Instrumental music?

[Anonymous]

At BTSN DS’s 4th grade teacher seemed to be discouraging instrumental music. She kept mentioning that kids miss instruction time and have to make up on their own with the parents help. She also mentioned that it’s better to start in middle school etc. This is my youngest kid and the first time any teacher has discouraged taking instrumental music in 4th grade. My 3 older kids all did it and had no issues and I didn’t get this negative/discouraging rant from any of their 4th grade teachers. In fact they were all very supportive.
Anyone else experience this ?

[Anonymous]

The idea that most kids who are doing instrumental music are "behind" academically is laughable. This sounds like a strange rant from a teacher.

[Anonymous]

This is a dumb question but do they teach them from the beginning?

Can a kid who’s never played the violin start in 4th grade and learn at school?

[Anonymous]

What did you mean by missong instructional time? What subject would your child be missing?

[Anonymous]

They pull out small groups for instrumental music lessons during class time. So students participating in instrumental music will miss 30 mins of whatever lesson they are doing in class. And yes it is for beginners as well as advanced students. Just different groups and different pull out times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a dumb question but do they teach them from the beginning?

Can a kid who’s never played the violin start in 4th grade and learn at school?

Yes

[Anonymous]

It's definitely better to start many instruments in 4th grade than in middle school, especially any string instrument... please ignore this teacher!

[Anonymous]

Middle school does not teach individual instruments. Much better to start now. You have a bad teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a dumb question but do they teach them from the beginning?

Can a kid who’s never played the violin start in 4th grade and learn at school?

Most schools have Beginning Orchestra/Strings and Beginning Band, and Advanced Orchestra and band. Beginning orchestra and band is intended for kids who have never played the instrument or who have less than one year of playing and it's mostly 4th graders with some 5th graders who didn't take IM in 4th. A 4th grader with previous experience would be put in the advanced group with the 5th graders who started in 4th and other 4th graders who have played before. So your 4th grader would not be placed in the section intended for kids with prior experience in the instrument.

I highly recommend it; it's a nice break from class, actual instruction time missed is pretty minimal, and at least in our kid's experience there wasn't as much home practice required as compared to private lessons. And as others have noted, most of the kids in middle school band and orchestra have at least done elementary school IM, so it's harder to start in middle school as an absolute beginner.

[Anonymous]

This is odd advice from an elementary school teacher. I've never heard any teacher talk down about the benefits of music education. The reason on the cognitive benefits of learning how to play an instrument are well known.

Maybe she has beef with the instructor? I do know that many MCPS elementary schools don't have a dedicated teacher, but a shared resource who rotates between the schools. So I get why some might not like that model, but honestly, I don't see how that makes much of a difference since it's not like kids had music daily before that anyway.

[Anonymous]

I think the reason behind her discouragement is that she doesn’t want to do any extra work if the kids miss something important. I don’t blame her. Teachers are burdened with too much work and get paid too little. Why would they want to reteach a lesson if the students miss it because of music?

[Anonymous]

I feel like this teacher has had experiences where students are coming in and out of class on instrumental music day and dislikes the interruption. But it is kind of strange to be so public about it. One thing to give a warning that instrumental music students will still be responsible for the work that they miss during their lesson, and to take that into consideration when deciding whether or not to sign up. But actively discouraging it is... odd. I *loved* band, starting as a 4th grader in MCPS and playing all the way through college, and then in community theatre pit orchestras. So much fun and I'm so glad my parents signed me up to at least try it.

My 7th grader tried it for a year and didn't really dig it, but my current 4th grader is very excited. I'm encouraging all my kids to at least try it out. I'm a teacher, not in the upper grades though, but I have not heard any negativity from staff regarding the instrumental music program. It seems to be something we encourage students to try, not actively talk poorly about.

[Anonymous]

Instrumental music was my child's favorite part of ES. It really wasn't a big deal to miss a half hour of class once a week (but my kid is above grade level).

[Anonymous]

My child tried it in 4th grade and is now in 8th grade band, looking forward to continuing in high school. It’s been a terrific experience and I’m surprised the teacher is discouraging it. Highly recommend giving it a shot if your child seems interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a dumb question but do they teach them from the beginning?

Can a kid who’s never played the violin start in 4th grade and learn at school?

Yes—it’s a great way to try it out and see if you like it, without a huge financial commitment (beyond instrument rental, and most schools have school instruments for families with financial needs). It’s nice if they have private lessons as well, but many kids don’t.

Mine did two years in elementary, then we purchased their brass instrument off the rental plan when they decided to continue in middle school. We also started private lessons when they made the advanced middle school band. Kid is now playing in an MCPS HS jazz ensemble.