Banal or Beethoven, Is There Room in Heaven?

Yes, Is there enough room in heaven for all of it? I loved the statement from a recent discussion on another board, that "one person's banal is another's Beethoven." We've seen in another thread that an innocent hand washing song is both banal and very useful as a teaching tool. We've heard the point made that using silly songs in school should not be construed as "serious" instruction. We've also heard that they are pragmatic and useful for certain, specific functions.

The quality of material one chooses for curriculum is largely determined by one's education. The materials gathered over the course of an academic career and in our particular case, Orff training courses, are the basis, the "materia substantialis" of a teachers curricular repertoire. To that core of materials are added the required materials for standards and objectives, all subject to local and state requirements.

Selecting material for use in the classroom is also subject to cultural and personal taste. Given the incredible diversity of music and culture throughout the world, there will inevitably be some filtering going on. The question then is "What's banal and what's instructive?"

J.S. Bach was thrown in jail because he thought the "old hymns" were banal. Pete Seeger cut the chords to Bob Dylan's guitar because he thought the distortion was a disgrace to folk music. Tomatoes thrown at Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." "Banal or Art" has been with us since time began. Musically, we are the experts. Our filters are the ones being used to pass the best of our culture on to the next generation. (No pressure...)

What are the criteria to determine the value of works of art, from the silly to the sublime? Is there room in heaven for all of it?

crossposted at Music for Children