Tell me what you really think.
I used to do a unit in my English classes on the histor of rock and roll. I taught them about the seven roots and then moved all the way up to the music of today. It was about being objective and not subjective. Doing research and stating opinions with fact. It was so good that I now teach two sections of it to all 8th graders each quarter. Some schools are on the ball and some drop it. Luckily, we are in the game.
I'm one of the lucky "younger" generation (if you want to call 26 that any longer) who benefitted from good elementary school music. I also had parents who had very eclectic tastes and, as I grew, I loved music, picking up songs left and right. I now listen to so many types and genres that I can't answer the question, "What's your favorite kind of music." My friends joke that I know a song about everything and in college would make a game of finding a topic just to see if I knew a song about it. Songs bring back memories of people and places, feelings of hurt, love, joy, and anger. Music uplifts, soothes, comforts, and lets me reminisce.
Reading your post makes me so sad for children. I never thought about it before but...why did we drop the ball on this? Without knowing the roots of their music, how will they understand what's coming? When I hear something and see different styles coming through that I never imagined could so melodiously make good music, I'm enthralled. I can tell you why what I listen to is "good" or "bad" (perhaps I'm big on supporting my opinions due to my English-degreed background, though. *chuckles*) and even if it's "good" or "bad" in and of itself, whether or not it suits my own tastes.
Thanks for making me think. I've been lurking for some time but...I had to respond to this post. I, too, am saddened by this but...hadn't thought of it until now. Thanks, again, for bringing it to mind.
So true. Music died with the eruption of NCLB and the intrusion of "teacher-proof scripted" lessons. No more time for music, art, pe, social studies or science, unless any of those happen to be mentioned in those *&^%$ open court lessons..... Sad, so sad. Todays kids will never know what happened to the "Monk" after it sat on the Elephants trunk....... Or about the "New York Islands, the Gulf Stream Waters, or the Redwood Forests" Maybe if .50 cent or Gangster Krew or Hook Up Girls or whoever the *&^% passes off as "Music" today did those songs.....
As someone who teaches music, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for this.
WF
From someone who has kids in the school system - so true, so true. Even private schools with music programs don't do the school sing thing that I remember. It drives me nuts because it is our national heritage these kids are losing. GAHHHH.
Thanks for this post. I've just started to babysit an almost three-year-old who goes to a once-a-week "school" and I'm shocked that she knows none of the "classics"... all the songs are very new and reeks of someone trying to make a quick buck in the recording industry.
What ever happened to "The Hokey Pokey" and "I'm a Little Teapot"?
You may love this or you may roll your eyes convinced that I missed the point but if you have the Disney channel at all, check out the Little Einsteins. I know it isn't exactly what you are talking about but it is a cute little show where they usually have an adventure around a work of art (one of my kids' faves is when they are in Van Gough's Wheat field with Cypresses) and they "need" a certain classical music piece that they will name in each episode. These cartoons "discuss" crecendo vs diminuendo, legato vs staccato, etc. and its really fun.
Certainly this doesn't replace the great experiences with music that you had but I hope its introducing my kids to some concepts that we might be able to build on if it interests them.
P.S. The day I catch my 6 year old in a thong and singing about sex is the day we take a long ride out to the convent to see if there is any space available. 
Can I just say again this is exactly WHY I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HG's school. Music sing a long(even though it may have some trotsy kind of songs) is still done. Every M W F as a matter of fact. Then the protocol of "If you haven't chosen an instrument by 4th grade they assign you one" is followed to a T. The children are expected to learn it. And guess what??!! They love it and excel in music and in school! HUM...think there may be something to this music thing! DUH SCHOOL BOARD (that keeps cutting every subject that doesn't deal with sports) stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Thank heavens she is not attending the local pubic school. They just cut 2 more music classes. Now it's just choir. What happened to orchestra and band??! CUT!
OOh but don't ask HG to sing you "Elsie Was A Fine Cow"!! That one kind of makes me erpie!
Completely agree. They are cutting music programs out of schools where we live. My best memories of school involve music.
