Music humanizes us and the need to make sounds beyond the confines of our throats is a basic, human, urge.  Thanks to a recent scholarly archaeological dig, we now have evidence of man-made bone flutes from the Stone Age. 


From the New York Times:

The most significant of the new artifacts, the archaeologists said, was a flute made from a hollow bone from a griffon vulture; griffon skeletons are often found in these caves. The preserved portion is about 8.5 inches long and includes the end of the instrument into which the musician blew. The maker carved two deep, V-shaped notches there, and four fine lines near the finger holes. The other end appears to have been broken off; judging by the typical length of these bird bones, two or three inches are missing.

Now that we have proof of our prehistoric musicality, we should make a more concerted effort to give every single child access to an ongoing and sustained musical education in the public schools.

Too often today, children are tested for musical competency and if they do not show some sort of talent at an early age, they are wiped away from participating in school-sponsored musicianship.

Music is about precision and conformity of purpose — but for those
students who cannot yet make a joyful sound, or for those who are outside the
mainstream mindset because of economics or social mores — we need to
find a good way for their total inclusion in the human, ongoing, need to make musical melodies.

2 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    I wonder how many children are like the ones who never speak until they are ready for full sentences — but with music — eg ready to play more full pieces of music right away after not playing a note.
    I love the imagery in this article 🙂

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s a good question, Gordon. We should give young children as many avenues for opportunities as possible. You’re right that some kids might have a first language that is more melodic then grammatical — and we should be on the lookout for them and help them to translate those notes into an alphabet and words.

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