[Dixielandjazz] Are you tonedeaf? - TEST

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

I started teaching in 1962 and the Seashore Test was in vogue.  We used it 
to weed out kids who had little chance to do well.  Actually it was a cut 
down version of the full test.  I discarded it very quickly after about two 
years because of two reasons.  The first was that parents paid absolutely no 
attention to the results and enrolled their kids anyway and secondly it 
seemed to be not worth the time that it took.

That doesn't mean that some sort of testing is necessarily a bad thing. 
Today, in most schools,  any kid who wants to play and shows up with an 
instrument gets a chance.  The problem with this is that you end up with 17 
drummers out of every 25 kids that start and most of them are hyperactive.
Larry
St. Louis


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Hanson" <jazzdude39 at comcast.net>
To: "Charles Suhor" <csuhor at zebra.net>
Cc: "DJML" <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Are you tonedeaf? - TEST


>
>   Charles,
>
>  I haven't heard anyone mention about the Seashore Test in years, but in 
> 1957 I decided to enter college as a music major. I was given this test 
> and much to my surprise I made a 100 on it, and much to the teschers 
> surprise I flunked the first semester as a music major. I took the course 
> over and managed a B, but decided to change my major to business. I really 
> didn't have time for the voice and piano needed for the music course. 
> Being mostly broke it took me 7 years to get my degree and went on to 
> obtain an MBA, which I hardly used as I was stuck on being a professional 
> musician. I became a loan officer in a large Oklahoma bank but the 
> president of the bank objected to my playing at the local country clubs 
> and at the military base nearby (Ft. Sill). I resigned from that job and 
> was playing on Bourbon Street three days later and never looked back.
>  The mention of the Seashore Music Test, triggered my recollection all 
> those years ago. Hope I didn't bore anyone.
>
>  Dave Hanson
>  Trombone
>  Atlanta
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