I think the issue then is education. I think that the majority of
people that take music in elementary school, then chorus in middle
school and high school (in other words twelve years of music)
generally can't tell you the names of the notes on a staff. They
generally don't know the clefs, or what the flats and sharps mean -
let alone what all the rhythmic values entail.
John:
This makes so much sense to me! While the human voice is not the
"only" instrument that one can learn to play "by ear", it certainly
seems to be frontrunner by far! In no other musical discipline would
the teacher painstakingly pound out the individual parts (Okay,
clarinets, here is the first line of "Stars and Stripes" .now, repeat
after me!") The students would have been taught rhythm and fingering
and at least a modicum of theory. I will grant that more instrumental
students might have taken private lessons prior to being in a band or
orchestra, but much of this could and should be taught in elementary
school when the kids are still in their "sponge" learning states. I got
much of my initial musical knowledge from my church choir director in
children's choir. Somehow, he found time to teach us the basics along
with the songs.
Now I teach middle and high school singers privately, and find great
disparity; some read music beautifully (and not just those who have had
training in other instruments) and some take great pride in the fact
that they can't read a note! The upsetting thing to me is that we
somehow indicate, if tacitly, that it's ok for singers not to read
music, when we wouldn't even think of allowing instrumentalists the same
deficiency (Suzuki aside, please). I think that teaching the basics of
music reading should absolutely be a requirement for the curriculum of
the elementary teacher, with further work in solfege and more advanced
reading skills in middle school.
Some voice teachers require that their students read music before
they begin study. Others, Joan Boytim is an example, incorporate
reading into the weekly lesson, and restrict their students forays into
songs until some mastery is achieved. At my studio, we try to
incorporate some, and also offer an inexpensive course in sight-singing
and theory each semester. It's nice when it's not even an issue,
though. We get to move much quicker into the repertoire and work on
more of what the student is really paying me for!
I would NEVER teach in the public schools for the reasons you have
mentioned above (along with other reasons!). I greatly admire and
respect those who can manage it!
Sharon Szymanski
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