Do you know if it's similar in Denmark?

My school years are well behind me and I didn't have music classes after public school, so I can't say for sure. But I do work at a public school with my office being very close to the music class room and I do know that Danish education systems have gone through massive changes over the last decade. My impression is that there is a general attempt at getting away from old fashioned teaching models, with more focus being placed on discovery, cooperation and independent thinking. I'd assume music education is not unaffected by this push towards more open forms of education.

But I don't know for sure. I'm just extrapolating from what I know more generally.

Not sure how different it is out there but in America we're seeing a similar upheaval. It doesn't seem to be affecting the art departments because there isn't standardized testing built around it, so there aren't any funding related justifications for improving it.

There's some of that focus on testing here as well, but my impression is that there's a will to allocate money towards all sorts of new efforts. Our school has 3D printers, green screen, all sorts of programmable robots and such, in a push to teach even young students more about how technology works.

Although the only money I know for sure went towards music at the school recently was when they got a whole bunch of ukuleles. But the kids are sitting everywhere playing those things some days, so it seems a success.

Some areas definitely get more funding than others, but then again, how much money do you even need to sink into music when you already have all sorts of instruments and electronics.

Ah, so expect a synth heavy band recital this year! :laughing:

They're playing the school's ukes? I remember it was trendy to carry around a uke and occasionally fart out a few chords when I was in high school.

That would be great!
But when I hear what the kids play on their phones, it's mostly trap and hip hop. No matter their age, really. Clearly the really huge genres right now.

They're mostly being used by the 4, 5 and 6 graders. But yeah, within a couple weeks, some of them were already getting a handle on it pretty good.
The school bought them specifically because they would be simpler to learn than full size acoustic guitars.

All music theory and no art make Adam Neely a dull boy.

I guess I don't see as sharp a divide, since I expect that any musician who will have anything to say musically won't take any harm from learning a bunch of tools in-depth.

The muso-robots bred from music academia wouldn't have had much to give the world musically if they had taken another path. I basically don't think it's formal music education that's the problem.

Muso-robots don't occur in a vacuum mate, they're a product of the textbook methods of music education that force a dichotomy between performers and composers (not intentionally, they're just furthering an archaic philosophy of music), which is why said robots are so prominent in academia.

TBF I've known band kids and they were never going to be more exciting than a John Philip Sousa cover band under any circumstances.