And while we are going down this road, perhaps we should get a definition on a few terms.

What is Music?
What is an art form?
What constitutes “creating music”?
And what constitutes “performing music”?


Answering these very basic questions (which have very complex answers) would help this discussion.

Does that mean that a kid should learn to drive an automatic first and THEN a stick shift? A matter of philosophy, I guess, but I would think the kid would have a much better understanding of what the automatic transmission was doing if he already knew how to drive a manual shift. JMO.

chas

Well, at some point or another in the future, given the trend towards manipulating existing music as a substitute towards creating (sorry, should have said 'playing'!) music, what happens when no NEW music is created for the DJ's to play around with..? (sorry, I just can't bring myself to call someone that doesn't PLAY music a 'musician' - nothing wrong with what he does, but a term already exists for it, and it AIN'T 'musician')

For the foreseeable future, does EVERYTHING get based on 60's, 70's, 80's and some 90's music (that which was not made by sampling others' beats)...? Going to get pretty boring, isn't it?

My four grandchildren in both RI and NY are very fortunate to be attending grade schools where there is a high interest in music ... in the past 3 months I have seen the 2 kids in RI perform with their respective school orchestras - strings, horns, winds, the whole thing and choruses ... the 6th grade even has a jazz band ... the 4th grade chorus performed at the State House at Christmas time ...
After seeing the 6th grade jazz band, our 4th grade grandson - who plays stand up bass in his school orchestra - is already talking about playing electric bass in the 6th grade jazz band ...
The kids in NY were in the school play "Guys and Dolls", and have also performed in the school bands and choruses ...
BTW ... neither of these schools are in 'upscale' communities, especially the NY school which is as diverse as can be ...
So from my perspective, seeing SO many kids involved in learning musical instuments and singing and performing, fortunately,the art of music may not be so bound to technology - or as dead - as some might think ...
t.