Until I got to grad school, and encountered a gentleman named Wilson
Coker, I had no idea how significantly the process of musical analysis
would shape my destiny. We learned a tremendous amount of info from the
study of logical connectors, Shenker (sp?), the study of Emotion and
Meaning in Music (Meyer, I think), the music of Hindemith, and much
more. However, if there was one "magic bullet" revealed to me, it was
the concept of the rhythmic cycle: i.e., Arsis, Thesis, Stasis. Once I
was made aware of its presence in both micro and macro applications,
the whole world of gesture and phrase structure became apparent. This
info, coupled with the search for all sorts of intra-musical
references is what has allowed me, over all my years as a choral and
instrumental director to instruct performers as to where the rhythmic
cycle should be applied. So, was the study of music theory key to my
experience as a teacher? ... I guess!!!
Dean
I know what public school music has done for me. I have witnessed the
journey it has provided my daughter and hundreds of other students I
have been fortunate enough to teach. I am both amazed and outraged that
there are those who would knowingly disenfranchise generations of
humans by excising the practice and inculcation of an entire heritage
from our children’s curricula.
Dean M. Estabrook
Retired Church Musician
Composer, Arranger
Adjudicator
Amateur Golfer
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