Well, no… I don’t think it was necessarily the result of a parental urge to make their kids seem cultured as such, not in my neck of the woods. Music lessons in general were thought to enhance a child’s ability to appreciate and enjoy music, whether or not the neighbors were impressed by how this knowledge and skill made the kid classier. And at least one of the kids I grew up with did indeed go pro, playing with the local symphony at 12 and still teaching and composing and performing 30 years later.
But the point was never an urge to show off so much as it was considered an enriching part of child development, and the actual choice of instrument was secondary. My peers were mostly blue-collar, semirural southern Californians, and those who typically took piano lessons were the ones whose households already contained pianos. My sister played flute and sax, I played guitar, my buddy Aaron did trumpet, Tim played drums, etc. The only guy I knew who possibly took up the piano because his parents thought it might serve him well at cocktail parties was Trevor, and as it turned out, they were probably right. By 12th grade, he was quite an ivory-tickler.
However, a lot of people own guitars, but I know few who can play them competently. I know almost nobody who plays guitar well who hasn’t studied music in some form or another, even if they might not have had formal guitar lessons.
We know very different people, it seems.
On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of regimented music lessons for the sole purpose of proving one comes from the “right” socioeconomic class.
I wouldn’t be either, but I never came across that particular attitude in my trailer park. Nor even later on, when we moved to a regular tract house without wheels underneath it. I have no doubt there exist circles in which a solid music education is a signifier of taste and privilege, but (especially before Proposition 13 laid waste to it all) I’m used to it being an ordinary facet of a public school education.
