APS - Symphonic Band marching band requirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

What's the problem with that? If kids don't want to do it, then why force it?

It's a problem for the students who want to do it and it's a problem for the school - the marching band is a positive force for the entire school, during parades and at football games and some assemblies.

I see we've abandoned the bailey and retreated to the motte. So your position is basically that you don't care about the preferences of the kids who don't want to do it, you aren't interested in why they don't want to do it (they might have good reasons...), you just want the school to have the marching band.

So you'll find something that kids actually want to do (symphonic band) and then tell them they can't do it unless they also commit a ton of time and effort to something else in addition. And if they quit, you'll claim it was their free choice all along.

I think (I hope) we are all adults here. I'm trying to think of any other field of life where the average adult would find this line of reasoning acceptable as applied to themselves.

No one is arguing with the right of parents to tell their kids what to do, nor is anyone saying that classes like band or orchestra don't necessarily entail a commitment of time outside of school hours (concerts and rehearsals and whatnot). We are taking issue with the idea of taking something that kids want to do (symphonic band), and then telling them they can't do that unless they also participate in something that, by all accounts, many of them do not want to do (marching band). Something superficially similar but actually quite different and with a much greater time commitment, for no reason other than you like the aesthetics of a high school marching band.

What really kills me is that if we made it voluntary we would have a core of enthusiastic participants that could form the basis for a really good, effective program. And if that program was having trouble recruiting more people, they could make adjustments to how they manage it that would help to attract more participants. But the reason the "make it mandatory" crowd don't seem to want to take that approach is because they view the kids in the marching band as a means to an end (the prestige of having a marching band) and not an end in themselves (growing kids who could benefit from a group activity that is well-managed and enjoyable on its own terms).

This isn't a debate; you aren't winning. That's a different class.

Requiring marching band is what schools committed to marching band do. Those who don't have small not-very-good not-very-fun marching bands. That's how it is. (And yes, marching band is an end in itself. Kids however, view only themselves and don't realize this in 8th grade. As do parents nowadays.)

Band and a full orchestra are two different things, fwiw. They play different music, serve different purposes. In some cases have different instruments.

I would think that a school committed to marching band with a student body that was committed would not need to make it mandatory. Just like they don't make math team mandator for kids taking AP calculus. Or they could offer two different audition-only band offerings, one for kids who want to do marching band and one for kids who don't (or let those kids be in a full orchestra if they play an orchestra instrument).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great!

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome.

Exactly.

Kids are always expected to show up for music performances. You don't take orchestra and skip the concert. It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra? That seems like the obvious solution.

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus.

Wow. That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS. Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program. They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program. It's embarrassing.

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.

No. My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year. More than half the school participated at some point during high school. And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture. The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band. Most of the top musicians played in several groups. (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

It's just done differently in different places.

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.

A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program. That's super undersized. There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band. That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.

The pandemic really hurt band and orchestra programs. Many are half the size they were in 2019, some more, some less.

If you have a music student, you have seen this firsthand. If you don't, then you can see it there in the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great!

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome.

Exactly.

Kids are always expected to show up for music performances. You don't take orchestra and skip the concert. It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra? That seems like the obvious solution.

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus.

Wow. That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS. Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program. They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program. It's embarrassing.

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.

No. My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year. More than half the school participated at some point during high school. And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture. The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band. Most of the top musicians played in several groups. (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

It's just done differently in different places.

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.

A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program. That's super undersized. There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band. That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.

The pandemic really hurt band and orchestra programs. Many are half the size they were in 2019, some more, some less.

If you have a music student, you have seen this firsthand. If you don't, then you can see it there in the numbers.

if that is the case (and I think it is) I would think the schools would try to encourage kids to continue with music by providing more flexibility for the marching band requirement. Letting more advanced musicians participate in a band for beginners is not really a good alternative -- you would not ask a kid ready for MV calculus to take algebra 1 again just because he does not want to be on the math team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

What's the problem with that? If kids don't want to do it, then why force it?

It's a problem for the students who want to do it and it's a problem for the school - the marching band is a positive force for the entire school, during parades and at football games and some assemblies.

I see we've abandoned the bailey and retreated to the motte. So your position is basically that you don't care about the preferences of the kids who don't want to do it, you aren't interested in why they don't want to do it (they might have good reasons...), you just want the school to have the marching band.

So you'll find something that kids actually want to do (symphonic band) and then tell them they can't do it unless they also commit a ton of time and effort to something else in addition. And if they quit, you'll claim it was their free choice all along.

I think (I hope) we are all adults here. I'm trying to think of any other field of life where the average adult would find this line of reasoning acceptable as applied to themselves.

No one is arguing with the right of parents to tell their kids what to do, nor is anyone saying that classes like band or orchestra don't necessarily entail a commitment of time outside of school hours (concerts and rehearsals and whatnot). We are taking issue with the idea of taking something that kids want to do (symphonic band), and then telling them they can't do that unless they also participate in something that, by all accounts, many of them do not want to do (marching band). Something superficially similar but actually quite different and with a much greater time commitment, for no reason other than you like the aesthetics of a high school marching band.

What really kills me is that if we made it voluntary we would have a core of enthusiastic participants that could form the basis for a really good, effective program. And if that program was having trouble recruiting more people, they could make adjustments to how they manage it that would help to attract more participants. But the reason the "make it mandatory" crowd don't seem to want to take that approach is because they view the kids in the marching band as a means to an end (the prestige of having a marching band) and not an end in themselves (growing kids who could benefit from a group activity that is well-managed and enjoyable on its own terms).

This isn't a debate; you aren't winning. That's a different class.

