and Harvey Hohnecker (West Side Story; Damn Yankees).

Band barely hanging on

But today, the chance that Western Hills High will graduate a famous musician is slim. The choir is no more, and the band is barely hanging on. Western Hills, which split into three schools this year, has no time in its schedule for students to take choir. The new campus plan is threatening the band - one of only three marching bands left in Cincinnati Public Schools.

For the first time since Western Hills High was founded 74 years ago, the school will have no holiday show this year.

"At the first football game this year, six kids and I went on the field and played the `Star Spangled Banner' before the game. That's all I had," says band teacher Howard Page.

Because instrumental music largely has disappeared from elementary schools, most of his band members (16 for most football games) have never played before. "Now that football season is over, I'm trying to teach them the basics, the beginning band stuff that kids should have had at elementary school," Mr. Page says.

School redesign is just one challenge faced by Cincinnati Public School music programs since massive cuts occurred in 1991.

Some schools have managed to start or save music programs through foundations, such as VH1 Save the Music.

In Cheviot, where VH1 Save the Music, Buddy Rogers Music and Time Warner Cable started an instrumental music program, Michael Folz's elementary students continue to practice in the gym (and hallways when the gym is in use). But Mr. Folz is hopeful, because his 40 kids are learning to play, and they are getting new music books for the first time in 16 years.

In October, VH1 and Time Warner Cable donated $50,000 to help music programs at Rockdale Academy and Winton Hills Academy.

"We had an open house at the beginning of the year, and parents' mouths just dropped," says Marc Katz, music teacher at Winton Hills Academy, which has a new, state-of-the-art keyboard lab. All 500 students will learn to play the keyboard as part of Mr. Katz's general music program there.

VH1 requires commitment from schools, including class time for music during the school day. That's powerful leverage if the school threatens to ditch it. (Each of CPS' 79 schools decides whether or not to have music.)

This year, VH1 saved music at Silverton Paideia, which was not planning to hire a music teacher.

"I was able to pull that trump card with the principal," says Kathleen Hofmann, curriculum council chair for arts specialists. "I said, if you do this, I've got to confiscate $30,000 worth of band instruments."

Suzuki hope alive

In Suzuki news, one year after a funding crisis threatened Suzuki Strings at CPS, the 19-year-old program has high hopes it will be reinstated as a regular part of the CPS programs. It also wants to expand it to more children in neighborhood schools. Today, 200 children ages 5-12 take strings in four schools.

"It is really up to the board and the new administration whether the program will be welcomed back into the district with a reliable funding source," says Susan Rissover, president of COPS - Cincinnati Organization of Parents for Suzuki.

Last month, the district appointed Cindi Menefield to be visual and performing arts curriculum manager, the first arts supervisor position in more than a decade, to oversee 41,247 students in 79 schools. Ms. Menefield, who is acting principal of North Avondale Montessori, does not yet know what her duties will entail, or exactly when she will begin. She has taught music at CPS, and is a classically trained violinist and singer with degrees from the College of Mount St. Joseph and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Her first step will be to assess what is needed in all 79 schools, she says.

"My year (teaching) at Douglass showed me that children who had no program - they hungered for it. . . . I used to hear horror stories: some kids didn't get music until fifth grade, some got it once a week and some had none. It was so disparate. There was nothing standardized and nothing consistent. I used to think, if there was any way for us to have standardized instruction in the arts, I would love for us to facilitate that," she says.

"CPS has produced many outstanding musicians, dancers, artists and actors over the years. We have a rich heritage in our city. I would love to be able to capitalize on that in some way, and connect the children who are aspiring."