The ‘Opus’ Continues

I had the privilege of being a colleague of and teaching with Botso Korisheli for almost 20 years at Morro Bay High and Los Osos Junior High (“Mr. Korisheli’s Opus,” by Diane Haithman, Aug. 14).

His dedication to his vision and to his music was a priceless gift to his students and also an inspiration to me, then a very young choral director. He knew what he wanted in a vast array of musical circumstances, and he would not be satisfied until he could find a student to fill the bill, be it instrumentalists we needed for the operas we produced or a gifted young student who he knew would be able to master the lighting board for musical productions.

His ability to see a student’s potential and accept nothing less will be something that I keep with me as a teacher for the remainder of my career. For, as teachers, what could be more important that we give?

I hope that your article will somehow remind music teachers just how important their work really is, and what a difference their effort has made and is making in the lives of the students they work with every day. Is there a movie producer ready to produce Botso’s life story? It is truly worth the effort!

CAROL TINGLE

Santa Monica

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Don Doyle, director of visual and performing arts for the L.A. Unified School District, identifies a major problem in schools’ approach to the arts when he says, “sometimes priorities clash, and arts get in the way.”

As the daughter of a retired composer for television, Nathan Scott, and the sister of a working composer, Tom Scott, I know that there is a continuing need for musicians--both performers and composers--throughout the entertainment industry. And new developments in technology have created opportunities for trained artists, as well as in story development, set design, film, television, voice-overs . . . the list goes on and on.

Yet few local high schools--much less elementary schools--offer a selection of courses in the arts, and still fewer offer sequential courses and state-of-the-art equipment to prepare students for more advanced, college-level work in these areas, or to enter this enormous, well-paying, local job market. What’s wrong with this picture?

LINDA SCOTT COLLEY

Scholarships advisor,

Arcadia High School