Harvard Prof Excoriates Longy's Zorn

Echoing many parents and students, Harvard Professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth fired off a scathing email to Longy Director Karen Zorn, deploring Zorn's decision to shut down the school's community education program. "this is an unfortunate and extremely short-sighted decision," Lajer-Burcharth writes.

"to speak for myself, i am indeed both extremely saddened and angered by your sudden and poorly justified decision. to me, nothing illustrates longy's singular appeal better than the delicious cacophony of sounds and voices i would often hear while waiting for my daughter taking her piano class with one of the most gifted, brilliant, committed teachers longy has been so well known for being able to offer to amateurs. what an inspiring melange of sounds it was coming from the different rooms and pitched at different levels, from those of the beginners to those of the professionals! you and your board have chosen to silence it--or at least to silence it for those of us who do not wish to be professional musicians or to imagine such a career for our children, but who were nonetheless extremely committed to learning music."

Read the whole thing here.