Last week, I wrote about some of my
experiences as a musician, in an attempt to explain why I have had a
rather love hate relationship with music and, to some extent, why I
am the weird person that I am. Over the years, music has meant so
many things to me, as a profession and as something I love doing. Is
is something which has led to many beautiful friendships, something
which has led to a lot of fun, laughter, tears and something which
has led to a huge amount of FRUSTRATION.
And one of the many frustrations I
would like to write about now, is that of music education.
So this is Part 1 of 10,000, dealing
with my FRUSTRATION with MUSIC EDUCATION.
Garghh!!!!!
It seems that there are a myriad
reasons why parents wish their children to learn a musical
instrument. Here, I believe, are the ones you hear most often.
- they themselves never had the opportunity as children and so would like their own children to have the chance
- they learned as children, felt they gained hugely as a result and want the same for their offspring
- they have heard/read that learning an instrument can benefit their child's wider education
- their child has asked to learn (!)
- they believe that their child will have more chance of getting into the school/university of their choice if they have certificates of achievement in musical performance.
It seems that nearly every day, the
results of another study into the benefits of music education are
published. Music education has been shown, time and time again, to
enhance children's listening skills, their co-ordination, problem
solving, social skills. Students who study music have been shown in
numerous studies, in numerous countries, from kindergarten through to
University, to have higher grade point averages than their non music
learning peers. Of course it can be argued that the people who fund
the studies have an agenda; that families who can afford to pay for
instrumental lessons are more likely to come from academically
focussed backgrounds or are more likely to pay for extra tuition in
other areas too. However, very few people ever argue that music
education is NOT important, or that they are glad that they never
learnt to play an instrument or that their children have never wanted
to learn to play.
And yet, here are some of the things I and most instrumental teachers
hear on a regular basis:
“We didn't have time to practise
this week, she had too much
homework/ballet/drama/swimming/guides/tennis/football.”
“He didn't want to practise and I
didn't want to push him.”
And, the most dreaded: “There's not
much point if he's not enjoying it, is there?”
So let's think about that last point. Yes indeed, music can be a wonderful world, filled with
unicorns and fairy wings, where one can soar ever higher on clouds of
rosy self expression, whilst one's intellect sharpens into diamond points
of Einsteinism.
But it can also be a hard slog and when you've just
had a long day's schooling and it's cold and you're tired and hungry,
even taking your instrument out of the case, fitting a reed or
tightening a bow, can seem a herculean task, however keen one might
be. Playing an instrument is a physical task, make no mistake.
HOWEVER.
How many parents go to their child's
teacher and say: “My child isn't going to learn Maths/English
Science any longer, because they no longer enjoy it?”
And here's the Thing; children know
that their parents are not going to say that. And so here's the Question: Do they also know that, deep down, their parents are not
convinced that, actually, music is that important after all?
http://mabryonline.org/blogs/doemel/archives/2005/08/music_education.html
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