I agree with the last post to some degree about the lack of singable songs but in my experience with kids, singing is not encouraged unless they show an aptitude for it in music classes in school. Then, the emphasis is on reading music for choral groups or singing solos for talent shows. Singing in the U.S. today for the most part is about becoming professional or forget it. Kids are made to feel embarrassed by it publicly but in small enclaves, I know it takes place when they sing along with the radio. Musical education for the general public has been on the decline in my opinion for the last decade. It has been deemed by many schools as a frivolous or unessential activity. You can tell this by just listening to AM radio. The musicianship is sometimes good by professionals and the production values of the music are technically superb and the music itself, particularly the songs are of a very poor quality. The harmonies are often banal, simplistic, and the melodies confined two less than an octave and not used particularly with originality but echo the last "hit". The words are constructed in many songs to be so simplistic as to be able to read anything into them that anyone wants to. The lyrics are generally constructed poorly with faulty rhyme schemes, crude metaphors (if any are offered) and little content outside of self-pity. There are notable exceptions, however by writers who really know their craft and occasionally break through the muddy slop.

Bottom line, Johnnie is not getting a good musical education. AM radio proves it.

Frank Hamilton