Methods of Musical Instruction

[dr_pretentious]

I've been bartering teaching time with the Pianist. Now that she's in the middle of her Master's thesis, she's been a grad student too long to be able to afford me, but now that I have a child, I'm happy to rack up credit for hours of one-on-one instruction for him with an expert in the Dalcroze method of early childhood music education. By the time the Pianist graduates, Gareth will be old enough for a first session to make sense.

My husband, who looks gift horses in the mouth so often he has a special set of equine dental mirrors, immediately started researching other methods of early childhood music ed. Okay, I really can't blame him. When he was an undergrad, one of his majors was classical guitar, so his opinion on the subject is bound to be more informed than mine.

One evening, while he was doing web searches, we had this conversation:

DAN:
According to the Kodaly method, we're already doing it all wrong.

ME:
Doing what? We're playing music we like and dancing around with him. What could possibly be wrong with that?

DAN:
Kodaly would say a lot of the music we like is too complex for a child his age to be exposed to. He says a very young child should only be exposed to the folk music of the region he lives in.

ME:
So, in our case, the folk music of New Jersey. Right.

DAN:
I'm drawing a blank here.

ME:
Springsteen and Bon Jovi.

DAN:
Do we have to?

ME:
Which do you think Kodaly would approve of more? "Born to Run" or "Dead or Alive?"

DAN:
I don't know. Which do you think would sound better performed by a full children's choir?

Comments

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Nonononono!!

I swear, I'll never understand the NJ obsession with Springsteen. He's like Dylan: Wrote good songs, should never have been allowed to perform them. Seriously. He just manages to make every song sound the same.

'Dead Or Alive' for the win!

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's because -- in my heart of hearts, and to my closest friends, I must admit this -- "Springsteen" isn't about Mr Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen is about Clarence Clemons, The Big Man, who plays some of the best damn sax...