How Schools Have Taught Language and Music the Wrong Way For Centuries

My Philosophy on Language and Music

When we are children first we learn to listen, then to speak, then to read, and finally we learn to write. In school things are made to seem more abstract than necessary either so that you can feel like you are getting your money’s worth or because preexisting skills are being imposed onto new ones. My inner cynic says it’s the former, but it’s probably the latter. You already know how to read and write when you pick up a new language or instrument, so they think this is the best way to start to teach you. However, we simply aren’t conditioned to learn this way.

Language

Humans began to speak at least 100,000 years ago. Written language was first recorded about 5,500 years ago. Our brains are specially evolved to process auditory communication and speech. Reading and writing really does not come naturally to us. Now ask yourself which would be more useful to you: understanding a language orally or being able to read it? School just does not prepare us to use foreign languages in a practical way.

Literacy is characterized by the ability to read and write. It is the mark of an educated person. Information could not be passed down or distributed to the masses without it. Does this mean that having the simple satisfaction of being literate means you can utilize language? Au contraire!

To learn a language you must first learn to listen. Even if you are a visual learner and you watch a movie with subtitles in that language you would still be more focused on the words than expression. The same applies to music.

Music

Ask a young music student to sing a song off of sheet music that they have never heard before. Unless they are a vocalist, it probably sounds terrible and unintelligible. When you learn to play an instrument without learning to listen, pressing the buttons or picking the strings is really just an educated guess. They play note by note like people who read word by word rather than creating a coherent idea out of a sentence.

Musical phrases are equivalent to sentences except it’s up to the musician to determine where the phrase ends. (It is not every measure contrary to popular belief). To know where this would be appropriate, one would have to be accustomed to listening.

Again, people were playing music thousands of years before they started reading it, so to truly internalize music one would first have to learn to listen. Ear training is more popular in Jazz, but it is essential for any musician. Reading can take away from expression.

My Experience

I learned French in class and Spanish with my friends. I speak pretty good Spanish and I understand everything. My French is awful and I barely understand anything. I really tried as hard as I could in French class but the words just don’t seem like they’re pronounced like they’re spelled. Of course, Spanish is a more phonetic language (meaning it’s written hows it’s spoken), but I credit my listening skills for my fluency.

I play a really loud heavy instrument so nobody really wants to jam with me too often. Plus, I couldn’t if I tried because I can only read music and my improvisation skills are super remedial. My intonation is okay at best and I’m always too focused on getting all those notes under my fingers to really make music.

When I rap, I can rap about anything on any beat without even thinking about it too much. Admittedly, I’ve spent more time doing it, but there was always more people to do it with. At first, I couldn’t rap and beat and none of my influences came through in my music. When I started to really listen, I grew exponentially as an artist. I credit my listening for songwriting ability.

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