User profile: David Gaukroger
Now retired from teaching, I am pursuing musical aims of restoring my playing to somewhere near the standard it was thirty years ago and to adding to my compositions.
- Occupation:
- Musician
- Location:
- United Kingdom, Worcestershire, Worcester
- Interests:
- composition
performance
examining
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What are the factors that have produced a culture where, uniquely as far as I know, many children find singing embarrassing? Is it a coincidence that the seeds of this disfunction can be traced back to the late 19th Century but little further? I recall Billy Connolly's hilarious sketch based on his own experience of music lessons in Glasgow, of a middle-aged, middle-class woman trying to get the class to sing 'Marie's Wedding'.
Where is the context, relevance or community here? Or is it surprising that many teenage boys will not utter a note all week, but will sing their heads off on a Saturday afternoon - often singing songs with traditional tunes? Here is context, relevance and community.
We are in the state we are in, and this is not to deny the tremendous work and dedication of a great many practitioners in schools. Until and unless we address some of the fundamental issues - and one, sadly, is that schools may be a part of the problem as well as necessary for the solution - this will continue to be a concern.
What are the factors that have produced a culture, where, uniquely as far as I know, many children find singing embarrassing?
Is it a coincidence that the seeds of this disfunction can be traced back to the late 19th Century but little further?
I recall Billy Connolly's hilarious sketch based on his own experience of music lessons in Glasgow, of a middle-aged, middle-class woman trying to get the class to sing Marie's Wedding. Where is the context, relevance or community here.
Or is it surprising that many teenage boys will not utter a note all week, but will sing their heads off on a Saturday afternoon - often singing songs with traditional tunes? Here is context, relevance and community.
We are in the state we are in, and this is not to deny the tremendous work and dedication of a great many practitioners in schools. Until and unless we address some of the fundamental issues and one, sadly, is that schools may be a part of the problem as well as necessary for the solution, this will continue to be a concern.
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