Why Kids Hate Music Lessons

I am a drummer in spite of joining my middle school band. As a percussionist, I quickly realized that my role was to count silently for what felt like approximately 6 hours and then crash the cymbals together triumphantly at the perfect moment. Any lapse in concentration or incorrect counting would result in disaster, ruining the entire song. This was nothing like the idea I had in my head about playing music. So I quit.

Instead, I started to teach myself how to play drum set on a kit in the music room which I played after school. I went on to play in several rock bands throughout high school and college, and built a lifelong love of music ... but I almost didn't. I was reminded of this as I read a story all about why kids hate music lessons. The reasons are clear: an unflinching focus on memorization, no room to improvise and a soul sucking focus on doing scales or boring practice routines. It is much the same way we teach kids foreign languages ... and the results are the same. Kids hate music class and give up. They finish years of language lessons and leave barely able to hold a conversation (but widely knowledgeable on verb conjugation).

There are kids who love music, language and many other things that schools teach in mind-numbing, soul-draining ways. And eventually those kids will either find a way to learn it themselves, or stop trying in the first place.