Posted by And... on August 07, 2001 at 23:14:24:
In Reply to: Re: Comments from an old tuba player posted by Chuck(G) on August 06, 2001 at 13:34:38:
Another reason is the host of decisions by the Powers That Be that elementary music is a waste of time and resources. Decisions made by people who generally couldn't carry a tune if it was burned on CD and placed in their pocket. All of you thirty-somethings should remember how music was not optional in elementary school up until the late '70s or early '80s. It was a class you took; just like reedin, ritin, and cipherin. Fortunately, for me the music stuck better, heh-heh.
Seriously though. I only have one or two out of eight students that can sing AT ALL, and they won't do it in lessons without heavy cajoling. The others, if I play a tune and ask them to sing it back, I am met with looks ranging from blank stares to abject terror. Then they try, and even though I am sitting 5 feet away, I have to listen closely to hear them. "Sing it like Pavarotti," I tell them. They ask, "Who?" The whole concept that you can't play it if you can't sing it seems like some sort of curiosity; but surely not true because they would have heard that somewhere before, right?
But nobody taught them that as the original instrument, singing is the root of all music.
Steve Dedman