Kist Blog Check #3, Post 2: Listening to Music

In my elementary school music classes, we would sing songs from different eras and play instruments like the recorder or the xylophone. We spent little to no time discussing what we thought about the music or what stuck out to us; we listened, sang and played the music we were given with no questions asked.  My last music class was in seventh grade, and at that point, nearly everyone who was involved in band or orchestra was forced into it by their parents, or got involved initially for that reason and learned to love it. Few kids joined and stayed in a musical extracurricular because they had a burning desire to play the flute or the violin.  Why is this? Is it because of the way we were taught? I was never asked to analyze a song, or really think about it, but I was asked to look and think about books in Language Arts, and to think and do experiments in science class and write papers in social studies.  Even in art, we studied colors and were asked why we liked certain things.  Perhaps it was just my school experience, but I feel that in every class i was asked to study, think and consider my opinions and what I enjoy in each subject, with one exception: Music.  Why was I never asked to analyze music?

I came across this article a few weeks ago and it made me think: what if I had studied music in school this way? Would I enjoy music more, and be more inclined to listen to songs just for their arrangements or the instruments used? Perhaps if music was studied more like literature was, I would have seen more of a purpose in it from a young age.  This article begins with the author describing his experiences in music and pointing out that people do not often just sit and listen to music anymore, but do other activities while it plays in the background.  That is exactly what I use it for: a soundtrack for driving, working out or hanging out with friends--not just to listen to its beauty.  I love that the author tells readers what to look for in a song, then posts a link to the song.  I wish I would have learned music like this.

Picking out themes and emotions in songs would have drawn me in, and given me a connection to it, rather than just playing simple songs robotically.  I am a very visual person, and when the author asks readers to listen and imagine scenes, emotions or images in Debussy's "Le Mer," I have a much stronger connection to it.  I never really realized that I like certain songs because of the connotations that I have with them, until this article.  I wish I would have learned which instruments are used to convey certain emotions, like anger, and why composers chose the instruments they did for certain parts of their songs.

After reading this article, it reinforced my thoughts that schooling and parenting at an early age is extremely important to children's development.  I grew up in a home with parents who valued literature and board games more than music, and a school that taught music superficially, compared to literature.  At the very least, my seventh grade music class should have included this more analytical approach to studying music.

Additionally, the thought crossed my mind that this article would not have been the same if it had been published in print--readers would not be able to listen to the songs the author describes instantly, and few would listen to them at all.
How do my experiences compare to everyone else's? I am really curious to know what everyone thinks about studying music more analytically, or if anyone went to a school who did!