Random access: should music making be fun?(Professional Resources)

I ask these questions seriously: should music making be fun? What is your experience when you perform? How about your students' experience?

Personally, I think performing is a blast. For me, that blast consists of a complex set of experiences that does include fun. During the time just before the performance, I may feel a modest or considerable level of anxiety and that anxiety may carry over into the performance itself. During the performance, I experience a range of emotions, some of which are related to the music, while others are related to the fact that I am working hard. At the conclusion of the performance, if I get the sense that I moved the audience, I may enjoy the reward of exhilaration.

Perhaps fun is too simplistic a word to use in this context. However, the sense of accomplishment, personal connection with the music and successful communication with the audience all add up to a high level, emotion-charged experience that bears some resemblance to the elements of fun.

When Should Fun Enter the Picture?

I believe many children and adults begin music study because they think they are going to have fun. They don't necessarily think music study is going to be entertaining. But I believe they expect a sense of enjoyment much like the enjoyment they experience when listening to music.

Students are often disappointed to find out how much work is involved in learning an instrument. To make matters worse, many pieces sound incomplete in the absence of an ensemble, particularly if students are playing a monophonic instrument all by themselves. Older beginners may quickly become dissatisfied with music that is composed or arranged for novices.

In addition to the foregoing matters, there may be issues with the choice of music that is taught. A large percentage of pedagogical music is considerably different from the music students listen to on the radio, television, CD player or in the movie theater. Often students come to their first lesson expecting to learn one genre of music and find that it doesn't exist in the books they are given. This discrepancy may lead to disillusionment with music study.