It has been said that familiarity breeds contempt, but it has also been said that familiarity leads to love. I think both are true to an extent for as we learn more about a subject or even more about a person, he or she becomes demystified, causing our enamoring to dissipate, at least to an extent. Yet infatuation can be, and usually is, replaced with love and appreciation. But before you think this is a discussion of marriage or relationships, let's think of it in terms of the study of music. At a fairly early age, a young student may find himself or herself in love with music in its broadest forms and may sense great power in music, but, unfortunately, he or she knows very little about how music happens--what makes music tick. And so the love affair with music begins.
The student may listen to music nearly constantly as he walks to class or as he studies or travels or plays games. He may even decide to sing in a group such as a choir at church or with friends and he may even decide to play an instrument like a guitar, piano, or a band or orchestral instrument like a trumpet or cello. His relationship with music then becomes real as he no longer is the passive listener but becomes part of the action of music. While his music making may be dependent on the collective experience in most cases, at the same time, he is creating the sound individually.
His journey reaches a new level when he learns how to make music, how notes work together, how rhythm is formed, and how to make the experience meaningful for the listener and the performer. But the student, having found great satisfaction in making music, desires to know more. He wishes to know the intricacies of music, and he wishes to know how to do it better and how to become a professional. Like an athlete or a businessman or any professional in any discipline, he wants to be excellent at his calling. With this desire he makes the decision to attend a university.
Because education is a process of moving from the known to the unknown, it is quickly determined that the student already knows some of the basics of music, is quite familiar with popular music and most of its forms--rock, pop, country, and hip-hop, and has little need to advance what is already considered familiar. Yet the area of music that is unknown is classical art music. Our focus becomes that which is unfamiliar and that which is unknown. To do otherwise, is to expend great time and energy teaching those things that may, at least to an extent, be already comfortably formed. Rather than moving from popular music to classical music, we assume they know popular music, they know the basics of music, but they ought to know classical art music. Fallacies of thinking aside, this is the tried and true approach of most music curricula.
As teachers, it is meaningful to teach those things that are new and to demonstrate our knowledge base in that which is likely unfamiliar to students. But I recently took a risk and now realize the dangers of expanding into an area of music that is known and comfortable--rock music. The hundreds of times I have directed, performed, organized, or been a part of classical concerts, the students have rarely complained or even held many opinions on the music selected. Because they do not know classical music, they do not have preconceived ideas of discernment. Their apathy toward classical music is not malicious, it is simply out of ignorance, unfamiliarity, and the recognition that the music has little meaning in their lives. Their indifference is a result of not having an appetite for classical music and not knowing how fulfilling it can be in particular settings.
This rock concert I am forming, however, has brought students out of their indifference and into the forefront of personal preference and prodigious perceptions. Each student has an opinion about rock music and each student finds meaning in certain songs, performers, or bands. Their powers of discernment are not based on musical knowledge in general but rather on the emotional experience of the sound. In many ways this is good and right and one could argue that ultimately music is about the emotional experience. But it does make for difficult leadership in determining the musical direction of a rock concert! I must admit, however, that I enjoy the challenges that accompany doing a concert of all familiar, well-loved, and exciting rock music. The end result will be lots of fun and joy. Maybe, just maybe, to paraphrase Lena Lamont in Singing in the Rain, "We can bring a little joy into our hum-drum music!"
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