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Make a case for teaching music in schools


bp

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what do we need music education for when still a child dies every three seconds in Africa?

 

 

The better our population is educated, and the more exposure they have to things like the fine arts and other "liberal" subjects, the more likely we are to not only be able to help out the rest of the world, but also to actually lend that assistance when we can.

 

There has never been a correlation shown between more music education and higher crime or drop-out rates.

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i have no BA in music, I can stay here

 

 

not if you feel that way with the Africa situation...now you need to pack, reup your heavy equipment cert AND get a BA -- whew it's going to be a busy day for you -- you probably better log off...for the children

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Music is prevalent in out culture. We either listen actively (use an iPod) or passivly (watch TV or a movie, go to a hockey game, play a video game).

 

Since music is such a huge part of our cultural experience, it's important that kids have a basic understanding of what it is and how it works.

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not if you feel that way with the Africa situation...now you need to pack, reup your heavy equipment cert AND get a BA -- whew it's going to be a busy day for you -- you probably better log off...for the children

 

 

okay okay,

 

I promise to make the next Bread For Life tv-spot for the ICRC for one-third the royalties.

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I like it because it reflects a number of skills, some of which are pretty abstract and gives pupil feedback in a couple of intuitive (and relatively easy to digest) ways.

 

As an example -- composition through performance of a piece is, well, can be a product lifecycle.

you compose - that's research

you orchestrate/arrange - that's development --the engineering dealing with the 'ideal' or abstract and putting it into operation in imperfect and/or contexts with limits like limited ranges of voices and instruments or harmonic clashing -- even different specs like baroque vs modern tunings...all kinds of stuff

Oh, then you have rehearsal (which can be tricky especially with ensembles) so you have production and the overhead you can have there...unanticipated difficulties and workarounds -- in architecture you have two kinds of plans, the design plans and the 'as built'

this guy is having trouble, this other guy is slacking, the schedule is slipping, the percussion keeps playing while people are tuning, the horns have a problem with their parts...you name it

Then there's roll out - the performance - with all that comes with, from how presentation works to dealing with the remaining imperfection, to dealing with critique to just general {censored} management on the fly

 

and the results of the experiment comes out in a kinesthetic form as you play the piece in audio as you listen to the piece, in social form as you see audience reaction and learn to navigate the internal workings of an ensemble.

 

so it's can work like the old Neil Stephenson thing "The human mind can absorb and process an incredible amount of information - if it comes in the right format. the right interface. If you put the right face on it"

 

just an example, there's a lot more to learn in there

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okay okay,


I promise to make the next Bread For Life tv-spot for the ICRC for one-third the royalties.

 

 

No time for that! you've got a BA to get, packing to do and heavy equipment to get your cert current on!

for the children Rudy -- log off now!

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kind of to tie together the cultural aspect and interdisciplinary study opportunities i guess - the study of music offers a neat environment and examples, maybe a lens to give context to other studies

Musical temperament is a classic mathematical product-of-primes problem, sounds (esp musical sounds as they have organization, so are easier to parse) can be a good and seductive way to give context to processes like Fourier analysis

politically we've got anthems, slave music - and bans and sanctions on various forms

culturally weve got everything from drinking songs to funeral dirges and dance music

what types of instruments were developed can be indicative of certain anthropological constraints...nomadic cultures are not going to develop large organs and such

 

The list could just go on and on

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well, assuming that there will always be a contingent of human population who are poverty-stricken:

 

Music fleshes out, gives depth and dimension and flexibility to the human character. Right now, with less music and art available, we are teaching kids that the purpose of being alive is to count money and shuffle papers. Under the pretext of "preparing youngsters for the unique demands of future society". No wonder we have a skyrocketing teenage suicide rate. I can't think of a human fate more dull, producing a more boring human.... I've known me some real dull Texas, New York, South African and California millionaires, I'm tellin' ya...

 

I suspect that the quality of pop music will improve as we have generations of kids who've studied music. Listen to a 1940's Big Band arrangement.... listen to how musically complex is the horn arrangement......then consider that this was the pop music American teens were listening to at the time...

 

HUhnGNHQEFA&feature=related

 

There is this.....free-floating feeling or assumption.... that somehow Tonality (Western harmony and Melody) is dead, that its possibilities have somehow become exhausted. Or that the pace of life has become too fast for it. I just don't believe it, and don't want today's pop music to move into just jungly drumbeats with little real melody or harmony attached.

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I had a 14 years experience in music profession in classical Music as well as 4 years in western music,I had taken a lead in this field and became a tuter,believe me friends this profession is really hapenning,Music is a bridze between two hearts it is the link between two strangers.So go ahead and spread the knowlwdge of music and teach love.

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