We have been teaching music the same way for centuries. It's what I call a "reading-based" approach. A student must learn to read music in order to play music. Unfortunately, this method of music education has a very high failure rate. Students end up frustrated when all they really want to do is learn to express themselves musically. But with all of the effort of trying to figure out the musical symbols and the counting, the chance for musical expression is often lost.
Many, maybe even most, piano students who learn the traditional "reading-based" way stop playing piano forever the day their parents stop forcing them to take lessons. There is just something wrong here.
What would happen if we were to teach music the same way we teach speech? An infant learns to talk by listening to talking and then trying it out for themselves. They learn to babble, then form words, then sentences. And by the time they are 3 or 4 years old they are speaking fully, without ever having learned how to read or spell anything.
Why not teach music the same way? Why not teach music students how to express themselves musically by relating directly to an instrument, without bogging them down with the burden of reading at the same time. Once they can play, then let's teach them to read.
I believe that this is a much more natural way to learn. And I think that we would see much more success in music education, not to mention much happier music students.
2 comments:
Teaching and learning music in the same manner as teaching and learning speech has been done for thousands of years - but it has never fully been developed or adopted wholeheartedly in the schools of western society, i.e. the Europe, and then America.
African and other native cultures have always taught music in the oral tradition. They have traditionally used an oral/aural approach using listening, watching, and then imitating as a means toward developing musicianship.
This is the essence of Jazz music, which only came into existence as a result of West African musical traditions combining with the tunes and melodies of European music.
When we say Jazz is America's "classical" music, it's true that only under the conditions prevalent in the New World colonies in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, where slaves made music inspired by the songs they heard around them, could such a phenomenon have been developed.
True Jazz music is improvised, and true Jazz players have all developed their craft through imitation of great players before them. We are still a literary society when it comes to education, therefore music is still taught in a literary fashion, i.e. learning to read and write it.
It's a tough call.. It's true that not everyone learns the same way but all musicians of all levels can benefit from learning traditional note and rhythm reading.
As a long time educator and part of a team that has recently developed music learning software, our approach was concept oriented but based on traditional music nomenclature. We modernized by using new tools like the internet, midi-sounds and html based programs for ear training and live help. After years of design ideas, concepts tied with the traditional learning process proved most beneficial (and quickest) for students in all of our beta testing.
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