Klarinet Archive - Posting 000292.txt from 1997/02

From: "Nichelle A. Crocker" <crockena@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Musical literacy
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 21:11:08 -0500

In response to Dr. Geidel's questions, yes musical literacy is low among
music performance majors, and no, I was not taught any of the subjects
mentioned in required music classes, or in private study. Have I learned
these things? Sure, for the most part. You can choose to be a clarinetist or
you can choose to be a musician. It's possible to get an education anywhere,
if you're willing to work hard enough, and if you have access to a
respectable library. At a certain point, we are all responsible for our own
education as musicians, whether the music department offers classes in
transposition or not.

A few other comments:

>In other words, how many students can discuss
>the process involved in making interpretive
>decisions?

How many *musicians* can do this.

>I've long felt that the general level of
>musical literacy is embarrassingly low
>with regard to music performance majors.

I don't understand exactly why you feel this is a problem specific to
performance majors. I'd argue that there's more or less an equal level of
ignorance in just about every place you look in the Amerikan education
system. I've seen a composition major get lost reading his own score. (For
Nichelle's horrifying accounts of the American educational system, please
send a SASE to crockena@-----.edu) Could you please explain why you
feel it is a problem mostly among performance majors?

Also, it's one thing for Dr. Geidel to ask, "Is the level of musical
literacy low?", and for Mr. Leeson to reply, "Boy it sure is." It's yet
another thing, if the general response is yes, to determine the cause, what
might be done about it, etc. If what Mr. Leeson says is true, these people
are going out and getting jobs and perpetuating the problem, at least in
Texas and New Jersey.

The subject is interesting to me. I'm "undergraduate scum" (as my roommate
puts it), close to becoming graduate scum. I've read a lot of books, knocked
on a lot of doors, asked a lot of questions, and generally scraped and
begged for an education. And have got a relatively good one, so far. But I
do not find that people are receptive to students who do this. I do not hear
the pleading voices of clarinet teachers everywhere crying out for a student
with a mind of his/her own. The overwhelming response I hear is "Do it
yourself."

Nichelle Crocker
crockena@-----.edu