I suppose anything is good, as long as the instruments are kept in good condition and there are teachers who know how to teach the children to play them.

When I was in elementary school, there was a music program in which a child could learn to play nearly any orchestral instrument. Children couldn't start on a saxophone, but they could later switch to one if they learned the clarinet first. I don't think piano was part of the curriculum, but _every_ schoolroom had a piano in it.

On the face of it, it sounds great, but there were a few catches. The program had existed for a few years already, and by my time, the instruments were all somewhat worse for wear. I had a cornet, but I didn't stick with it for more than a couple of weeks. I didn't like the (group) instruction at all. The whole program was designed to train children to play in the various musical groups; orchestra, marching band, jazz band, etc. This was also true in high school, where I briefly took oboe lessons.

In junior high school, I played the piano in the "stage band" (junior high kids apparently didn't play "jazz"). I was pretty lousy, in contrast to the boy who had played the year before and had graduated, who was quite good and was already playing the organ in local churches. It all seemed to be centered around contests. Musically, it did nothing for me, except for the unforgettable experience of dying on stage when I was supposed to improvise a solo (something I no more could have done than fly to the moon).

The man, now deceased, who ran the program for the elementary and the junior high schools in my hometown, and put a lot of work into it, was mentioned on the radio here in Germany not too long ago. It was in a jazz program where they interviewed a professional musician who came from my hometown. I suppose he was on tour here. I know that quite a few people from there went on to study music and I suppose a reasonable number have become professional musicians.

In high school, it went more or less according to the same pattern. I wanted to play the oboe, but the oboe they had was cracked and couldn't be repaired, or they didn't want to pay for it. They wanted me to play the bassoon instead, because they already had oboists and wanted bassoonists for the orchestra. However, I wanted to play the oboe and didn't want to play the bassoon. I still feel that way.

I'm sure it was great for some kids, but it wasn't for me. I'm sure a lot of other kids were turned off, too. From both a pedagogical and a musical point of view, I think it was a bad approach.

In Germany, they don't have that. Recorders are very big here. I don't know; I've got mixed feelings about it. It seems a bit monotonous to me to have everyone play the recorder. Same with ukelele, though I like the idea of hordes of British schoolchildren singing "When I'm Cleaning Windows" and "With Me Little Stick of Blackpool Rock".

I've never really liked organized group activities. It seems to me there ought to be a better way of teaching music to children, but I don't have a patent answer, either.