"Donna Metler" wrote in message
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"deja.blues" wrote in message
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"Donna Metler" wrote in message
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"Beliavsky" wrote in message
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On Jan 2, 4:59 pm, "Stephanie" wrote:
"Beliavsky" wrote in message

Math facts have been set to a rap music beat. "2 times 1 is 2, 2 times
2 is 4" (but it's much more fun to listen to the actual song). My 4yo
son has actually requested that we play such a CD, after he heard it
the first time. You can Google "multiplication table rap music".

Rap is not music and children should not be exposed to it in any
capacity.


The formal definition of music that I learned in university classes is
"An organized compression and rarefaction of the liquid medium of the
air". An unpitched composition for percussion, body percussion, or even
found instruments (such as STOMP) is still music. And, by that
definition, so is rap.

My bias is showing. If it helps a kid learn math, go ahead and use it.
I just find it hard to divorce rap from its unsavory connotations.
Music is in the ear of the listener, eh?

No-GOOD music is in the ear of the listener. By formal definition, pretty
much anything done with the intent to be music is music-but that doesn't
mean that anyone else likes it or wants to listen to it!

Personally, I'm just as happy that my daughter prefers melodic stuff to
hyperrhythmic. But if your child is more likely to learn "multiplication
rap" over "Schoolhouse Rock", it's not going to serve any great moral or
artistic principle to remove an effective learning tool just because you
personally don't like it. Musically, it's not going to harm your child's
development.

Just don't expect me to spend a music class teaching your child math
facts, OK?


Luckily my children "get" math. They also love death/speed metal, and I keep
telling myself "at least it's not rap!" :-/
There are a couple of musicians in my family, and they are also very
mathematically inclined .