preferences

Why do we like what we like? The nature versus nurture debate has gone on for decades. Music is one of the touchy areas where "taste" appears to rule. But with music in high school today, is taste driven by familiarity or popularity? I wonder about this when I visit a seniors' home and the music is almost alwyas songs from the 30's and 40's. And I wondered during my chorus class last week.

Our group of singers is working on a challenging part song for Winter Concert, while also preparing some other pieces for various upcoming shows at Oakland Tech High. At some point, the class ended. But then it began. A few singers left for another rehearsal but the rest seemed to want to hang around, explore the piano, and talk. One young woman suddenly produced an anthology of songs from the movie, "Twilight." A few singers drifted over to examine it, and exclaim over favorite numbers.

"Want to sing it?" I asked one girl who was very excited about one of the songs.So I sat at the piano and played the chords or helped her with the melody while she sang. Hmm.. I looked around and there were twice the number of students in the room as had been present before she started singing. Students had seen the movie or heard the songs online, so they were familiar -- and liked. But do my students like the songs because the other students like tham and because they know them from having heard them often? Do we have to start exposing our children to everything at a very young age so that they will be more open to it as adolescents? Or can we start educating ourselves to be open to the unfamiliar, the strange, the different, at any age?