Written lore ... Staff notation in schools. Photograph: Getty
In the news today, we are hearing that it is possible to get an A grade in GCSE music without being able to read sheet music. Damon Albarn has responded to this, calling it "disgraceful". Well let's hear what you think - but first a bit of perspective.
Historically the development of sheet music has been a liberating factor in the spread of music-making, albeit tempered by commercial interests. Just as the printing press assisted the spread of literacy, it also sped the growth of musical literacy. It liberated more complex and developed music traditions from the Church and in great part enabled the development of increasingly complex art music. By becoming a visual representation of music, composers were more easily able to challenge the limits of performers, by creating a permanent record to work from (which in turn spurred the development of better and new musical instruments).
The introduction of mechanical reproduction of sound (the gramophone and its offspring) dramatically changed this landscape. Here we have a form of reproduction which favours the ear and not the eye. Negative commentators tend to disparage this development as causing listeners to become passive consumers; yet the development of musical forms (jazz and most popular music) which rely in part on an aural tradition of listening to and copying recordings in order to learn music, refute this.
Of course, I learned staff notation as a young child. I learned not through school but, as do many privileged middle class children, through private piano lessons. I would hate to understate the joy that this has brought and continues to bring me; I still play the piano and cello, and the ability to read music makes me more versatile, if nothing else. And it also enabled me to become a music teacher. However, I also cannot overstate the importance of looking beyond the ability to read music to identify musical ability.
As I became a lanky-haired teenager, alongside the grades and county orchestras I taught myself the bass guitar and formed noisy indie bands with friends. Crucially, these friends had no musical background, other than that they loved listening. Eighteen years later, many of these friends still get as much joy from participation in music as I do. Yet at school, they were exiled (admittedly partly by choice) from involvement in "school music". I think that this separation of school music from the real world of music is a terrible shame.
It is the students who show evidence of great musicality - but have not had the privilege of instrumental lessons - that we need to address. The older tradition of "musical appreciation" where students would analyse scores from the classical canon in their music lessons (and little else) has been abandoned, thankfully in my opinion. Music at school should encourage participation. Performance and composition have been restored to primary importance. The recognition that one can be a fantastic performer or composer without being able to read music has encouraged exam boards to create a syllabus where it is possible for an amazing jazz drummer to take GCSE music. Is this wrong?
I should also point out that musical analysis still forms a fairly large part of GCSE syllabuses (although this is not confined to classical music) and that the ability to read music will make it much, much easier to attain an A grade. Hence we do teach musical notation from Year 7.
Finally, pop musicians often have an inferiority complex. This is compounded when said musician has a classical background. They are forever trying to justify their pop career, or worse, demeaning it to ensure people know that it is just a bit of fluff and that they used to "write for small orchestras [at] 15" (thanks Damon - we'd love to hear it). In retrospect, they regret the fact that they strayed from the "pure" classical tradition.
It is evident to me as a music teacher that the practical aspects of making music, performance and composition, should be favoured at school. But what do you think? Should someone who can compose and perform incredibly complex music on the guitar, but who struggles to write it down as notation, be barred from gaining an A grade?
