[Dixielandjazz] Fw: Musically Illiterate Nation

[Robert Ringwald]

This from Chris Tyle.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tyleman" <tyleman at isp.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 9:25 AM
Subject: Musically Illiterate Nation


Interesting article sent to me today...

A Musically Illiterate Nation



by Ann C. Cay

The majority of our nation’s eighth-grade students can’t sing in tune,
play instruments or read music, according to the last National
Assessment of Educational Progress. If you take them to a ball game,
they can’t sing the national anthem in tune, even if they know the
words. Most can’t play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on an
instrument. If you locked the refrigerator door with a combination
that required simple rhythmic drumming to open it, most would starve
to death. Let’s be serious now. What difference does it make if they
can’t sing? They get all the music they want on the radio and through
CDs. Are they going to be any smarter, richer, or happier if they can
belt out a tune or beat out a rhythm?

Yes! Studies indicate that musical ability is as related to
intelligence as is math or language. Music is an intelligence, says
Dr. Howard Gardner, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard University. In
fact, making music may affect the very organization of the brain which
positively impacts achievement in math, reading, and other
disciplines. A study in Pawtucket, Rhode Island based on the Kodály
(Ko-dye) music education approach documented improved math and reading
achievement, behavior and attitude in first grade students. The
students received more music time, visual arts, and the involvement of
their classroom teachers. A replication of this study at Powderhorn
Community School in Minneapolis Public Schools yielded similar
results, with the most significant gains in word recognition and math.
Another study reveals that young children who can tell the difference
between different pitches become better readers. A Wisconsin study
finds that kindergartners who play piano keyboards can also put
puzzles together much faster.

Then, there are the actual brain studies, such as the one that found
that children who start practicing an instrument before they are nine
have a larger area in their brains that processes sound. Marian
Diamond’s research in her book, Magic Trees of the Mind: How to
Nurture Your Child’s Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions
from Birth through Adolescence, says that rats with toys in their
cages grow thicker cortexes within four days. Rats in other cages
watching rats with toys don’t exhibit brain growth. Most of us see
this as common sense: you learn by doing. And you learn music by
making music.

Everyone can learn to sing in tune and play instruments because music
making is learned behavior. Sure, some individuals are going to be
exceptional at it, but music is no more a special talent or gift than
is math or language. The tragedy is that we teach as if it is, so most
of our children never learn to make music well. Imagine never learning
to speak or read or understand language. Imagine never experiencing
the pride and joy of linking letters and sounds into sentences on a
page.

Most music teachers are not trained to teach all children how to sing
in tune, play instruments, improvise, compose and analyze music. In
their college methods courses, they learn primarily how to develop a
small percentage of our children -- those who are most musically able
and/or motivated and whose parents pay for lessons and instruments.
The rest of the population is taught to “appreciate” the music the
others make. The majority of children are finished with music
education by age thirteen.

I have watched lifelong teachers of music break down in tears when
they were finally taught how to teach all children to become competent
music makers -- able to sing in tune, play instruments, improvise,
compose and analyze music. Music education approaches under the names
Kodály, Orff, Dalcroze and Gordon offer instruction that shows
teachers how to enable all students to achieve competence in making
music. This is what is called for in the National Standards for music
education.

What is needed is a shift in understanding: music making is a learned
behavior that benefits children's health, well being and academic
achievement. Let's not wait for more data and analysis; it's simple to
get started now.

1.     Classroom teachers can begin by having children sing daily.
Using folksongs and singing games can transform the classroom into a
happy, lively, cooperative community of learners.

2.     Music teachers can seek new training in Kodaly, Orff, Dalcrose
and Gordon.

3.     Administrators can allocate funds to train classroom teachers,
retrain music teachers, add more music instruction time for students,
and purchase additional instruments.

Americans want to see improved learning in our schools. Music
education that ensures music making for all of our children not only
contributes to this goal but enriches the lives of all of us. Let’s
get to work (and play!).

About Ann C. Kay

Ms. Kay is the founder and director of the Center for Lifelong Music
Making, where she launches transformative ideas aimed at tipping the
nation toward a musically able and active population. She teaches
courses for Minneapolis Public Schools and Hamline University. A
former elementary and junior high music teacher, Ann was also
associate director of graduate music education at the University of
St. Thomas where she advised master's theses and founded and directed
the Kodály approach certification program. She has served as president
of the national Organization of American Kodály Educators, chaired
numerous conferences, and presented over 60 workshops for music
teachers in the U.S. and Taiwan.

For more information about the Center for Lifelong Music Making, visit
their website.