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Does music make kids smarter? At what age should a child begin music lessons? Where should you purchase an instrument? What should parents expect from a child's teachers and lessons? Raising Musical Kids answers these and many other questions as it covers everything from assembling a listening library for kids, to matching a child's personality with an instrument's personality, to finding musical resources in your community. Knowing that children can--and usually do--get most of their music education within the public school system, the author explores at length the features and benefits of elementary and secondary school programs, and shows how parents can make the schools work for them and their children. Throughout, Cutietta emphasizes the joy of participating in music for its own sake. Raising Musical Kids is a book that parents everywhere will treasure as a complete road map for developing their child's musical abilities.
E-Book Content
Raising Musical Kids: A Guide for Parents
DR. ROBERT A. CUTIETTA
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Raising Musical Kids
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Raising Musical Kids
A guide for parents
d r . r o b e r t a . c u t i e t ta Illustrated by Harvey Mercadoocasio
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Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto
Copyright © 2001 by Robert A. Cutietta First published by Oxford University Press, Inc. First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2003 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cutietta, Robert A. Raising musical kids: a guide for parents /Robert A. Cutietta; illustrated by Harvey Mercadoocasio. p. : ill./ cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-512922-9 (cloth) ISBN 0-19-512923-7 (pbk.) 1. Music—Instruction and study—Parent participation. 2. Mercadoocasio, Harvey. II. Title. MTI C94 2001 649’.51—dc21 00-069300
Book design by Adam B. Bohannon 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America
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Dedicated to my family, without whose help this book would have been finished three years earlier . . . but would not have been nearly as good. And to my dad, who somehow never needed this book.
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Contents
Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Notes References
What On Earth Prompted Me to Write This Book? ix The Ground Rules 3 What Does Music Study Do for Your Child? 9 What Age to Begin Music Lessons 18 Measuring Musical Talent 38 Creating a Musical Home Environment 44 Finding a Good Private Teacher 56 Choosing the Right Instrument for Your Child to Play 66 Getting Kids to Practice 85 What Is Good Practicing? 104 Music in the Public Schools 117 Music in the Elementary School 127 Music in the Secondary School 139 Musical Competitions 157 Music, Teenagers, and the Home 162 Computers and Music Learning 170 Finding (and Using) Community Musical Resources 182 Careers in Music 189 Da Capo al Fine 203 Resources for Parents 207 Songs That