What Kids Need vs. What Kids Get

Myth: Now modernized, 21st century music curricula makes the most of each students potential.
Truth:  Now calcified, 21st century music curricula is stuck in a century old, theory-laden cul-de-sac.

Preliminaries
This list is from a seminar I delivered to parents. I was attempting to persuade them that it's not for 'lack of talent' that most adults aren't particularly musical, but rather that they lived (and bought into) unhelpful curricula.  The anecdotal and scientific evidence is overwhelming: a theory-first, button-pushing, count-these-rhythms approach doesn't educate.

The format of this post is simple: What Kids Need (according to the best research about how the musical mind works) vs. What Kids Get (according to the cult-of-personality-sustained ways we still tend to teach).  To save space after the first pair I shorten it to the less grammatical but more punchy: Kids Need vs. Kids Get.

Please, if this list challenges something you believe in, lets talk about it. Ideas need dialogue to be refined and improved. For what it's worth, I've endorsed virtually everything on the 'Kids Get' list at one point or another.

Although something on this list may quarrel with something you're teaching or have been taught, conflict is not my aim.  My goal is to highlight achievement gaps in music skills brought on by curriculum gaps in music education.

If even a third of the research points below are correct, then every single one of our students could be that much more musical!  What if all of them are true?  Richard Grunow, Professor of Music Education at Eastman, says, "The foundation of teaching should be an understanding of learning."  I couldn't agree more.   Our understanding of learning has changed.   It's time for new foundations for teaching.    

Preamble ramble concluded.  Here's the list:

What Kids Need:  Deep structure variety (all modes & meters).
What Kids Get:    Deep structure sameness (major & duple).

Kids Need:  Child-friendly ranges modeled by mom.
Kids Get:    Adult-friendly ranges heard in recordings.

Kids Need:  To alter music to discover it's deeper structures.
Kids Get:    To perfect music to deliver it's surface structures.

Kids Need:  Large-muscle flowing movements.
Kids Get:   Small-muscle angular movements.(clapping, playing xylo's, fingering recorders).

Kids Need:  Musically rich tunes, devoid of lyrics.
Kids Get:    Lyrically rich tunes, devoid of music.

Kids Need: Ear-to-hand performance.  (Embodied sound)
Kids Get:   Eye-to-hand performance (Embedded muscle instructions).

Kids Need:  To read notation as 'icons that sing.'
Kids Get:    To decode notation as 'button-pushing instructions.'

Kids Need:  Mom & Dad singing directly to them.
Kids Get:    Recordings rapping indirectly near them.

Kids Need:  Musical content differentiated for each individual.
Kids Get:    Musical content standardized to whole groups.

Kids Need:  Parents modeling free-flowing movements.
Kids Get:    Videos inculcating strictly choreographed dances.

Kids Need:  Movement while listening.
Kids Get:    Sitting still while singing.

Kids Need:  A variety of modes with consistent keys.
Kids Get:    A variety of keys with consistent modes (usually only Major).

Kids Need:  Improvisational play.
Kids Get:    Imitative work.

Kids Need:  A variety of meters with internal consistency of tempo.
Kids Get:    A variety of tempos with internal consistency of meter (usually only Duple).

Kids Need: 1-Flow, 2-Weight, 3-Tempo, 4-Meter, 5-Rhythm Patterns, 6-Pattern phrases.
Kids Get:   6-Pattern phrases (devoid of rhythmic meanings imparted by 1-5) .

Kids Need:  Whole – Part – Whole learning.
Kids Get:    Whole – Whole – Whole copying.

Kids Need:  Sequential/transferable skill-building.
Kids Get:    Non-sequential/non-transferable concert rehearsing.

Kids Need:  Separate tone & rhythm study.
Kids Get:    Combined tone & rhythm memorization.

Kids Need: Conversational; ‘Question & Answer' singing.
Kids Get:   Simultaneous ‘Answer only' singing.

Kids Need:  To be constructing music.
Kids Get:    Constricting literature.  (Save literature for later!).

Kids Need: 1-Syntax  2-Sounds  3-Syllables  4-Synthesis  5-Symbols.
Kids Get:   5-Symbols (devoid of meanings imparted by in 1-4).

Kids Need: Vertical comprehension of harmonic structures.
Kids Get:   Horizontal memorization of melodic structures.

Kids Need: To hear melodies, & extract pattern/music content.
Kids Get:   To sing songs, & extract lyrical/linguistic content.

Kids Need:  20 – 40 seconds of rich melodic listening.
Kids Get:    2 - 3 minutes of impoverished singing.

Kids Need:  To construct music; pattern by pattern.
Kids Get:    To copy songs word by word.

Kids Need:  1-Assimilate modes, 2-Derive tonal centers, 3-Accumulate patterns.
Kids Get:    1-Scales, 2-scales, 3-more scales.

Kids Need:  To learn writing as 'singing icons onto a page.'
Kids Get:    To learn writing as silent, theory-laden calligraphy.

Want more on why kids need the foregoing?  Read The Foundations of Musicianship

Personal Note: Edwin E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory provides the basis for virtually everything in this blog. I urge all parents & teachers to discover the efficacy of MLT.  Start here:  www.giml.org.