The State of Music Education (part 3)

What information, at age 15-20 or so, could have made a difference for me in my musical growth?  That's pretty much the defining element of this little experiment called the Contemporary Music and Sound program.  It's actually a simple concept in retrospect, and there is something to be said for the notion that the most significant educational philosophies are generally the most obvious; but more importantly it's intuitive. 

It's interesting to me that for all the attention CMAS has gotten, all the great comments received over the comprehensive and educationally valid curriculum it employs, it was really all developed with that "what would have helped me?" concept in mind.

That is not to say that I do not have a huge amount of respect for my former music teachers - in fact I do.  Truth is, over the years, it was my analysis of them as it related to my own teaching skills that, in no small part, convinced me that I needed to find a new direction.  It was clear that I was not up to a high enough standard.

So again I come back to luck.  The CMAS concept, educationally, has been to find a way to repackage the music fundamentals of theory and technique with more modern sensibilities.  I often talk to my students about what it really means to write "pop" music.  Ultimately that conversation always leads us to the same place: people like Mozart, Beethoven and all the others, were writing Pop songs for their times.  You cannot fault them for not using electric guitars and synths since they were not around, any more than you can fault current musicians for making use of the newer tools available to them.  It seems a bit naive to think that Tchaikovsky would not have used a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) if it had been around when he was creating his music.

And that might vey well be why the more traditional minded of my collegues are are having so much trouble.  It's not that the music is old.  Frankly I find that a ridiculous if not irrelevant descriptor.  It's the idea that it is more valid than what is happening now. 

I know how harsh that sounds, but, at least to me, and this is what I demand my students to come to terms with, either all music is valid or none of it is.  This is not and should not be an area of debate.  That is not to say it is all good.  "Valid" and "good" are about as related as "joy" and "fun." But as usual, that is a topic for another posting.
(end part 3)