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Most kids hardly encounter musical notation in their daily lives though. Reading music is like any other kind of literacy — it needs daily practice and a lot of
by cityofdelusion 3y ago
Most kids hardly encounter musical notation in their daily lives though. Reading music is like any other kind of literacy — it needs daily practice and a lot of work. Most people are not music literate just like most people are not calculus literate or chemistry literate or programming language literate — it takes a lot more than a few classes in elementary.
I took many more music classes than required and sing/read hymns regularly and I feel fairly musically literate. It just needs regular practice like anything else, especially singing. Another thing to keep in mind is that musical literacy is of limited practical use and most people get by with performing by ear just fine.
- vintermann 3y agoFor any kind of literacy, there's going to be a chicken and egg problem. If you suggested to an ancient mediterranean scribe that everyone should learn reading and writing, they'd probably say, "Pah, it would be a huge waste of time for most of them. Very little practical use. They get by with memorization anyway." And they'd be right, in a sense! We don't know beforehand what the fruit of universal literacy will be.