Music: Tin Ears in Germany?

Ever since Bach, Germany has been considered (and has considered itself) the center of the musical universe. No other nation could match its composers, conductors and performers. But recently the tradition has seemed tarnished, and last week German music lovers were examining the problem posed in two newspaper articles with the ominous title: "Will Germany Remain a Musical Country?"

The postwar generation of German composers consists principally of Hans Werner Henze and Karlheinz Stockhausen, two talented avantgardists. Among conductors, only Wolfgang Sawallisch stands out. But the articles' authors (Music Instructors Wilhelm Maler, Wolfgang Fortner and Wilhelm Twittenhoff) are most worried by the lack of instrumentalists. Not since World War II has a German contestant won first prize at a major international music competition, while Russia and the U.S., they point out, have virtually a corner on the market.

In Russia there are 1,800 state-supported primary music schools, 160 four-year technical schools, 22 five-year conservatories, plus an assortment of "houses of culture" for workers' unions. Conditions in the U.S. are also impressive. One in six American youngsters plays an instrument, report Maler & Co., as compared to one in every 16 German youngsters. The reason? Most American schools provide two hours of music instruction weekly through the first six grades. Part of the trouble in Germany, say the educators, is that schools do not detect talent early enough.

Although the German study contained some greatly exaggerated figures (it reported, for instance, that a third of U.S. high school students major in music), the U.S. record of musical growth is an impressive one. There are about 60,000 music instructors who teach in schools and colleges today, as compared with perhaps 1,500 in 1920. There are upward of 50,000 school bands, 40,000 orchestras, 150,000 choruses. On one point, however, the Germans can take comfort: all that training has yet to produce the equivalent of even one of the Three Bs.