Hi - we are trying to narrow our housing search and have a late elementary child who has been playing a string instrument for several years. Looking over the Falls Church City school pages, it appears that they do not have string ensembles of any sort (orchestra, etc). What am I missing? This seems really weird. I really appreciate the smaller size of FCC and would really like to somehow find a home there, but this would be really tricky for us. Thanks! |
There isn’t one. If you search here you can see there are lots of advantages of being in a small district like FCC. Fewer options is one of the main disadvantages. |
No strings in MHS ensembles. |
Is there a community option somewhere? I fully appreciate the more limited options, but this seems like a big one. |
We noticed this at the time we were looking and it wasn’t the deciding factor but one of the reasons we choose FCPS instead. |
The Capital Symphonic Youth Orchestra https://www.tcsyo.org/ might be an option. They have a prelude orchestra and a string ensemble for (10-13). In the before times, there was Strings Club at the high school and they performed at the Variety Shows. Several years ago there was a violinist in the wind ensemble. That same violinist composed music for one of the spring plays. Last Spring, MHS put on "Songs for a new world" and there were 2 or 3 violinists in the "pit" |
Hey PP I'd like to learn more about your thought process between FCCPS and FCPS |
We were looking when they were young, preschool and elementary. One played the violin at the time. It was a long time ago and we looked at many houses in FCC, FCPS and APS. The kids were young so we didn’t know what they would end up like in high school. FCPS had the most choices in classes and extra curricular activities. They are in high school now and none of them are in orchestra. We have been happy with our choice and their schools but I’m sure we would have been happy in FCC or APS. All of the areas that we were looking at had similar demographics. Find a house you like. What we didn’t consider at the time but is very real now since we hear them always discussing with friends, is IB vs AP classes. Mine ended up at an AP school and take AP classes in subjects they are interested in. They have friends at Marshall who are trying to get an IB diploma. It’s just different and something we didn’t consider at the time when we were researching. |