Wikipedia defines music as an art form
whose medium is sound and silence. The rest of the description is too technical
to get into but it does dwell on the fact that sound is also noise and the border
between music and noise is always culturally defined. Which means that what
some may consider noise may be music to other peoples ears.
Now who would be the right person to teach
your children what constitutes music and what doesn’t? While it’s their
decision to make, as parents you can play a big part in it. The internet is an
easy source of music and this goes a long way in defining music appreciation
for the next generation. A generation raised on Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and
Yo Yo Honey Singh doesn’t spell much for the future of music.
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Even though Mozart and Bach don’t have
music videos with scantily clad women or racy cars to attract the viewers and
Frank Sinatra, Elvis and the Beatles have only scratchy black and white videos,
expose your children to the intricate emotive arrangements of classical Music
even if they can’t figure out where the chorus is. The soulful singing of
Sinatra, the lyrics of classic Rock, the stories of losing your woman/ love/dog
or horse also known as country music and a good dose of heavy metal to scare
them into eating their veggies… that’s what they need.
Music has been proven to make kids smarter
and a good song never hurt anyone anyways. Music is the universal language as
Korean pop star PSY and his song Gangnam Style has shown us by being the most
watched video of all time on youtube. The most followed person on twitter is
Katy perry with 52 million followers, followed closely by Justin Bieber with 50
million. President Barrack Obama is distant 3rd with 42 million. While these
figures may not mean much to you they do tell you who is influencing the next
generation.
So before your children think it’s fine to
drink 4 bottles of Vodka and sing ‘I wanna hangover tonight every night’ a la
Honey Singh, show them what music is really about. Then let them make their own
music choices. If they still insist on singing ‘Main Sharabi main sharabi’ or
songs about women with blue eyes that look like bombs in short dresses, take
solace in the lyrics of Crosby, Stills & Nash ‘Don’t you ever ask them why,
if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they
love you.’
Now excuse me while I do the Macarena.
