Geoff:

I remember once hearing an National Public Radio report (in the United
States, for our readers elsewhere) about a study done by an anthropologist
looking at how music is transmitted from one generation to the next. (I
forget her name or where she published her study, so I'm not much help, am
I?) What she found, though, is that the most enduring music in modern,
westernized peoples is the music taught to young children (surprise,
surprise). How many of us have taught our toddlers to sing "Mary Had a
Little Lamb" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"? I've taught my own child some
Beatles' songs, those with the simplest and most singable, memorable
melodies, but even Simon and Garfunkle have faded somewhat from my memory
(I can hum the tune, but forget the words). But I still know all the words
to "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," -- even "London
Bridge is Falling Down," which surely have very little to do with recent
American culture, and a very great deal to do with that part of American
culture that came from England.

I think her point was that those songs taught us in childhood stay with us
much longer than those we learn as teenagers or adults. And those songs are
the songs of our cultural hertitage.

So perhaps the Beatles and Elvis will pass down in our cultural memory, but
not very much else?

As an aside, I rarely chuckle outloud while reading email, but Bob
Schyler's comments on the highpoints of Western Civilization made me break
my usually shy and retiring demeanor. Thank you Dr. Schyler for cheering up
my day considerably.

Cathy Spude
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