Friends,
In the interest of accuracy and precision, let me clarify by restating
what I meant when I wrote:
and the general level of music literacy among those who were musically
literate was higher in 1960 than it is today, when for too many, the
pinnacle of music literacy is knowing how to download music into an
iPod, and how to change the battery.
In the entire population, the percentage of people able to read music,
or to sing, or play any musical instrument with any signiricant degree
of proficiency has been declining probably for about a third of a
century. I think the decline took root between 1960 and 1970, and that
the rate of decline has increased since. Paradoxically, I also suspect
that if one compares those who are musically literate today, with those
who were musically literate in 1960, that those who are in comparable
locations on the literacy scale are at a higher point today than their
counterparts on the scale were in 1960; that is, the best today are more
proficient than the best in 1960; and the median musician today is more
proficient than the median student in 1960 was, but the number of
musicians in the population is relatively lower than it was in 1960.
I should also add that these observations are based upon personal
experience in the US., and may or may not be accurate in other places,
and indeed, may not be universally accurate in the US.
ns
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