Group Tries to Amplify Appreciation of Music : Education: Nonprofit foundation fosters arts instruction through free workshops in elementary and middle schools.

Dave Myers’ wish list for musical education at Ventura’s De Anza Middle School was modest. A piano to accompany the school choir would be nice, and carpeting in the band room would improve acoustics, the principal mused.

And regular music classes might uncover hidden talent among his students, many of whom come from the poorest families in the Ventura Unified School District.

So when a newly formed Ventura County arts group offered this year to stage musical workshops, provide needy students with expensive instruments, offer weekly instruction in musical theory at the west Ventura campus and find a piano, Myers was thrilled.

“They’re fulfilling what I see as a real important need,” he said. “And that is providing young people with exposure to all kinds of music.”

Created 10 months ago, the Ventura County Performing Arts Foundation has a mission to restore some semblance of arts education at the elementary and middle-school level.

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It is a vision that James Petrarca, a professional piano player, has pursued with almost fanatic zeal since he incorporated the nonprofit organization last May. On any given day, Petrarca can be found in his Ventura home or in the foundation’s office in downtown Ventura with a phone seemingly glued to his ear.

The fast-talking East Coast native spends 15-hour days arranging music workshops with school principals. He lines up businesses, individuals and PTAs to pay the cost of bringing a professional musician into a school to conduct assemblies.

And always, he has a minute to talk up the foundation’s lofty goals.

In the next few months, it will branch out into eastern Ventura County, teaching students the basics of jazz at assemblies in Simi Valley and Newbury Park. The group’s ambitious long-term goal is to reintroduce weekly instruction in music, dance, drama and poetry in all of the county’s public schools.

So far, accredited teachers supplied by the foundation have conducted weekly classes only at schools in the Ventura Unified School District. But other schools in western Ventura County have held music workshops and assemblies organized by the group.

For months, students in Ventura and Oxnard have attended large music assemblies or smaller workshops put on by the foundation. More one-time assemblies are planned for schools in Santa Paula and Fillmore.

An instrument bank supported by donations and maintained by the foundation allows students to check out musical equipment, with fees set on a sliding scale. A new clarinet can cost as much as $2,000. Students can get a donated instrument for free, in some cases.

“These kids deserve a chance to be exposed to the creative outlets that the arts provide as we did when we were in school,” said the 47-year-old Petrarca. Actress Mary Steenburgen makes a similar appeal in a radio ad asking for donations to the foundation.

At a recent workshop billed as a beginner’s introduction to jazz, saxophone player Jon Crosse explained different types of wind instruments to about 250 fourth- and fifth-graders gathered in an auditorium at Ventura’s E. P. Foster School.

Crosse, a longtime musician who has traveled extensively with several bands and is currently musical director for the Paul Anka Show, held up a bass clarinet.

“Its sound is an octave lower than a clarinet,” he said. “An octave in music has eight notes--the same as an octopus with eight legs.”

As he played the clarinet, students counted out notes. Several boys near the front played “air” clarinet, while a group of girls swayed back and forth.

“They seem to be enjoying themselves,” said delighted school Principal Fred Rivera.

As with any new organization, this one still has some kinks to work out. Crosse showed up late at E. P. Foster, causing Rivera to cancel an earlier assembly planned for students in lower grades.

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And Charles Weis, Ventura County’s superintendent of schools, said he is concerned about whether the foundation will be able to keep the momentum going more than a few years. The group does not have an endowment, the kind of stable funding source that would make it less critical to seek ongoing donations, he said. A workshop can cost $50 to $2,000, depending on the performer’s fee.

“This foundation is definitely contingent on Jim, his energy, his drive,” Weis said. “And at some point you just get tired of continually asking people for more money.”

For now, Petrarca seems committed.

Music is a “fundamental element of civilization itself,” and Petrarca said veteran musicians must take it upon themselves to ensure there is a steady supply of bass players, violinists and trumpeters to take this country into the 21st Century.

Mark Massagli, president of the American Federation of Musicians, agrees. At a recent conference in Los Angeles, Massagli lauded the foundation as “on target with what must be done throughout the country to assist and ultimately recruit young musicians into the AFM fold.”

Massagli urged local chapters of the union to use Petrarca’s model to create similar groups across the country.

As in public schools nationwide, regular instruction in the performing arts has become almost extinct in Ventura County over the past two decades. Music, dance and drama have been viewed as frills that were dropped as budgets dwindled.

In recent years, school principals have had to rely on parent-teacher groups to marshal enough money to put on an occasional musical performance, they say.

So the Ventura County Performing Arts Foundation is a welcome addition to the county’s education community, Weis said. And its ability to build a network of community and corporate sponsors may make a difference at some schools, he added.

“It may bring us back to a time when, even in elementary schools, kids have access to the arts without having to do a fund-raiser.”