There has always been a lot of talk about what has killed music, and I have done a lot of thinking on this lately. There is a lot of talk about radio, MTV, the record labels and they have all played their part in this….but and I think a deeper answer to this in our (US) culture is the cutting of music programs in our public schools.
I am not a parent, but my understanding is, is that there is little to no music education in our public schools anymore, and that there are no serious classes in even music appreciation. Even when I went to high school all there was, was the school marching band and the school choir. I was not in marching band I was in the choir and I remember we learned all our pieces by rote.
The end result is that kids have little to no appreciation for music or musicianship. They grow up with no appreciation for what it takes to become a professional or great musician.
The parallel that I draw to this is that sports are never cut. Sport flourish in our public schools, so kids grow up with a real appreciation for what it takes to be a professional athlete. They understand it because they have spent a lot of time trying to play these sports themselves whereas (unless the parents have enrolled them in private music lessons) they have spent no time trying to play a musical instrument.
So we have a generation of kids who grow up this way. For me this is evidenced by the fact that I see and hear from people who think that music is created as if by some magical means or that all music is created in a studio with samples.
Another thing that evidences this for me is some of the talkbacks I have read on youtube musical performance videos. A good example was a video I saw of Jewell performing one of her songs solo acoustic. There where endless comments about how pretty she is and how great she sings, but nowhere was there a comment on her guitar playing, or her songwriting. They understand singing (and pretty) but they show no appreciation for songwriting or musicianship
I get a lot of young people who ask me if playing guitar is hard. I am startled that they would even ask, but then I shouldn’t be. They have no music education.
I would be curious to hear from parents on this about what kind of music classes are offered (or not offered) in their kid’s public schools.
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August 5, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Darwin
Down here in Texas (and I gather through much of the South) high school bands are a huge deal, so to the extent that that gets you some musical education, I guess there is a bit going on there. But to be honest, since my kids aren’t in public school (and are still pretty young) I wouldn’t know what the situation is anyway. We’ll probably be starting them on piano pretty soon, and we’ll see where things go from there.
I get a lot of young people who ask me if playing guitar is hard. I am startled that they would even ask, but then I shouldn’t be.
I guess people just ask dumb questions sometimes. Of course, if you were like me, you’d try replying, “No. Once you listen to the song once or twice you just kind of hit the strings and the guitar does all the rest. Here, try it.”
August 6, 2008 at 3:03 am
musicworthbuying
….Omigosh! That last line is brilliant! Thanks. I will use that (evil grin).
August 14, 2008 at 4:20 am
paul "mr" craig
I am a fifth grade teacher in the mighty (and much maligned) Los Angeles Unified School DIstrict, and have been for 13 years. I can tell you that we actually do have an active music program throughout our vast (three quarters of a million kids!) system, with itinerant orchestra teachers at the elementary level and in house marching and concert programs at the middle and high school level. The success or failure of these programs depends largely on the teachers running them and their administrators (parents play a key role as well). The middle school that we feed into has a student body of around 3,000 (average for LAUSD middle schools) and has an award winning drum corps that performs like a high school unit. This is due to their outstanding music director more than anything else. There are many other examples as well.
Having said that (good god I’m long winded, aren’t I?), it has to be said that other subjects like math, language arts, English language development (for children who come to us speaking some language other than english), and science all vie for the limited number of minutes we are alloted each day. Sadly, these minutes are meted out by Sacramento, and overlap badly (for example, we are required by law to provide 200 minutes every two weeks of PE, but are also required to spend 70 minutes on math each day, 150 daily minutes on language arts, 45 minutes on “mainstream” english, a minimum of 30 minutes on science daily, plus transition times, oh yeah,did I mention social stuidies? how about art?…). These children also get a (deserved) hour of recess and lunch.
I do go on, dont I? There’s more too.
They don’t give us much time for music. Do I think music education is important? ABSOLUTELY! Is it avcailable to public school students? well, yes and no. Do I have a solution? no, I don’t. But you might.
August 14, 2008 at 5:19 am
musicworthbuying
I would like to be part of that answer? What do you think I could do?