"When I hear yet another adolescent declare that his/her highest aspiration is to 'be-in-a-band', I despair!"
Personally I have no objection to youngsters wanting to play the music they enjoy - it's preferable to being passive recipients as too many of them are (adults too). What does disturb me is when I hear kids say they want to be a 'pop star' - different kettle of whatever altogether.
I have to confess that I'm speaking from a position of strength here.
In our small one-street west of Ireland town I would calculate that there are something like 150 youngsters involved in tradition music, thanks to a responsible attitude by adult musicians taking a positive and (dare I say it) serious stance, on both the music and those wishing to learn it.
We have half a dozen regular classes (several teachers of which were barely out of the pram when we first started visiting here).
Not a bad situation when you consider that fiddle player Kevin Glackin once described having to hide his fiddle under his coat when going to lessons for fear of being beaten up by his schoolmates.
Jim Carroll