Originally Posted By: rharv
In my above post I forgot to mention coordination (playing the right note at the right time) and theory (knowing what you should and shouldn't do, ahead of time, and deciding whether to do it) as other advantages of teaching music in school .. I'm sure I missed other aspects as well


I am eternally thankful for the first music teacher I had who, despite my young age (less than 5) beat theory into my head with a bowling pin. I was not allowed to touch a piano until I knew that the bottom line was an E and was able to point to it on my plastic keyboard mockup. And what ♪ and ♫ meant. He only took me 2 deep around the circle of 5ths to start, so 2 sharps and 2 flats, but the rest came later. Then theory classes in college picked up with the stuff like tonic, supertonic, mediant, sub dominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone, modes, all of that stuff I know how to use but barely remember. Vary seldom does Ionian vs Aeolian mode come up at rehearsal with players who learn by copying CD tracks.

So the sub topic here could be how "the start button" is ruining music.

I was in a music class later on when I went back for my IT degree and needed hours to get full financial aid. I was in a music appreciation class and some 19 year old turned in a song he "wrote". When it was done the prof commended him. I asked him "Those are great sounds. What keyboard is that?" He said (without knowing he was being setup) "That's a Yamaha DX7." I smiled my sweetest smile and said "Yeah. I know. I have one and that's the factory demo song that comes in the keyboard. To quote Was... Not Was from their Born To Laugh At Tornadoes album, "Needless to say, the party broke up."

Last edited by eddie1261; 01/23/22 09:50 AM.