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I think not. Look at this picture of a public school band from Singapore.

The level of instrumental music education in Japan is phenomenal. The quality of performance is far above the US average, and there are many community groups for people who want to keep playing after graduation.

Over twenty years ago, a friend of mine returned from a Yamaha-sponsored trip to Japan for their instrument dealers. He gave me a copy of a recording of the national Japanese middle school band competition's finalists. These middle school kids were easily the equal of most of the college wind ensembles that I've heard.

Correct, if you ever notice whenever there is some kind of contest for musicians here in the United States and there is a Japanese entrant, he/she usually ranks very high.

LoyalTubist wrote:Correct, if you ever notice whenever there is some kind of contest for musicians here in the United States and there is a Japanese entrant, he/she usually ranks very high

Well, usually if there is spelling or grammer involved, they often rank more highly than the Americans...

i've been to japan, very sad how little of a socal life these kids have. im happy with medeocre playing and a low suicide rate in teens

Having been to most of Asia as both a tourist and a resident (expatriate, not an immigrant), I can tell you things look much different to a tourist than they do someone who is working with the kids all the time. I think kids here have a much tougher life in some aspects. You don't generally have to worry about gangs in Japan. The yakuza movies exaggerate their part in the scheme of things. I never had a student of mine in Asia commit suicide. In America, I have had 10 suicides.

Bill

most suicide in teens in japan happen when they either don't get into college or don't pass the high school proficency exam (needed to graduate)

i did a homestay thing in japan, those kids are stressed outta thier skulls. polite *** hell though

Exactly, but none of my students failed that exam. (And it wasn't because of me, so I take no credit.)

hurricane_harry wrote:i've been to japan, very sad how little of a socal life these kids have. im happy with medeocre playing and a low suicide rate in teens

You got me wondering about the suicide rate. This page says that in age group 15-24, Japan's suicide rate is 8.6 per 100,000, while the US rate is 13.7 per 100,000. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri ... _age_15_24

It appears the US suicide rate for that age group is significantly higher.

I know from experience in my own classrooms.

From American Education to Japanese Suicide........interesting

XtremeEuph wrote:Japanese Suicide

Falling on your tuba!?

XtremeEuph wrote:From American Education to Japanese Suicide........interesting

Seriously, I had one boy commit suicide in my classroom after school. He snuck in when the custodian left for a smoke break. He wrote a note that he was trying to teach me a lesson. I felt horrible about it but not guilty.

I was teaching Freshman English at this time and not music. And this was in California, although I am not at liberty to tell the school name.

Im terribly sorry and I didnt' think you were lying or anything, I just made the comment on the subject change.

Speaking of music education across the globe (not that I have much experience), I was part of a small discussion of sorts on this topic in a composition seminar yesterday. It seems that the level of music education/appreciation is of a much higher quality in Europe and parts of Asia than it is in the U.S. Of course this is an almost entirely subjective topic, but, aren't music and the arts themselves subjective?

Back to the point, just look at the difference of radio broadcasts. Here in the U.S. we rarely hear anything outside of 2/4 and 4/4 time; throw in a 3/4 and you've got a riot on your hands. I think (IMHO) that it is due in part to the lack of education, but, more importantly the lack of presentation of a variety of styles in music. Since we feed on the basic (and generally lame/overplayed, although this post is NOT a knock on popular music) chord progressions and same unchanging flow of musical shapes we never grow. Of course I'm referring to we as the public, with emphasis on people who do not study music. Many people in other countries feel completely comfortable with 7/8, 9/8, and other so called "awkward" meter and even tonalities because they've grown up with them.

I'm not sure what could be done about it at this point, but I think a large reason that music goes unappreciated by many in the U.S. is the lack of substance that is generally found in mainstream music. If you look back 50 years or so, popular music was much more focused on making music with a general interest in what it sounded like and having a unique sound, rather than trying to become the replacement for whatever pop star teenagers are tired of looking at. That's why I listen to classic rock on the radio

Chord progressions!? We've 'no rapper left behind'ed music so much that we've largely reduced our youth to appreciate being shouted at instead of listening to actual music! Yo! Word!

Yea, modern day "music" has become slang poetry.

Congrats on the 1000 posts Loyaltubist! I used to be frequent the Tuba-Euphorum a lot until it went down, just started over here recently.

when did the US ever get the notion that they were a monopoly?

pulseczar wrote:when did the US ever get the notion that they were a monopoly?

congrats loyaltubist for 1k post.

When I was younger we used to brag that our instrumental music program was the finest in the world. And it probably was... then. Some school districts were better than others. I started in one school district in which instrumental music was a graduated thing. Flutophones in third grade. Everyone got to study the violin in fourth grade. And then the band and orchestra instruction commenced in fifth grade (those who stuck to the violin got a headstart!) Unfortunately, I left that district after the third grade. We had instrumental music. It was a quality program, but it was mostly after school. Today, some school districts around here don't have any musical instruction (of any kind) until the sixth or seventh grade! My old junior college dropped its band and music major program. Music is now seen only as entertainment, not enrichment.