I believe you; I remember great school music programs when I was a kid, and we knew many songs from much earlier eras as well as our own. When my kids were small, I used to play the organ everyday after school and we would sing along together. Nowadays, none of the kids I know are taught music at all, and few take classes in any instrument. It is a pitiful state of affairs!
"Mozart's in the closet - let him out, let him out, let him out!"
~Symphony #40 in g, 3rd mov't
Hi Mama, stopping in to see you and get my regular dose of parenting advice
hope you're well and warm!
The literature side of this, of course, is the Disney-fication of all kid lit. No one knows fairy tales or folk tales any more. (It does make it fun to tell them about what the Ugly Stepsisters really did to make the glass slipper fit. The kids are sooo grossed out!)
I always liked "The War of 1812" because I was the only kid who had a cannon.
(Nice piece, Mama. The big decline hasn't reached us totally yet; we still have grade school band and choir, and lots of high school groups. I'll have to tell the School Board how much time they're wasting.)
I absolutely agree. Moreover, I don't know where to get good recordings of American folk music so that I can educate my kids about this aspect of American culture. My husband and I can teach some songs but we'd love our kids to have a CD of non-grating renditions of folk music. Classical music is easy enough to find; we'll cull from our own collection. Same goes for rock, country, etc. But where to get copies of, say, Stephen Foster songs? I mean, the guy's an ancestor of my children and we have no copies of his music to share and they probably won't get to hear it in school? Shnikees.
Hoss, there's still grade school band and choir in your neck of the woods? Up here 50 miles north in Portland, band is offered if your school can carve out the time/money, and most elementary schools don't have a music program (unless parents have done fundraising or created foundations to support 'extras' like music or art or PE...)
I had to transfer my daughter to an 'arts magnet' school in order to get her those art, music, dance, and drama 'extras' - and thankfully, it's woven into the entire curriculum. And I thank my lucky stars every single day that we worked the system in order to make it happen for her...
It's all Barney's Fault. Back 15 years ago, when I was a Girl Scout leader, every wonderful old folk song had been co-opted by that wretched purple dinosaur.
And what he didn't destroy the relentless pressure to test, test has. We have music, but it's not about learning our country's musical history.
Heck they've eliminated ALL arts from the schools--hence I have little work. Sad 'cause it's always the kids who aren't the a-number-ones in terms of behavior who benefit the most from the creative outlet.
How ironic you mentioned the literature angle, graycie. I just lent my 1902 edition of Anderson's fairy tales to my 14-year old piano student...so she could read the real "Little Mermaid" story."
[RANT]
My take on all of this is stop all of this political correctness BS, this is what is crippling the world. Here in the UK, up to half of the classic nursery rhymes have been changed (almost) out of all recognition or banned completely due to the PC lobby. The entire world is going to hell in a handbasket if something isn't done to reverse the falling standards in our education systems. Too much emphasis on religion & computers, and not enough on how we as children learned to enjoy learning.
[/RANT]
BTW Michele sent me
Hear, hear, to all of the above! One of the worst music education crimes is the so-called "piggyback song", in which the text of familiar nursery/folk songs is changed to make the song "applicable to the curriculum". Many classroom teachers (and, I dare say, some music teachers) think this is "cute". It's absolutely horrid. Children who recognize the tune of "Frere Jacques", but associate it with math facts, are just as lacking in music education as those who have never heard the tune at all. I wish someone would BAN those outrageous excuses for songs!
This is why I have dedicated my teaching to the Kodaly philosophy of music education. Want more info? Ask my sister, Mamacita, and she can forward your question to me...
My 2 1/2 year old son loves Little Einsteins. I heard him the other day humming one of the songs (Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 9).
I really hate to see the loss of the arts in school. When my stepdaughter was in elementary school they had a volunteer program (no real art class) called Art Masters where a parent would come in and teach about an artist and then lead the kids in a similar art project. I loved working with the kids and the work was often phenomenal. (My favorites were Starry Night and The Scream.) She is now a sophomore in high school and I still look back on those days fondly.
I just hope when my son reaches school there will still be some arts still being taught.
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