BILL Blank Writes:

>Personally, I think 'classical' music should start at home and be taught
>in grade school.  I remember having music classes in 1st gradel where
>we watched those wonderful cartoon shorts featuring classical music and
>of course Fantasia in later grades.  We got to play with instruments and
>had fun sight and sound games learning about them.  We started
>band/orchestra in the 5th grade as I recall.

P.S.  152 in Brooklyn did not have the rich set of offerings described
by Bill when I attended- 60 years ago (!!!).  However we were required
to recognize little pieces - by MacDowell, Ethelbert Nevin, excerpts
from Schubert and Beethoven- all with little texts.  (" This is the
symphony which Schubert wrote but never finished") I really did not get
interested in classical music until about five years later, but perhaps
a seed was planted.  But- more important, classical radio had at least
two outlets in NYC in those days, and my mother had it on all through
the day.  Today classical music on the radio is much less available.  It
IS available on the internet, but I am not sure that it is as available
to the casual listener as was radio.

Bernard Chasan