Daily writing prompt
If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?
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By now my love of music is well known.

If someone gave me $1 Million to give away, the first place I would turn is to Barry Manilow’s charity – The Manilow Music Fund.

A great believer in music education, Manilow’s Fund provides musical instruments to schools. When he toured, he would provide a piano to a school in the cities where he performed.

Someone once asked Manilow if he had any advise for young musicians and people just starting out in music. His answer was to learn how to read music; because if you can read music, you can always find a job.

There is much more to the music industry than the chart topping rock, pop, and country music stars.

Musicians who can read music – especially if they are very good at reading music – can get a job as an accompanist for auditions, play music in churches, or even be a member of an orchestra if they are really good on their instruments.

Many orchestras play multiple performances each month and unless the musician has a photographic memory, reading music…and reading it quickly…is a must. There are only two or three rehearsals for each performance and the conductor and orchestra must have everything just right for the performance.

And then there are the session musicians who are as Barry Manilow says in his song a “Studio Musician” who play as extra instruments or backup during album recordings. You know all those extra string instruments and such that appear on songs?

And someone has to make sure music set down on paper for printing is done correctly or written down when the composer or songwriter does not know how to read music – you’d be surprised at who some of them are.

Oh, and what about all that music you hear during a movie? Not all of them are big stars like the James Bond themes.

All too often, art and music programs are the first to be eliminated from school budgets leaving band, chorus, and theatre programs without funding. Organizations like Manilow’s Music Fund help to bridge some of that gap.

And let’s face it, a life without music is pretty dull and boring.