Best College Orchestra

musicprnt
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 22:08:25 +0000

@ClarinetDad16 :
Of course that kind of thing matters, anyone who knows me would tell you that I don’t like the narrow minded focus of the way some go at music, that all they care about is playing their instrument (This tends to be worse on the solo instruments, like violin and piano). There is a reason they teach music theory and ear training, and it goes beyond it being mechanical understanding of what you are playing. Likewise, music history courses can teach a lot as well, there is no doubt. Understanding the history of when Beethoven was writing, the ideas of the englightenment and the betrayal he felt when Napolean had himself crowned emperor (Beethoven had dedicated the Eroica to him originally), all play into the music, my biggest complaint is that music instruction often emphasizes the mechanical over the human.

That said, it depends on the student.Sure, a kid could take liberal arts classes in European history centering on the Baroque period, or the 18th or 19th century, and get an understanding of the cultural currents, that for example, Baroque music, especially Bach’s, were based on the music of the dances popular at the time, or the religious impact on music, how the Catholic Church’s idea of church music versus the protestant one fundamentally altered the path of music in the countries involved, and so forth. That said, conservatory students can take courses that cover that, as can a student who went to another school that had a music program, while the kid who goes to Harvard, plays music, but spends his time taking whatever the easiest core courses are to get by, and then majors in finance or economics, is not going to be any better prepared, it simply depends on the student. A lot of kids in music performance programs hate things like music theory and ear training and music history and have no curiousity about the music itself, I would argue that a large percent of kids fall into that category, whereas there are a smaller group of kids who love the music itself and love that kind of thing , my son is one of that type, and that type of kid will do well with understanding music wherever they went, because they care about, whereas a kid who doesn’t care about those things whether they go to Harvard or Yale or pipsqueak state won’t get much out of it shrug. What I was trying to say is the school itself means little, while Harvard and Yale offer some great classes in the arts and history and so forth, the kid still has to reach out and take them…