I'm not too sure I agree with you on the neglect of the 3Rs. A number of
mestris taught their students how to read music.
Besides I knew of a number of supposedly uneducated people who could read and
write, although a mite labouriously, and these guys were field labourers.
And some of these field labourers could not only read music, but play their
musical instruments of choice with great skill. My father treated these
musicians with a great deal of respect, when they, as members of the Orquestra
Sinfonica de Goa, proved their mettle playing alongside european
and well-educated musicians in the 50s and early 60s.
Antonio "Oboe" de Noronha, now an octogenarian living in London, who had come
to Goa on holiday from Nairobi in 1954 and took part in a concert given by the
Orquestra playing the oboe, says in an article regarding his first
rehearsal, "I almost literally jumped up with the first beat of the music,
because the strings started the arpeggio-like opening with a sudden 'attacca'
and proceeded with such gusto that I was left dumb-founded to say the least.
Within those first few bars of the Euryanthe, my respect for these gentlemen
grew in leaps and bounds.".
Gabriel.
In my opinion we should pay tribute to Mestri of the parochial school who
trained villagers in
hymn singing but sadly training in 3Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic )
was given a
low priority.
Antonio
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