Classical music or Popular music

There is some controversy among piano teachers about whether or not it's appropriate for children to learn to play the piano using methodologies that don't specifically provide classical music preparation. Musical Moments (Adults), Way Cool Keyboarding (pre-teens and teens), Way Cool Keyboarding 4 kids (7-9 year-olds) and the tunes in www.willbailypianotunes.com are all RMM (Recreational Music Making) materials created to teach people to play in a style that is more aesthetically relevant. When we teach reading to children we prepare them by motivating them. "Super Fudge" and "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume, "How to Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell, anything by R.L. Stine and, of course, the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling. I wonder how many kids who've read and loved these books will ever read Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Many, perhaps. Hopefully, they'll be prepared. Whatever the case, they've learned to read because they were motivated by what was interesting, fun and relevant to them. We wish the same for our RMM students. Our goal is prepare them to play the music they want to play by learning to read music and learning to play by chords. Some want to play country tunes, some swing tunes from the '40s, some classic rock, some of the kids like whatever is popular 10 minutes ago, some like contemporary christian music, and yes, some like classical music. It is our goal as RMM facilitators to guide our students, as they prepare themselves to play the music THEY LOVE!