Not so much dumb as tone deaf. All must have musical prizes, even if they can't read a note. The Times reports on yet another example of the decline of educational standards:
Asked how he made his music more forceful than others, Keith Moon, The Who’s hellraising drummer, replied: “Hit the drums harder.” The advice would have stood him a strong chance of a GCSE in music.
To the consternation of musicians, tutors and critics, an inability to understand sheet music has now become no hindrance to success at GCSE. Students can achieve a Grade A without reading or writing a single note.
Research by BBC Music Magazine has revealed that none of the main examination boards awards more than 20 per cent of total marks for being able to read music.
Damon Albarn, the singer and songwriter for Blur and Gorillaz, whose debut opera was performed at the Royal Opera House last month, called the situation disgraceful and said that it could cut young people off from their musical heritage.
Julian Lloyd Webber, the cellist, said it was like “trying to study a language without studying the alphabet”.
Previous generations of 16-year-olds studying music as an academic subject at school were under much more pressure to demonstrate a proper understanding of written music. An O-level music paper for the Associated Examination Board in 1978, for example, asked students to set a verse of poetry to music on a page of empty staves, with credit given for good accentuation of the words and an appropriate melody.
Now the national curriculum does not mention staff notation until Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 14) and pupils need only to “identify” it.
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Lloyd Webber said that it was ridiculous to ignore “a system of notation that has been developed over hundreds and hundreds of years and has stood the test of time” just to make exams easier. “It’s leaving anyone who wants to do music in the future with a severe disadvantage — a handicap.”
There are signs of a change of heart at the QCA, however. From next month KS3 national curriculum stipulates that requirements should include “using traditional staff notation”.
