Originally Posted By: ZeroZero
You have some good points, but the vehicle "classical notation" is not realy fit for purpose. I once saw someone try to notate a sax solo exactly, they ended up with a mess of hemi-demi-semiquavers, Notation is VERY bad at many things.


So is almost any written language. Whatever expression in any language you chisel in stone shows almost no emotion and expression. Yes, there are tricks of the trade to give a hint. But for real expression and often for making sense you need to add another dimension.

In German we have a phrase "Was willst Du schon wieder?" I translate that word by word into "What want you already again?" The sense is in the emphasis of a single word and the pauses between the words ranging from a disturbed "What is it that you do want?" over a forgotten request "What do you want again?" to a surprised "What was it that you wanted?" and a few others to the final "What? You want again? Now?" with wide open eyes after wildly dancing horizontally... (The order of the words doesn't change in the German example.)

Musical notation is the same. There are a few dots and circles indicating (!) what to play. Other times, especially in classical music, they are more rigid. Sometimes there is a hint "lively" or "shuffle" or such things, sometimes there is a tempo given. We as musicians translate this into either a copy of something existing or we transfer it into our own piece of music. One example that I remember is the song Don't Be Cruel. Elvis made the song his with his rendition, and Billy Swan made it also his in a totally different way. The original sheet music was only the conveying agent of an idea that has been interpreted differently.



Who/what drives kids away from music education?
Probably teachers to a major part -- choosing the wrong music, choosing the wrong method. For a minor part, kids have stronger talents and interests in other fields. For a very small part there are the musically illiterate kids.

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