People-oriented music: that's what I teach. The essential skill is listening. The music part is taking care that you play what others will want to listen to. The music part improves from the moment the child realizes that he or she is being heard, not judgmentally, but with acceptance and understanding. Of course my musical understanding is backed up with years of study--not just of music but also of the activity of listening, not as an extension of conceptual learning but as an activity in its own right.

I believe strongly that the ear is linked to an intelligence all its own. This remains true despite the bias of current Western culture to deaden it with too much sound, too loud sound, and sound too boring for words.