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I have been asked by a correspondent, a teacher, how he might best study "how to motivate young men of middle and high school age to enjoy singing well to the glory of God." Not knowing of any resources that are aimed directly at that topic specifically, I thought to jot down a few thoughts here.
1. It is more important that your boys grow up masculine than that they grow up musical. You don't necessarily have to choose, but if you have to choose, you should know which way to go, and should go that way without hesitation. It is important that your son know that you are of one mind on that point. Start by prioritizing the whole question rightly.
2. We learn by imitation, and imitation involves persons and personal characteristics. If the music master is not the kind of man that the boys would like to be when they are grown, then they are generally going to avoid the musical pursuits that this man is offering to train them in. If the boys ahead of them in whatever discipline it is (violin lessons, piano or voice lessons, etc.) are admirable to the younger boys, then they will want to catch up with them. If not, then they won't. If they don't want to grow up into that, hectoring them about it will only make them identify musical accomplishment with effeminacy more strongly. The fact that it is a false identification should be a good reason to not chase the boys into that false identification.
3. Certain kinds of music appeal to boys, so musical selection is a big deal. If a boy has declined to join the chorus elective at your school, you want the Christmas concert to be a time when regret has him by the throat (whether he admits it or not) rather than a time when waves of relief are washing over him. If every tra-la-la from the stage is matched by silent te Deums and hosannas in your son's heart, you have identified a big part of your problem. Every performance is a recruiting event, and the foundation of each recruiting event is the music selection. Performance and concert structure and length are important as well, but start with musical selections that will attract those you want to attract. Don't go fishing for mountain trout by putting bacon on the hook. Or, at any rate, if you do, don't be disappointed by your results.
4. Musical accomplishment is a matter of discipline. If your son is undisciplined in every area of his life except for this one, it will not fare well for him in this one alone. Discipline should not be an alien concept.
5. Don't turn up your nose at musical accomplishment acquired off the grid in a garage band somewhere. Recruit the drummer to play timpani for you. You don't turn over the leadership of musical reformation to the garage bands, but don't be too proud to recognize the resource.
6. If your assigned task is a musical program at school, recognize that there are two other places where musical culture is formative -- family and church. These are difficult times because most churches have capitulated on the subject of music, and in many places the only place where musical standards are being maintained is in particular homes and families. But the point here is that musical reformation has to take place across the board -- in church first, then in school, and then in families. Musical training these days is holed up in families like it was a beleagured refugee. Keeping all these things in mind, and the other principles noted here, none of this is going to change without dedicated funding. Musicians -- who understand all these principles -- need to eat, and need to provide for their families. They should be provided for well. The task of musical reformation cannot be left in the hands of hobbyists and volunteers.
7. The growth of rock n' roll, and the paucity of rocker chicks in that realm, should really tell us something. Instead of sniffing at the popularity of rock (o tempora! o mores!), we need to cultivate some humility at this point. We have to recognize that rock is vastly superior to more cultivated forms of music in at least one area -- its ability to attract boys to music. If your theory about this is that rock does it all with half-naked girls, you haven't thought about the subject nearly enough. The immorality of rock culture, and the inanity of the baby, baby, baby school of high poetry, are certainly worthy of our notice. But at the end of the day, they know how to do something that accomplished musicians and musical programs usually do very poorly. In the credit where credit is due department, we should be willing to try to learn what that is. |
