Re: Re: Standardizing...Going to Spah etc

[Garry Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> not enough teachers
> encourage experimenting enough and sometimes are too much of a stickler of
> doing everything by rote, and so by doing that, it's no wonder you see too
> many who are totally helpless without the sheet music in front of them. 

this is a pet peeve of mine, with the way music is taught in the schools.
i've got three daughters who've been through varying degrees of music
education, and i've sat through a lot of school band concerts.
my oldest, a HS junior, is a wonderful flute player.  she can sight read,
plays in the marching band, great stuff.  but she looks at me like i'm from
mars if i even suggest the idea of jamming, and can't (or won't) play anything
that she doesn't have sheet music in front of her for.

and this makes sense, as they're never taught to do anything but play
what somebody else wrote, exactly as written, at the direction of the 
music teacher.  which is fine, perhaps, for the tiny fraction that'll end up in 
orchestras.  but it means that, for most of them, once they leave
school, their musical life is over.  and that's a real shame.  i want
them to make their own music, not just play somebody else's.

- ----
Garry Hodgson, Technical Consultant, AT&T Labs

Be happy for this moment.
This moment is your life.