Maybe - with kids there's a lot of confilct between what parents expect/want and the kids' wishes. Just getting a kid to learn/pracitce one instrument is a major achievment.... And drums.... Noisy. Very noisy.
I understand your concerns Kev, but I'm thinking more philosophically ideally.
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In other words, if we lived in a society where music was treated as a language that everyone should learn to speak, and we all saw drum sets as a valuable tool for learning the vocabulary of temporal coordination, then we wouldn't ask the kids what they 'want'. Just like we currently don't ask them whether or not they want history lessons, etc. It would just be part of their schooling (like it or not)
As far as the noise goes, that's not really a problem at all, because to learn they wouldn't need performance level drums, they could use practice pads arranged as a drum set, complete with foot pedal for the bass pad. And of course, with today's technology this could be done with electronics and headphones, so that basically only the drummer can hear what they are doing.
And then there's the cost of lessons and instruments.....
Well, again, in a philosophical dream, since everyone is required to learn them (just like everyone is now required to speak language) the parents themselves could teach them. No need for any special instructors. Everyone you meet would be able to play a drum set. Of course there would still be outstanding drummers who have natural abilities above other people. I'm sure they'd find a way to get around the expense of these practice drum sets. The mere fact that so many would be built would help keep the price down, and they also would not need to be 'performance level' instruments. Just pads that provide bounce and suitable thuds (like practice pads).
So you can't be looking at this from the viewpoint of 'injecting' this into our current screwed up society.
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You've got to think of it in terms of a Utopian society. ;}
In other words, I was just dreaming sweetly, I wasn't proposing a radical political change in modern day society. I've totally given up on that a long time ago.
I just think it's a shame we don't teach everyone to be more musical. Especially the very young children since that's when they would pick it up the fastest and get into the rhythm of things. It seems to me that smart educators could tie these musical lessons in with mathematics and language skills. Kids could be made to play songs that help them remember their multiplications tables, etc. ;}
In fact, having written this post I'm inspired just now to go write a song about language. Speaking about verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc., and how they work in the language.
Oh absolutely Kev! Having kids composed, and write songs that make statements about their reading, writing, and arithmetic would be phenomenal. They could be assigned homework in history lessons where they have to write a song to summarize what's they've learned in a particular chapter.
Wow! I want my own planet when I grow up. I'll be the Czar and the whole planet will become a rockumentary living opera.
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