The Development of Musical Literacy in Relation to the Learning of a Primary Language :: Musical Education Music Essays

The Development of Musical Literacy in Relation to the Learning of a Primary Language Many parents demolish their child’s chance to succeed before they send them off to their first day of kindergarten. So much of American society believes more or less that the talent and abilities of a child can only be as good as what was passed onto them from the genes of their parents. Therefore, before they even enter the school system, parents, teachers, and students alike hold high, average, or low expectations for the success of the child. These expectations can be held for all areas of school subject matter, but they tend to especially apply in areas where society considers talent instead of persistence to be one of the chief attributors of success. Such an area is music. I am always amazed at the amount of parents who are willing to say â€Å"Well, I’ve never been able to understand music, and my child certainly could not have inherited any kind of musical ability from me. Therefore, even if they really want to try to learn music, they probably won’t be very good at it.† This kind of rationality can at best set up the child to believe that they have a very small chance of being good at music, and cause them to give it a try anyway, and to keep persisting if they are met with a moderately surprising amount of success. Typically, a child will be resistant against any musical instruction they are faced with if they have been told either verbally or indirectly that they have not inherited any talent for it, and thus continue the cycle of â€Å"Well, I was never good in music, therefore my children won’t be either†. What would happen, however, if children were all raised from birth with the attitude that regard less of their background, they could all achieve amazing measures of success in whatever they tried to do? What would be the outcome of a society that believed talent was something that could be developed upon entrance into the world, instead of a set amount being instilled into a child based upon what they inherited from their parents? First, I would like to show that talent, especially musical talent, can be developed. Second, I would like to offer more successful ways of teaching children to develop these talents.