Donald Satz

>John G. Deacon told us, through the writer Clarles Osborne, that the
>Royal Opera cancelled a school matinee performance of Birtwistle's
>Gawain.  Osborne thought that the child-Birtwistle combination was horrible
>and would ruin opera for children.
>
>John adds:
>
>>I must confess to agreeing with him totally.  How can one possibly
>>start children off in life at quite the wrong end of the spectrum?
>
>Who determines which end of the spectrum is right or wrong?  Sorry, but I
>can't agree with John.  I think that he and Osborne are just taking their
>personal preferences and biases and projecting them on to children; that's
>not reasonable.

I tend to agree with Don here.

I have heard in the past from reliable sources that it is best to
introduce children to avant garde pieces early in their development.  By
doing so they become much more tolorant (appreciative) of such pieces.
Apparently, so the theory goes children brought up in this was do not
have the dependence on a tune in the music, that the rest of us have.

This fits in my own gut feeling of psychology that most people are
not born they are made.  Thick kids are programmed that way by their
environment especially their peers.

Anything that develops the child's mind gets my vote.  Especially when it
is towards decent music or science.

Bob Draper
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