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I originally wrote this commentary as an email, in response to an essay on the Black Rose Acoustic Society website.   That essay stated that Music belongs with the three R’s as being necessary for an educated person.   It referenced studies that musically trained children do better on tests (such as 82 points higher on their SAT's).   It quoted Burt Bacharach: I hated being at that keyboard when the other kids were having fun.   But later, I was so grateful that my mother pressured me to practice.   It obviously created a life with music that I would otherwise have never had. Another quote, from another individual: Music and the arts are worth knowing for their own sake . . . . Trigonometry is for a term, music is for a lifetime. While the Black Rose essay got me started on this issue, I could just as well be directing my comments against the TV advertisements you see, from time to time, supporting "the arts."

While I certainly value Music (I'm trying to capitalize it, as I would Science or Trigonometry or English or History), and would like to see kids gain an appreciation of it, I think caution is in order.

First, imagine that tomorrow the President were to propose a plan for Music Education in schools.   Then imagine all the kids who would think: "another 'important subject'; another class; more homework; more pressure from teachers; more pressure from my parents."

Next, imagine the standardized tests we might create to measure how well the students were educated.   Imagine the rewards for schools that measured up (and the punishments for those that didn't).   Imagine the comparisons with Europe, or Japan, or other industrial "competitors" of the U.S.

Not exactly conducive to a positive musical experience, right?

From reading this, you might get the impression I hated school.   Not true. I loved it so much I went on to obtain four university degrees.   You might also think I despise standardized tests, or comparing one school to another, or schools in one country to those of another.   Again, not true.   But I was lucky.   The fact that many of my teachers, through high school, were not very good, did not keep me from learning.   Most importantly, they did not keep me from wanting to learn.   (Generally.   Though I hated being forced to read Shakespeare and Melville; I'll probably never look at them again as long as I live.)

I had some very good teachers too.   But they were the exception.   And I suspect that most students today are faced with teachers and classes considerably worse than I faced.   I won't dwell on the fact — here — that most Americans, students and parents, don't really support education, or even understand what it means.   Elsewhere on this site I say more about that.

What I do think needs to be emphasized is this.   Students get the most from their education when they enjoy learning.   Sometimes this is a function of their teachers, sometimes a function of their parents.   I was fortunate in that my parents filled our house with books and magazines, were always reading, were always learning, and were very curious about the world.   If students don't have that enjoyment, they'll hate the subject.   And students are not likely to get that enjoyment if they're force-fed "music education" in school.

Let me start with the quote from Burt Bacharach.   Parents have to teach their kids right from wrong, to eat their vegetables, to go to class, to study, that they have to earn what they get.   But forcing them to practice?   I don’t think so.   Life has too many unpleasant things already.   For every Burt Bacharach who was happy his parents forced him to practice, there are probably ten, or a hundred, or even a thousand, who still resent it.   (This is a common logical fallacy — show something works out well one time in a 100, so it must be good — ignore the other 99 times and their consequences.)

A kid who starts out loving music may end up hating it if he’s forced to practice — particularly if he’s not very good, or his parents have unrealistic expectations, or his teacher is bad.   I shudder to think of anyone thinking of Music the way I think of Shakespeare and Melville.

Let's examine the other quote.   I suspect the writer had a very bad experience with Mathematics, as most students do.   The good news: He didn't have that same experience with Music.   The bad news: He didn't imagine that teaching them Music might cause them to have such an experience!

As for the improvement in SAT scores — anything less than a hundred points is almost certainly not statistically significant.   Anyway, correlation does not prove causation — Europeans smoke more than Americans, and live longer, but this hardly proves smoking is good for you!   Perhaps the musically educated group had parents who were more involved in their education.   Perhaps they were better students to begin with, and more inclined to participate in other activities.   Unless the two groups were matched in every respect, except for music, the study doesn't show much.   An irony of this study is — it shows how most people don't really understand statistics.   An attempt to justify education in one area (Music) has shown the need for education in another (Mathematics).

And even if Music instruction did somehow improve students' academic abilities, is that the best way to do so?   Wouldn't the same amount of time, spent on the subject or a related subject, do more?   (This brings up the issue — if schools are having a hard time teaching Mathematics or Science or History or Economics or Civics well — how will they be able to teach Music well?)

I had Music instruction in elementary school, and even in eighth grade.   While I learned to “read music” then, it didn’t stick.   When I learned guitar, I had to re-learn how to read a musical score.   One of the reasons my elementary school Music education didn’t stay with me was that I could never figure out how a musical score should sound, even though I had learned the notes.   I couldn’t sing, or hum, or whistle a tune by reading the score.   I still can’t.   With my guitar, I can use the score to play the notes.   Then, having heard the tune, I can then sing or hum it.   But I can’t just “read” the score and sing it.   I imagine these statements are true for most people, even those who play an instrument.   Without playing music, Music instruction is probably not worthwhile.

And it’s not practical for most schools to keep a supply of instruments around, for kids to play.  Even if they did, how much practice does it take to become good?   It took me about a year, playing an hour a day most days, for me to be reasonably satisfied with my guitar playing.   Most kids won’t have the discipline to do this (my parents didn’t force me to practice), and most won’t have the time.   With academic pressures increasing, many kids are already being forced to do too much homework, to the detriment of being able to enjoy childhood.

So to those recommending Music education, I say:   point to specific examples of Music curricula — lots of them.   Point out good ways to teach Music, and bad.   Point out what gets students interested.   Point out things to avoid. Otherwise, if they’re taught Music in school, students are liable to have the same view of it that they have of English, Mathematics, History, and other subjects that are potentially enjoyable — they’ll hate it, and avoid it.

Until the day that America seems to understand what education is — and isn't — the best way for kids to be exposed to Music is through private lessons.   Or, failing that, using music books, parents, friends, and the resources of the Internet to teach themselves.

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