Like all of you, I participate in the daily ritual of taking out the trash–not the stinky kind; I'm not talking about real trash, the junk mail that fills my inbox. There is something soothing about it: dragging all the unwanted stuff into that cute little trash bin and hearing it make that sound when I hit "delete."
Now, I can focus on the email that matters.
Sorting through the malaise of date requests that fill my inbox is like playing a game of calendar Tetris while simultaneously trying to determine which airline will get me from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Forks via time travel.
As I read through the requests, I continually hear the same theme from prospective clients looking for help, "Kids today don't know how to... (insert work, play, behave, practice, tie their shoes, etc.)
Just last night, I saw my son simultaneously composing a lo-fi beat while playing Xbox with his brother (who is away at college) and watching a mukbang. I swear, look it up; it's a real thing. The fact that he watches Mukbangs for me is proof enough that his generation is doomed.
Successful sloth or magnificent multi-tasker? Potatoe, Potahto.
Yes, there is some evidence to support the belief that teenagers today are under-performing their counterparts from decades past. Attendance is down, math scores have plummeted in recent years, and college applications are falling faster than my 401K, which has my blood pressure rising at a corresponding rate.
But, there is also equal and ample evidence to the contrary. In-school bullying is down, rates associated with drinking and vaping are below 2016 levels, and dropout rates are decreasing and are hovering around five percent, an all-time low.
Then there's the music kids. Their trajectory is only upward.
Today's kids learn more drill, play harder music, and achieve higher performance scores. Enrollment is growing (albeit slowly), student musicians are rehearsing more, and community bands are sprouting up left and right.
I can honestly say that the complaints about "kids today" are the same as when I started my business twenty years ago. And they are likely the same things my high school teacher said about me.
In music rooms all across our country (and in emails to me), directors are bemoaning the fall of music education with unbridled confidence as they check the metronome setting on their Apple Watch, use AI to write their concert program notes, and modulate the key signature of their opener with a few keystrokes.
If I'm being honest, I agree with kids that Sousa marches are "mid," Markowski is "FIRE," and choreographing a saxophone TikTok as a sectional makes practice fun. Young teachers are working harder while I am trying to work less, and my life has benefited from technology to a greater degree than it has for kids (imagine booking 200 flights a year, renting 100 cars, and finding my way around strange cities without the internet).
In life and in music, every generation gets blamed for something. The Boomers thought Gen X was lazy. Gen X thought Millennials were entitled. Now, millennials are wondering if Gen Z teachers will ever turn off their drone tuners and metronomes. The answer? They won't. And that's a good thing.
In the end, music survives. Programs survive, and you will survive. We adapt. We always do, even if it means learning the flute part and the latest TikTok dance simultaneously. This resilience of music education should reassure us all.
So, yes, Gen Alpha (the current generation) may be ruining music education. They are doing it the same way we did for our teachers.
They're just ruining it better.
And that makes me feel better.
Have a great week.
Scott