The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)

@whart   Thanks for the Snarky Puppy mention.  Listening right now on Tube.....how have I not heard of them?  Fantastic.....  Sammy Miller next....

@schubert, wasn't this always the way? 
Everything is of its time, no escaping that but civilisation goes up and down.
Between the end of the great Greek golden age and the beginnings of the Renaissance very little progress seemed to happen. Then it took off.

With music, its always about expression first. Different decades had different feelings to express. Wasn't the youthful frustration behind much Rock and Roll in the 50's mirrored by a similar frustration behind Punk/New Wave/Metal/Rap in the 70s/80s and beyond? 

I'm not sure what the kids of today are trying to say but it'll never stray too far from frustration, dating, lack of money etc.

Strangely enough politics seems to be totally unfashionable nowadays whereas they were at the forefront during Punk, (and Folk decades earlier). 

I'm not worried, I've got my archives!

Most things are of their time, somethings are immortal !

In the last decade I had one former student graduate from San Francisco Conservatory with a degree in guitar performance (he's now working on a doctorate in composition at UT-Austin) and presently two more are doing wonderful things studying at Berklee School of Music.  People like this (who are extremely literate) are out there, but they are not the ones you see front-and-center at the Grammy's.  They are the ones in the pit or dimly lit in the background--the ones who make it possible for the stars to shine (for however long they get to shine).