developing musicians and a musical culture

[Greg House <ghunicycle@yahoo.com>]

--- Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net> wrote:

> I'm not sure I agree about the whole instant gratification thing.  I 
> think that our culture has too deep of a division between musician and 
> everyone else.  Too many teachers begin giving students dry drills.  
> Turns them off to music forever... or at least to the idea of being a 
> musician.  A box that's got some instant fun involved can spark a fun 
> aspect and get a student to move forward.  Many, of course, will 
> realize it's not for them and drop it, but I think it's not necessarily 
> a bad thing all the time.

I think you're absolutely right. There's been a very rigid view of music
instruction over the years and it's crippled a lot of people creatively. I 
had a
piano teacher when I was a little kid who definitely discouraged me with 
her
perfectionism and emphasis on music I didn't connect with. Between her and 
my
parents refusal to continue paying for guitar lessons when I didn't 
practice
regularly, I put the playing of music aside for many years. It was only 
toward
the end of my time in college that I picked it back up. Such a shame to 
have lost
some of the best years for learning that sort of thing.

I remember the first time I played an electric guitar through an amp with
distortion. Talk about instant gratification! AND instant inspiration! 
That one
experience changed my perspective on what I was capable of (and my friend 
never
found out that I'd been messing with his stuff while he was gone...)

Here's a question for all of you. Given that there ARE hundreds 
(thousands?) of
years of musical experience which can be learned from, how do we learn (and
teach) in such a way that creativity is encouraged, enthusiasm is 
maintained, and
we still encourage the discipline and knowledge accumulated over the 
years? How
do we encourage our culture to -create-? How do we knock people out of a
"spectator mentality"?

Greg

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