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mark wrote: > On Tuesday, July 15, 2003, at 10:34 AM, David wrote: > >> But here's my point : What high-school music teacher today can teach >> these kids how to use Reason or Live, etc.?????? I suggest THESE are >> the kinds of instuments that kids today will be using more and more to >> make their music. > > > I agree. Reason is the new Casiotone. Some will flail around and loose > interest, others will be inspired to dig deeper. I think there's > something really nice and democratic about tools like these, but they're > a double edged sword. They can encourage an emphasis on music > production and not being an instrumentalist. Hmmm. I was just thinking about this stuff as a parent (nine year old boy/girl twins). Luckily, they show a fair bit of interest in music, although they don't obsess about it like their father. :} And i've given them free run of my home studio, where there are guitars, drums, keyboards, and recording equipment, and give little music lessons when i can. Here's the interesting question... my son has a particular interest in keyboards. He has a cheap horrible Casio in his room that he actually plays a lot. I'd like to get him a better keyboard, something he can learn synthesis on and stay challenged. Now, Reason and other soft synths come to mind, because they offer a LOT of power for the money. But i really don't want to put a computer in his room at this point - for one thing, keeping the main computer in the family room helps me track Internet usage, and for another, if he had a computer he'd wind up playing video games instead of doing music. So i think i need to find a good used analog-style synth instead, just for his room, and maybe a modern groove box as well. It's more money than a computer, but it'll keep him focused, i think. And speaking of giving lessons to kids... a while back, our babysitter (she's 14) offered some babysitting for a guitar lesson. She was watching the kids all day, so i restrung and checked out her guitar (a hand-me-down), then left her with the instruction to carry it around with her all day, and just play the open strings and listen carefully to them. Keeping her away from chording (and the horrible pain of a beginning guitarist) focused her on the sound the instrument makes. Later on, i gave her a copy of the book "Zen Guitar", which is full of excellent advice to keep budding musicians from the horrors of imitation, style, and other forms of authority-worship. Another odd thing about kids and music i've noticed... because they have me around, my children have no concept of what "weird" music is, or what music is too strange to be socially acceptable. My otherwise normal daughter loves Miles Davis and Scandinavian folk music (her brother, unfortunately, picked up his mother's taste for metal. He has already received dire threats about what will happen if he metal-drums his way into damaging my vintage Ludwig/Zildjian set!). Both kids happily agree on the wonders of the Flaming Lips. In the car the other day, they insisted that i play Henry Kaiser's storytelling version of "Meet the Flintstones" for their friend. Where will my children go with their music, or whatever other art might obsess them? I don't know. I can't expect them to love music the way i love it. What i want is for each of them to love and understand the power of their own self-expression, however they choose to express it. It may not be an art i like, or even comprehend, but it will matter to them, and that's what matters to me. -dave