Participation or Performance? A Cultural Dilemma
In most cultures throughout history, all the people sang and danced and played games. There might be designated “experts” – the village dance bands, the traveling bards, the Olympic athletes, the court composers – but music and movement were activities that engaged everyone, for recreation and community, for self-expression and healing and for play.
In many modern cultures – especially here in North America – this is no longer true. Many children are now being raised and educated by adults who do not sing and dance and play for fun. It doesn’t happen at home, or at school, or at social gatherings, or often even with other kids in the neighborhood.
The brain is an efficient organ; if neural pathways aren’t being used, they eventually get jettisoned. The less a child moves and sings and plays, the less “talent” he tends to show in these occupations. The neural infrastructure to support these activities is not being created and reinforced by the appropriate movement, so the child does not seem to get much “better” at things. This is a pity. According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, success seem to have at least as much to do with opportunity, attitude and practice, as with innate ability.
The old culture of participation is being replaced by a culture of performance. People tend not to participate unless they believe that they are “good enough.” Here in North America, opportunities for just-for-fun, unrated experiences are fewer than they used to be, and disappear at younger ages. Children now specialize in adult-organized sports - neighborhood pick-up games are getting to be a thing of the past. So is amateur singing – people don’t even sing the national anthem at ball games any more, they stand and listen to someone else’s performance. In my clinical work, I have learned to be careful about asking mothers to sing to their babies because so many of them feel humiliated by the request. I hope that they sing with their babies in private, but I know that many don’t.
The message this “culture of performance” passes on to children is this: if you aren’t on a professional track, don’t do it. Let the experts do it for you; save yourself the embarrassment.
Returning to a Culture of Participation
The tragedy of this is that children are growing up missing the full experience of jumping in with abandon, of singing and moving and playing, finding their own bodies and voices.
We can re-instate this culture of participation in some very simple ways, from the very beginning of a child’s life. Look for places in your daily routine that can be put to music. Here are some suggestions:
Car rides: Don’t just play the radio or plug in your Ipod – SING! Sing anything. If you don’t know the words, nonsense works fine. If you don’t know the tune, just make it up as you go. The more you do it, the more comfortable you become. And the kids don’t care; it’s entertaining.
If you do go the electronic route, at least sing along. I’ve started listening to a jazz station on my work commutes, and scatting my heart out! The time flies by.
Before meals: Hold hands, sing a little ritual song – anything, it doesn’t even have to be about the food. It helps quiet the mind and create a space for relationship over the meal.
Before bed: Sing a lullaby.
Doing anything potentially difficult. It often helps to put processes into rhythm:
“Get in the car seat, here we go!
Get in the car seat, here we go!
Snap snap snap! Buckle buckle buckle!
It’s gonna be a fun ride!”
Singing the words draws the focus even more. Repetition is good, it puts things into flow and can kind of mesmerize the child into compliance – or at least, a lesser degree of stress! This works for any time you need to “get with the program” – changing a diaper, taking a bath, brushing teeth, sharing toys with other children . . . the list is as long as a child’s day.
As we bring music and movement back into the fabric of our everyday lives, we benefit in two ways. Our lives become more fun. And we become better musicians.
(Parts of this entry are excerpted from the upcoming CD/Book Set Listenin’ Live, an exploration of listening and the voice through music and movement, by Paul Madaule and Eve Kodiak).
Comments
Doug Hill, horn professor from UW-Madison, came to our college to present a master class. He chose the topic of “creativity.”
We concluded that if a safe environment such as the one you describe were part of the children’s lives throughout adolescence, then it would be much easier to give the gift of music to ALL our children.
This article rings so true and touches on something I constantly tell the parents of my students as well as the teachers with whom I work. There are preschool teachers who will not sing to and with their students for fear of “looking or sounding stupid”. I used to work in a private preschool where several teachers felt this way and the only time the children were even allowed to sing was during my music lesson- once a week! If a preschool teacher is embarassed to sing with preschoolers, then she is in the wrong occupation in my mind! Children are natural music makers and singers, and encouraging them to do it boosts self esteem and releases stress, not to mention all the healthy things happening in their brains. I’m happy to say my new situation embraces any and all music making throughout the day everyday, and the benefits show through even at home. Thank you for this article.
Great article! In my music education practice I continually look for ways to create opportunities for children and caregivers to be co-creators of music. Giving them a safe creative environment where they feel they have the space and the permission to create, to come up with their own words or sounds or whatever, profoundly validates them, giving them the courage to express their creativity and go further, take creative risks to be heard. With their faces beaming with big smiles and giggles and freely offering their creative gems I know they have entered that sacred place where creative expression is allowed and welcome - not just the select few - but for all.
Thank you all for your comments! Do any readers have any success stories about adults, who are stuck in this unfortunate cultural paradigm, being able to open up to making music?
Judy Panning Lake City Jan 01, 2011
This is so true! I added a school to my teaching load this year, and one of the comments I heard from the high school choral director is that the program is suffering because students think they are not good enough to sing in choir—it should only be for the best singers. The funny thing is that the elementary kids are great singers. We’ve been working on skills so they think of themselves as music makers rather than consumers of music. It will be interesting to see how the tide turns over the years.
Thanks for the thought-provoking blog! I can’t wait to see the Listenin’ Live materials.