Well, on a cynical level, I get paid per hour.
I agree re: today's students. The level of skills with which they arrive gets lower every year. When I took A-Levels, we were having aural tests every week and could take 3 part dictation by the end of it, we did Bach chorales to reasonably competent level, and had a grounding in music history from Monteverdi to Stockhausen (a bit sketchy at both ends, but fairly good in the middle). Also, we did keyboard harmony.
Nowadays we're lucky if students can tell if one note is higher than another, that they can read musical notation let alone write it (you wouldn't believe some of the mistakes that we have), and have heard of such an obscure composer as Monteverdi.
That's just the skills part. Each year's intake does, on average, seem less able to take care of themselves (look things up, take notes in the lecture for goodness sake!, experiment) than the last. Where's it all going to lead?
I'm possibly in the wrong thread here.
We're going to have to either have a foundation year or demand something like Grade 8 theory for applicants in the future as far as I can see. We can't continue to teach the sort of course that we are teaching if the level gets any lower. That way leads to a whole generation of students who can write about (books about) music but can't
hear anything.
Oh well, as my supervisor says, not my pig, not my farm.
