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drcello
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Posts: 366
(5/11/01 5:19:06
pm)
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Why study music,
anyway?
Here is a good article about the good reasons to study music. This
may be especially interesting to teachers and parents....
www.grothmusic.com/why_music.htm
Marshall C. St. John
drcello@vei.net
Cello
Heaven
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cellochris99
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Posts: 162
(5/11/01 6:48:14
pm)
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
I've been noticing in recent years, alot of research and
discoveries in that area of how a child's musical participation
influences, as the article explains, the developement of their
cognitive and social skills etc.
.. But, just for the sake of
conjecture, do we consider the state of a child's development
potential--before-- musical training and it's subsequent influence.
That,..perhaps.. individuals of the aforementioned sort, who exhibit
more or less cognitive flexibility, and learning potential-(who
would score higher testing anyway)- thus, may have more of an
inclination toward musical study in the first place, and then
realize it's intrinsic value by staying with it, unlike their
counterparts, who don't realize any immediate value in it.
In other words, a person might not be smarter BECAUSE he's
playing a tuba, but smarter THEREFORE he plays a tuba. Just my
opinion.
Chris
Edited by: cellochris99
at: 5/15/01 3:13:30 am
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cyn38
Registered User
Posts: 43
(5/11/01 9:15:15 pm)
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
I've been thinking a lot about this subject of late, as I'm
currently making that big decision about starting one of my sons in
some sort of formal music lessons.
I have three sons, ages
15, 12 and 7, all of whom are amazing athletes. The sun rises and
sets for baseball. They all pitch, and I spend an enormous amount of
time at the ballfield per week. None of them has shown the slightest
interest in music, other than putting up with the fact that their
mother plays the piano, cello and sings in the symphony chorus.
Classical music is on the radio or CD 95% of the time they are in
the house or car.
I've grieved some about the fact that as
musical as their mother is, they show ZERO interest in this passion
of mine.
Then something amazing happened. The youngest son,
Lincoln came home from first grade practically bursting, "MOM! I
learned all about Beethoven at school today! Do we have any
Beethoven in the house I can listen to?"
Yes, in fact, we
did have some Beethoven laying about. Take your pick: symphonies,
piano concerti and sonatas, cello pieces, string quartets...You want
Beethoven, Linc? We've got plenty of it.
Later the same
afternoon I sent him to get the mail and lo and behold, there was a
flyer from the symphony announcing the weekend's upcoming concert.
"Bravo Beethoven" it said, and Lincoln brought it to me and asked if
he could go to the symphony with me to hear some more Beethoven.
He's well aware that I attend our symphony nearly every single week.
I don't have to tell you the answer I gave him!
I don't know
what happened at school, though I've thought several times about
going over there and asking what they said, but this otherwise
baseball consumed child has gone nuts about classical music. That
lesson flipped the light switch on, so to speak, and he seems to not
be able to get enough of it right now. He's been to the symphony
every week since the beginning of February, sits like a little
statue through the whole thing (remember he's SEVEN), then jabbers
about what he liked best the whole way home.
He listens to
these composer tapes I have that tell the story of the composers
life, mixed with their music. He falls asleep listening about a
different composer every night.
One of his favorite things is
to play, "Who's that composer?", and we talk about what it is that
makes you be able to tell one from another. He knows the instrument
families, and is learning to identify their sounds. During the
symphony, he uses a little cheat sheet I made with the names of all
the instruments. When he hears a solo passage, he points to the one
he thinks it is. He's correct more often than not.
So, all
that said, what do I do with this little kid who is suddenly nuts
about music? I've asked him if he wants to play an instrument. He
says he does, but he's "thinking about which one". It seems like
with the interest he's shown recently, I should do something along
the line of formal lessons. After reading the program notes about
our musical director he quipped, "Keith Lockhart didn't start
playing the piano until he was seven, mom." True. Maybe it's not too
late?
What do you think?
--cyn
cynsymphony@aol.com |
cellochris99
Registered
User
Posts: 165
(5/12/01 6:05:40
am)
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
Wow!, that's pretty interesting. It's a very healthy thing that
your son is showing such an interest in music at such a young age!
It shows that there's something spontaneous inside him for music, a
good thing because it's ultimately his own desire that makes it
worth while.
I have a bit of experience that I might could
help with. I started piano at age 9 -I'm 28 now-. My piano teacher,
at that time, told my parents that, generally speaking, around age 8
& 9 is the best age for most students to begin music study. She
said that there are alot of factors that come into play, such as the
child's level of maturity, attention span, physical size and
strength, level of interest etc. But, it's usually a case by case
basis. Your son's almost definitly old enough to begin piano though.
As you probably know, young children can be very whimful at
times. One day they love puppies, and it's the most important thing
in their life,-nagging you until you actually give in and get them
one. And about two weeks later, while YOU are cleaning up canine
poop and feeding animals, he's gotta new interest....street hockey!
From you're post, it sounds like your son has a real
interest in music--that's the MOST important factor. 7 yrs is not
too young in my opininion, it just means that you might have to buy
a smaller size instrument if he decides to play cello. But don't
rush him into lessons if he's not coming up with any definitive
descisions, and just make sure that it's not a passing whim and give
him more time to think it over the next few days. Also, make sure
that he knows that if he's taking lessons, he's got to practice
regularly and that's not always fun.
Personally, in my
opinion, if someone doesn't have a particular instrument in mind,
piano is the very best instrument to begin on for several reasons.
For one, learning on piano gives young musicians a much broader
based, and a more rounded and transferable musical foundation than
starting by specializing on a saxophone, for instance. The reason
being, on piano, you learn bass AND treble clef at the onset. You
learn early about melody as it relates to chord structure, harmony,
rhythm, and phrasing. Better music, with more exposure to different
composors and more diversity in musical styles through piano music.
