Music for All

[John Morgan]

Over the weekend our heavily pregnant daughter visited. Her pregnancy is far too advanced for us to go out so, while she slouched around the house we got to talking about the elements she and her husband would like to introduce into the new childs life as he or she develops.

They naturally wanted the child to develop a well rounded character. Academic achievement would be important and sport could well play its part. However the conversation naturally turned to music and how it could help to develop a childs' confidence and personality.

We talked about how performing in front of classmates helped to grow a childs' self esteem. And how playing an instrument helped a child to stand out from the crowd; how it showed they had mastered a skill that few others have.

Music is of course an area where I, in my forthcoming role of Grandad, will be expected to take a lead. And, of course, I am looking forward immensely to doing just that. Later, however, I started to think about why so few adults play some sort of music. When my children were at school there seemed to be many others who learned music; mostly the humble (and underated) recorder, but just the same they were making a start. The training band in which I develop my saxophone skills is mostly made up of under 16's. But these are comparatively very few. And of the adults playing, only 2 of us have started during the last 5 years.

Why is it that the number of people who continue to develop such an enjoyable and rewarding pastime are so few? True mastery of a instrument is, of course, a pleasure known only to a few. But most people are capable of playing reasonably simple tunes to an audience of friends or relatives.

Certainly if you've learned the basics on a recorder it would seem natural to progress to an instrument of your choice. Yet so few youngsters make that progression. and even fewer adults come back to music later in life. We live in an age where music pervades much of our daily lives. Many enjoy listening to music, yet so few actually make music.

Perhaps someone reading this will have an opinion they would like to express. I would be delighted to discuss it further.

John