Notes from Chad...
29th of March 2000
Pipe Organ:Univesrity Memorial Auditorium, Univesrity of Florida
Music Appreciation:
Recently I did an extra credit project for my Music Appreciation Class. Once completed, I waited patiently for my grade to be posted on the web by the instructor. However, that's where this story takes a turn.... Next to the last four digits of my social was a blank space. Concerned, I emailed her and professionally ask about my grade. She asked to speak with me after class and it turned out that another student, that I didn't know, had chosen two similar songs to write about for the assignment.
During this whole experience, I got to thinking about how Music and other fine art is tought at the collegiate level. Let's face it, most kids are not going to drop everything to listen to Bach! Heck, I'm pretty familiar with some classical music and I won't come to a screaching halt for him either! Why is that? Well, put simply, it is not the type of music we are accoustomed to hearing. In fact, it is so "different" that most of us end up suffering through it rather than enjoying it.
How can this be fixed? Well, put simply, I would suggest ta complete reversal of the current order that music is tought. Currently, we start with the earliest music and move forward to the most current music. Why not do this in reverse? Wouldn't students like myself be more likely to enjoy "different" music if we eased into it. If instructors first taught all the various forms and other theory and then started applying them to very familiar works, students would enjoy the music much more and likely learn the various items much more quickly. Then, our ears would be better trained to appreciate earlier works because we would be able to see what earlier composers didn't have and how they worked around these limitations. In a sense, this way would provide a means for students to better APPRECIATE the music.
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