Time & Perspective Quote by Jon Secada

Secada isn’t reminiscing; he’s testifying. By starting with the plain inventory of what he taught - “voice, theory, humanities” - he establishes credibility across the practical, the technical, and the cultural. It’s a subtle flex, but not a vain one: he’s reminding you that music isn’t just talent or vibes. It’s craft plus literacy plus a humanistic frame. The community college detail matters, too. That’s where art education meets the people who weren’t groomed for conservatories, where a “maybe” can turn into a vocation.

Then comes the blunt diagnosis: “music education is a dying thing.” The phrase has obituary weight, but the real punch is the next line’s rhythm: “more and more and more.” It mimics the drip-drip-drip of austerity, the slow administrative squeeze that doesn’t arrive as one dramatic headline. Secada’s intent is less nostalgia than warning: when budgets shrink, the first thing cut is often the thing that teaches listening, discipline, collaboration - the stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into standardized metrics.

The subtext is about who gets to make music, and who gets relegated to consuming it. When funding disappears, private lessons and well-resourced programs become the gatekeepers. You don’t just lose band rooms; you lose on-ramps for working-class students, immigrant kids, late bloomers - the exact demographic community colleges serve. Secada, a pop musician with a teacher’s résumé, is making a culturally savvy argument: we’re not just defunding electives. We’re narrowing the pipeline of future creators, and calling it “efficiency.”