Yes, Kendall, I second your opinion. Here in Germany, they had a new survey about schools & school results. They were katastrophic. They rank last in Europe & were first just one generation ago. And the politicians are the same low level & rather demagogues than deputies of the people. Well, they represent the level of the people very well.
And young musicians, the majority of them, they have greatest difficulties understanding the written music, where everything seems to be self explaining. But they cry desperately for a recording of the simplest pieces. They have sunk to the level of mere monkeys, who even better (than the youngsters) imitate what´s shown to them. They mix stretching & dragging with emphasis & expression, having to mark down every fly droppings, no knowledge of style, no knowledge of (say) the italian terms in music, etc. but they know all the biographies of movie or TV (mini) celebrities or pop musicians & singers by heart, but have rarely heard about other classicalk composers besides Wolfgang & old Ludwig, but how about Johann, Richard or Richard 2 or Johannes & Anton or Felix & Carl Maria or Giacomo & Giuseppe. May-be they know Gustav. They arrive to auditions & have never seen Cosi fan tutte, Freischuetz, Falstaff, No.8 Symphony or the Nocturno. Enough "lamento" for today. ============================================================ ====================================================== -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 7:44 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] RE: College Ear Training & Sight Singing LOL!!! I had one at KBHC tell me after I had recommended that he improve his non-existent aural skills that "he didn't need good rhythm or sight reading ability because he was a music ed major! I replied, "That's great! You'll be like a French teacher who can't speak French!" He said, "Oh. I never really thought about it that way." I am continually appalled by the low level of aural skills in college music majors of both disciplines. I'm also appalled when I ask someone if they passed their ear training courses and they reply "Yes. I get A's" The fault, I'm afraid, is in what is the generally accepted standard or lack of it. I have students come to me with MM's in performance who can't recognize intervals or sight read a simple etude like Kopprasch No. 15 with good rhythm and 90% of the right notes.. Then, I also suspect there are people with MA's whose grammar sucks and have a vocabulary under a hundred words. _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