Piano is the most versatile instrument, in my opinion. It's MUCH
easier to get a good sound out of a piano, so the child can focus on
learning music, rather than wrestling with a trombone slide, or a
squawking violin.
Your child will have a HUGE, HUGE advantage
if he decides to play in the band or orchestra at school later on.
Most households already have a piano. Your teacher will also have a
piano, so your child doesn't have to lug a cello around. Playing
piano is something that your son will always cherish. Right now, I
play about six different istruments, and having a grounding in piano
has benefitted greatly in that being as smooth as
possible.
Chris
Edited by: cellochris99
at: 5/12/01 6:09:14 am
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AaronReeves
Registered
User
Posts: 154
(5/12/01 9:23:14
am)
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
I couldn't agree more about the piano. I am primarily a pianist. I
started lessons when I was 6, so I think that 7 would be a wonderful
age to start. Neither too early nor too late. 6 was the minimum age
set by my teacher, and I think that I started wanting to play when I
was 5, but I had to wait a few months before I could start. I've
been playing for 11 years now, and I love it so much. I'll be
majoring in piano in college.
I think that perhaps your son
started playing baseball because of the influence of your other two
sons. Maybe music is really his natural interest? I think that the
opposite has happened with my younger sister. She started taking
piano lessons mainly because my older sister and I play piano (as
well as a couple of other instruments. My older sister also plays
flute and sings, I also play cello and sing. Just to add on to
Chris's comments about piano being a wonderful foundation for other
musical pursuits.), but my parents are convinved that she should be
more involved in sports. She comes home from school talking about
P.E. class (she's in third grade) and how she played basketball
during recess, and asking if she can try out for local athletic
teams. (mainly basketball, a little soccer every once in a while)
She isn't involved in them yet, maybe someday if she stops taking
piano lessons.
Aaron
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Jon
Pegis
Registered User
Posts: 56
(5/12/01 12:08:18 pm)
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Beethoven
My oldest son developed a passion for Beethoven after seeing the
wonderful movie "Beethoven Lives Upstairs."
He had been taking
piano lessons (and not very enthusiastically) before seeing this
movie, but from then on he would practice anything by Beethoven. His
enthusiasm didn't last forever, and after a few years of lessons he
decided to stop. That's okay--he knows he's good at piano and he can
always go back to it. I think that if you can inspire a child's
imagination that they are much more likely to want to play. Hmm,
maybe I should show him "Amadeus!"
Jon Pegis
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mcello
Registered
User
Posts: 87
(5/12/01 6:09:09
pm)
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I'll read the
article after finals
As I'm sure hundreds of other music students around the country
feel right now, my first response to your topic is "good question"!
Why should I be playing juries, studying for a music history final
and of course theory! But as a mom, I'm sure I'll appreciate the
article as soon as I have time to read it! I always enjoy your
articles and chapters of books you are so good to point us to!
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Laura
Wichers
Moderator
Posts: 959
(5/13/01 11:18:07 am)
Reply
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
I'll have to check the link when I have some extra time, but I'll
mention a few things now. I've read quite a bit about the various
academic/intellectual benefits of studying music and they are truly
amazing. However, for me and many of my friends, the best part of
being involved in music is NOT the intellectual... it is the
emotional and social. The music is always there, it is a constant
regardless of whatever horrible things happen to us. We can flunk a
chem exam and be able to find solace in a quartet rehearsal. The
majority of musicians are generally nice people; personally, none of
my good friends are non-musicians.
The hours we spend in
practice rooms and, for those who studied music in college the years
spent with the same few hundred people taking the same classes,
reinforce the sense of comraderie. Not that music can't be stressful
and irritating at times, but for those of us who really love it,
nothing compares. People who are not professional musicians can
still be very active in music, something very few professions
allow.
I do not doubt that involvement in music is something
like formeldahyde for your psychological and emotional well-being:
Many of our family friends are in their late 70s and 80s, but if I
met them on the street I would never guess them to be any older than
60 or so. One can participate in music for a lifetime, it keeps you
moving and active, it provides many social
activities.
Laura
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SW
Registered User
Posts: 26
(5/14/01 1:10:29 pm)
Reply
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Re: Why study
music, anyway?
You are right on with your comments. I design and analyze research
studies at a major university. The relationships they have found are
only relationships or associations. Unless a carefully designed
study is done that accounts for the possibility that the higher
scoring students are self selecting themselves into music study, we
really can't be sure if brighter students play instruments or
students become brighter by playing instruments. Maybe someone has
done such a study, but I am not aware of one.
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jjlochlomond
Registered
User
Posts: 21
(5/15/01 8:02:59
am)
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piano
"Most households already have a piano."??
I know this is
really veering off with a tangent - so sorry!- but all I could think
when I read this was "wow, you and I travel in vastly different
circles!" I currently live in a big city where there's not a lot of
single-family housing and most of the apartment buildings and condos
are sufficiently old that pianos are prohibited (I'm guessing for
acoustic reasons) in the leases or bylaws. But even thinking back to
my days of babysitting in the burbs, I thinkat most quarter of the
families had pianos -- and this is with the church choir being my
primary networking source, so it's not as if they were all totally
unmusical people!
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MsCheryl
Registered User
Posts: 216
(5/15/01 8:44:15 am)
Reply
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What a wonderful
story!
How lucky you are to have someone to share your enthusiasm with. He
sounds like a very special kid. I would definitely be patient and
wait for him to choose - maybe talk it over with him - can you go
backstage after the concert and talk to any of the players? Keep us
updated!
Edited by: MsCheryl
at: 5/15/01
8:46:58 am
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