I seldom read "Letters to the Editor" but found these (printed in Keyboard magazine) to be very informative and fitting. I never stopped to think about how today's music is no longer "composed" but rather, "put together" from loops. Or about how very few beginners at keyboard playing can muster up the "attention" needed to master the instrument. And.....other misc goodies.

Lucky
(letters below)

BLINDSIDED?
As a guy who went to music school (University of Minnesota,‘80) and then followed a typical sideman path for years with many national acts, I used to worry about the very ideas you highlight in your editorial [~What the. . . ?“June ‘081. But the demise of the IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education) is simply a sign of the times that your own magazine demonstrates: Music is changing. Traditional musical skills are no longer highly valued. In fact, they may be detrimental to success in today’s world. I’m not talking about ~‘rock vs. classical.” What I mean is that traditional skills (like reading music) are no longer necessary because much music, from Steve Reich to hip-hop, has morphed into a largely collage art form. People create music from found bits, loops, and samples. People recycle old melodies to a far greater extent then ever before. The idea of composing” music no longer is the standard operating procedure for many, if not most hits.”

In short: The whole world has gone ‘construction set.” So it doesn’t surprise me that a traditional jazz curriculum would suffer. Yes, there are many exceptions to the rule. But I would say that these are in the “long tail” of our world, which now has room for so many niche markets, just as there are thriving opera and bluegrass groups. But those will never represent the zeitgeist of the culture as do hip-hop and pop.

Look at your own magazine: You probably have fewer and fewer readers each passing month who can even understand your musical examples. Oh well, that’s progress. It used to bug me, but then I realized that people of my era are now to “culture” what
Glenn Miller was to me when I was a teen: Squaresville, baby. My only comfort is that, as I said, the long tail of the Internet now makes for more possibilities for success for many more niches. So even though I know that traditional music education — and the styles of music it serves — are passé, my ability to enjoy them with a substantial minority will continue to thrive.

Long live the mighty Interweb!
—J. C. Harris

You asked: Are we in the Keyboard Community being blindsided by a precipitous drop in participation in keyboard playing in general? My answer: Yes. Why should I learn to play a keyboard when all the music is done for me via downloadable loops? You asked: Is there a shortage of new students and new players entering our field as participants, professionals, and consumers? My answer: Yes. Playing the keyboard requires discipline, which requires an attention span of more than a couple of minutes. The younger the population, the shorter the attention span. I know teenagers with notable ‘playing by ear” abilities, but only for the limited number of songs that they like. And don’t approach them regarding practicing or developing their abilities; they have cheerleading practice, after all. You asked: Is the demise of the IAJE a symptom of a larger collapse of the music education infrastructure in the United States? My answer: At least in part, no doubt. I also think there is a crisis in music overall. I listen to Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey. Usher, and Justin Timberlake, and I wonder, ‘Where is the melody?” I listened to Michael Jackson’s Thriller a couple of days ago. There’s a guy who understands the meaning of a hook. I listened to Led Zeppelin I. There’s a group that knew how to craft a song. Everyone should study the Ken Burns video series, Jazz. Jazz was America’s popular music from the late ‘30s to early ‘40s. Then the musicians forgot the “squares” and went their own direction. The “squares” turned to R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s always been about a tune you can sing or a beat you can dance to. I’m talking about classical, jazz, rock, whatever. You lose the tune or the beat, and you lose your audience, their continued interest, and their continued education.
-Lynn Derks

J.C. and Lynn,
Thanks very much for your responses to the Letter from the Editor in the July ‘08 issue. As you both indicate, the music world has changed in many ways, from the ways in which we create music to the final products we deliver, and even the ways in which we deliver them. In many ways, the new tools and technologies offered by our industry are giving some marginalized forms of music a boost, with exposure to audiences that would otherwise never have heard of them. The Internet itself is certainly among the most effective of these.

However, you and many other readers express the view that the need for traditional skills and even basic musical elements has diminished. Melody — a thing of the past? Keyboard technique — too demanding a skill for a new generation of students to acquire? Let’s hear from our colleagues and friends in the education business.