I wrote:
"Quite. There are many things that are considered important in exams that I'm not that bothered about. "


Foolestroupe wrote;
"I was involved in Motor Sport when younger. I learnt how to control a skid (front and rear), control hard braking on wet and other slippery surfaces, sideways 4 wheel drift - both rear wheel drive and front wheel drive, handbrake turns, clutchless gear changes, and a lot of other such skills, considered sufficently unimportant when most people get their road licence (what I call a licence to kill and maim!)."

One nice thing about music is that it usually isn't life-threatening and it won't cause injury or death of someone plays a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note as the first and third triplet in a a group of three triplets. One of the most damaging things in music instruction, I believe, is discouraging children from playing by ear because "it will get you into bad habits". There is no better habit than learning to use one's ears, even if they are not 100% accurate.

Foolestroupe wrote;
"Nobody 'forces such stuff down anybodies throat'."

I'm afraid I disagree with you about this. When I was a young teenager, I stopped taking "classical" piano lessons and went to a studio with an undeserved good reputation to learn jazz piano. The person who owned it had invented a method which used visualization. My teacher (not the boss) gave me one of the single worst pieces of advice I ever got: "Don't use your ears, your ears are too good." (!) I don't particularly like visualization as a means of learning anything, so this method was completely unsuited to me. I eventually lost interest and stopped going. I also felt guilty and that it was my fault for practicing and sticking with it.

Much later, after having been playing the guitar (self-taught) for ten years or so, I went to a teacher who practiced The Cult of the Fingernail. I was suppposed to entirely stop playing what I was doing and only practice what he said. No songs, the right-hand exercises from the Carlevarlo (?) method, and easy etudes by Sor, damping the strings that vibrated sympathetically. He showed me the "optimal" way of filing one's fingernails, using special extremely fine metal-working sandpaper. I quit fairly quickly, but for other reasons.

I could continue on this subject but I have to start work soon.

Foolestroupe wrote;
"Enjoy your music the way you want to, but never try to stop others from learning real music technical skills and theory."

Thank you, I will. I'm not trying to stop anybody from learning anything. I was trying to provide the OP and anyone else who's interested with information based on my own experience. If they're interested, I hope they will check the facts and make up their own minds. I never expect anyone to accept what I say just because I say it.

I think my musical skills, such as they are, are real. If I had the means to do it, I would post videos of myself playing and possibly singing. If people think it's rubbish, that's their privilege. I play music because I enjoy it, not to prove a point.