[Dixielandjazz] What music do young people hear?

[Tramette89 at aol.com]

I couldn't help but notice this subject when it got brought up...

sign.guy at charter.net wrote"There is no law that says everyone should like the 
same kind of music. With the multiciplicty of styles today it's the teacher's 
and schools job to
introduce styles that may not be in the main stream."

Speaking as a high school student, I can say that that isn't the case around 
my neck of the woods. Teachers seem intent on making the students listen to 
jazz, but only modern jazz. All of my band directors throughout middle and high 
school admit that they have never listened to anything recorded before 1940. 
The stuff school jazz bands play is almost always rock or latin flavored, and 
if it isn't that, then it's bebop. We've had some terrific young jazz musicians 
come out the the high school I attend, but they're all interested solely in 
modern styles. It's because that's all their instructors tell them to listen 
to; they are basically being taught that any older style of jazz is basically 
"wrong". They take us to hear modern jazz ensembles. They make us listen to 
Miles Davis and John Coltrane. And they don't allow any saxophonists to double on 
clarinet!

I can't help but wonder if maybe more kids would be into OKOM if they were 
ever actually exposed to it at school. The situation is pretty bad in Ohio, 
where I live, but its nice to see that other places aren't as biased. I've 
basically had to take things into my own hands, because boy, do I get a lot of guff 
for liking the music I like! (That's not even going in to how many people make 
fun of me because I own a c-melody sax!)

Hmm, most of the kids don't agree with my taste in music either, but that's 
no big surprise. Still, I try to convert a few of 'em every now and then...I've 
introduced a young trombonist to Jack Teagarden, and I've got a bari saxist 
hooked on Adrian Rollini!

And where did I get my first taste of old-fashioned jazz? From a Chips Ahoy 
commercial. (True story. They used to run "Sing, Sing, Sing" as the background 
music in those commericals, and the first time I heard that, I was hooked!)

-Lily Korte