Does every HS require this for band?

[Anonymous]

At Robinson, kids playing in concert 3 or above are required to participate in marching band. Is this the norm? My kid would rather do a fall club sport, but doing both would be impossible. It just doesn’t seem fair.

[Anonymous]

It's the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Robinson, kids playing in concert 3 or above are required to participate in marching band. Is this the norm? My kid would rather do a fall club sport, but doing both would be impossible. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Unless things are changing for next year, Concert 3 does not require marching band participation. Just the higher bands.

[Anonymous]

Band vs Fall Sport is a big problem/conflict at many NoVa high schools. My band kid was sneaking-off to try out for a Fall sport. Told only after she made the team, if she made the team, she should she tell the band director.

[Anonymous]

This is a requirement, I think, for any band at our HS.

Personally, coming from a HS that was small enough that if students didn't double up on activities, there would not be enough kids for sports/bands/debate/clubs/newspaper/etc, I think this is a stupid rule made to benefit band directors (who want the accolades for doing well in competitions) and not students.

There has been parent pushback, but not enough to change this policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a requirement, I think, for any band at our HS.

Personally, coming from a HS that was small enough that if students didn't double up on activities, there would not be enough kids for sports/bands/debate/clubs/newspaper/etc, I think this is a stupid rule made to benefit band directors (who want the accolades for doing well in competitions) and not students.

There has been parent pushback, but not enough to change this policy.

Personally, coming from a smallish-but-seemingly-larger-than-yours, who did marching band through high school, this rule benefits the band and especially the band members, who are part of a group and build a strong and community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a requirement, I think, for any band at our HS.

Personally, coming from a HS that was small enough that if students didn't double up on activities, there would not be enough kids for sports/bands/debate/clubs/newspaper/etc, I think this is a stupid rule made to benefit band directors (who want the accolades for doing well in competitions) and not students.

There has been parent pushback, but not enough to change this policy.

Personally, coming from a smallish-but-seemingly-larger-than-yours, who did marching band through high school, this rule benefits the band and especially the band members, who are part of a group and build a strong and community.

I guess I feel like if marching band was awesome enough, they wouldn’t have to require it. They don’t require you to play a sport after school when you take PE.

[Anonymous]

Mine went through TJ. Not a requirement. But, they still had a large band for a small school.

[Anonymous]

TJ is such an outliner, most comments about TJ are not useful to everyone else.

[Anonymous]

This has been a perpetual problem and was when I was a kid as well. From the band director/school's point of view, band is a course with credits and grades and the marching band portion is part of the grade. You don't get credits for sports. But on the other hand, of course, kids who are talented at sports or just want to do a fall sport as well then have to make a decision. It's hard for the band program to decide whether it's ok to miss band practices for sports practices - it means keeping a kid who might be a dedicated band member the rest of the year, but then misses a large portion of the experience (and grading opportunities). But if you make exceptions for sports, it's a slippery slope and may have lots of kids who want to skip the marching band portion for myriad reasons. How do you decide which kids can skip and which can't?

This is why I encouraged my very athletic kid to play a string instrument. My less athletic kid is doing band.

[Anonymous]

It why my kid won’t continue with band next year. No interest in marching band. He would happily continue if marching band wasn’t required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been a perpetual problem and was when I was a kid as well. From the band director/school's point of view, band is a course with credits and grades and the marching band portion is part of the grade. You don't get credits for sports. But on the other hand, of course, kids who are talented at sports or just want to do a fall sport as well then have to make a decision. It's hard for the band program to decide whether it's ok to miss band practices for sports practices - it means keeping a kid who might be a dedicated band member the rest of the year, but then misses a large portion of the experience (and grading opportunities). But if you make exceptions for sports, it's a slippery slope and may have lots of kids who want to skip the marching band portion for myriad reasons. How do you decide which kids can skip and which can't?

This is why I encouraged my very athletic kid to play a string instrument. My less athletic kid is doing band.

I don't understand how after school/weekend forced participation (plus fundraising!) can be part of a grade. I can't see this requirement holding water if the issue is actually pushed.

[Anonymous]

I feel like they should make kids do marching band and one concert a year or choose between marching band and concert band. Our school requires at least two concerts with practices after school all year and marching band. It's too much. It takes up the whole year. Marching band is much more interesting than these few concerts which do not need to have afterschool practices. Have some special concert band afterschool class with performances like they do for jazz band if you want to do that. You should not have difficulty with sports all year because of band.

[Anonymous]

We're in a different district -- marching band is required if you are in the higher level band. If you don't want to march, you can be in the lower level band. After marching season, there are some occasional after school rehearsals to prep for concerts but most of the afterschool work is for jazz band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been a perpetual problem and was when I was a kid as well. From the band director/school's point of view, band is a course with credits and grades and the marching band portion is part of the grade. You don't get credits for sports. But on the other hand, of course, kids who are talented at sports or just want to do a fall sport as well then have to make a decision. It's hard for the band program to decide whether it's ok to miss band practices for sports practices - it means keeping a kid who might be a dedicated band member the rest of the year, but then misses a large portion of the experience (and grading opportunities). But if you make exceptions for sports, it's a slippery slope and may have lots of kids who want to skip the marching band portion for myriad reasons. How do you decide which kids can skip and which can't?

This is why I encouraged my very athletic kid to play a string instrument. My less athletic kid is doing band.

I don't understand how after school/weekend forced participation (plus fundraising!) can be part of a grade. I can't see this requirement holding water if the issue is actually pushed.

Because this is what it takes to come together as an ensemble, learn about performing, and gain musical skill. This time is in lieu of homework, projects, finals, etc. that come with other electives. There is also great benefit (as is proven through many scientific studies) of studying music on brain development. It also greatly enhances your college applications if that's important to you.

Music doesn't work with only half participation. That's actually the beauty of it - the group can only be as good as it's least invested members. It's an important life lesson.