You know, Mr. Snyder, at the core we agree on all of that. My gripe for years has been people who look for the fast lane and don't take time to learn with any depth of substance. Many years ago here I posted something I will try to recreate here to see if you understand what I mean.

Me: So how do I use this software? I want to make songs so I can put out a CD. What do I do?

Him: Well, open up the chord tab and on that page enter your chords.

Me: What's a chord?

Him: You know, the notes from scale of the key you are in.

Me: Notes? Scale? Key? What are those?

Him: Okay let's forget all that. You see where it says style? Click there, pick one of those, and then click Load Demo and it will write a song for you.

So I do that, I end up with a basic song that Peter Gannon wrote for me. Then I go hire cliff the guitar player who plays guitar for me to do some solos. After that Todd form the English department comes in and writes some poetry that fits the music. Then I hire Lori to sing for me. Then Steve the keyboard player can come in and play in some background stuff. And then I have my song. I have done nothing put pay for software, but somehow it's MY song.

That is, of course, an exercise in "reductio ad absurdum" (reduction to absurdity) but this is likely how a good number of people create things that they call their music.

Nobody is saying that it takes a PhD in music to do any of this. My point is that basic basics, like knowing the steps of a major and minor scale, the circle of 5ths, and note names are building blocks for those who want to develop into serious musicians who want to know how to do more than create demos or hit play on a preprogrammed instrument.

Every time that subject comes up we hear people telling us that the Beatles couldn't read music. And it's always people who feel the need to defend that THEY can't read and know no theory at all. All because I said "It would help if..." Nobody here who has those basic basics in their bag doesn't appreciate knowing them. They are not absolute necessities. They are tools to make your job (music) easier. I mean, you can carry the lumber from the store to the truck board by board or you can use a forklift and move them all at once.

So we don't really disagree all that much. And a lot of this stems from schools cutting music and art programs. My friend who teaches music in middle school in the inner city told me that she spends a lot of her own money to buy strings for the guitars, reeds for the woodwinds... Her room had congas that were so old that both heads wore out and were poked through. The budget people told her to just change the kids to a different instrument. SHE paid to have new heads put on them. She has been teaching music since before kids were made to rent instruments and just bought mouthpieces and shared brass and woodwinds. That is how little schools care anymore. If not for us in the old guard helping out the youngbloods music might just disappear.

Remember the old adage when schools cut frills. "A frill is stuff the NEIGHBOR'S kids do, not mine. Mine need that underwater basket weaving class!"

For me, the grouchy old man, I just hate seeing the house being built before the foundation. That's sneaking under the tent to see the circus.