Requiring marching band is what schools committed to marching band do. Those who don't have small not-very-good not-very-fun marching bands. That's how it is. (And yes, marching band is an end in itself. Kids however, view only themselves and don't realize this in 8th grade. As do parents nowadays.)

Band and a full orchestra are two different things, fwiw. They play different music, serve different purposes. In some cases have different instruments.

I would think that a school committed to marching band with a student body that was committed would not need to make it mandatory. Just like they don't make math team mandator for kids taking AP calculus. Or they could offer two different audition-only band offerings, one for kids who want to do marching band and one for kids who don't (or let those kids be in a full orchestra if they play an orchestra instrument).

As someone who went to a school meeting with a very strong marching band we had a few differences that are apparent from this thread:

(1) You could do marching band even if it didn't fit into your school schedule by attending practices after school. This prevented schedule-driven attrition that makes kids drop out of the program because they don't have room or need to take a conflicting AP course.

(2) Marching band was scheduled so it wouldn't conflict with high school sports. You could absolutely do both. There were only a few completely mandatory things per season and he got permission from all coaches for their athletes to attend those sessions.

(3) The high school band director was also the director of the elementary middle school music program and he went to great lengths to grow the pipeline and get kids excited about band. He had his high schoolers recruit and mentor younger students. He held events to get them excited. We got to a point where 80% of middle schoolers were in band or orchestra, with about 50-60% continuing as high school freshmen.

(4) We hit critical mass. Once you get to a point where 1/3 of the high school is participating in band, people start scheduling around it and there are strong social forces to join.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

Op here I was just asking to find out if there was special flexibility given for documented other music commitments. Sounds like probably not and DC was lukewarm on doing band at school anyway since she strongly prefers playing with an orchestra so she will just stick to that. No big deal.

Do you mean only participating in the regional youth orchestra? Because ours actually requires that students be participating in a school performance group as well. I assume it’s an agreement with the MMEA to prevent the youth orchestra from cannibalizing the school music programs.

So check the fine print on her orchestra before you make a decision!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

Op here I was just asking to find out if there was special flexibility given for documented other music commitments. Sounds like probably not and DC was lukewarm on doing band at school anyway since she strongly prefers playing with an orchestra so she will just stick to that. No big deal.

Do you mean only participating in the regional youth orchestra? Because ours actually requires that students be participating in a school performance group as well. I assume it’s an agreement with the MMEA to prevent the youth orchestra from cannibalizing the school music programs.

So check the fine print on her orchestra before you make a decision!

This is true of all of the local youth orchestras that I know of. They can make exceptions but not for "don't want to". You are correct that it is to protect school music programs - and it also benefits young musicians who benefit from the various music experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

Op here I was just asking to find out if there was special flexibility given for documented other music commitments. Sounds like probably not and DC was lukewarm on doing band at school anyway since she strongly prefers playing with an orchestra so she will just stick to that. No big deal.

Do you mean only participating in the regional youth orchestra? Because ours actually requires that students be participating in a school performance group as well. I assume it’s an agreement with the MMEA to prevent the youth orchestra from cannibalizing the school music programs.

So check the fine print on her orchestra before you make a decision!

OP here. We purposely chose a youth orchestra that doesn't have this requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great!

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome.

Exactly.

Kids are always expected to show up for music performances. You don't take orchestra and skip the concert. It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra? That seems like the obvious solution.

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus.

Wow. That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS. Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program. They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program. It's embarrassing.

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.

No. My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year. More than half the school participated at some point during high school. And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture. The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band. Most of the top musicians played in several groups. (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

It's just done differently in different places.

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.

A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program. That's super undersized. There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band. That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.

I would agree that the bands need rebuilding, they used to be larger. My kid just graduated from W-L and I'll be interested to see what the new director does with the program. I did feel that the old director was kind of over it (not surprising since he'd been there 38 years!).

But the comment that not having a "full orchestra" does not mean the program is weak still holds. There are some great music program schools in NoVA that still don't have full orchestra but have large bands, string orchestras, marching bands. The separate band/strings groups is just how it generally is done around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

What's the problem with that? If kids don't want to do it, then why force it?

It's a problem for the students who want to do it and it's a problem for the school - the marching band is a positive force for the entire school, during parades and at football games and some assemblies.

I see we've abandoned the bailey and retreated to the motte. So your position is basically that you don't care about the preferences of the kids who don't want to do it, you aren't interested in why they don't want to do it (they might have good reasons...), you just want the school to have the marching band.

So you'll find something that kids actually want to do (symphonic band) and then tell them they can't do it unless they also commit a ton of time and effort to something else in addition. And if they quit, you'll claim it was their free choice all along.

I think (I hope) we are all adults here. I'm trying to think of any other field of life where the average adult would find this line of reasoning acceptable as applied to themselves.

No one is arguing with the right of parents to tell their kids what to do, nor is anyone saying that classes like band or orchestra don't necessarily entail a commitment of time outside of school hours (concerts and rehearsals and whatnot). We are taking issue with the idea of taking something that kids want to do (symphonic band), and then telling them they can't do that unless they also participate in something that, by all accounts, many of them do not want to do (marching band). Something superficially similar but actually quite different and with a much greater time commitment, for no reason other than you like the aesthetics of a high school marching band.

What really kills me is that if we made it voluntary we would have a core of enthusiastic participants that could form the basis for a really good, effective program. And if that program was having trouble recruiting more people, they could make adjustments to how they manage it that would help to attract more participants. But the reason the "make it mandatory" crowd don't seem to want to take that approach is because they view the kids in the marching band as a means to an end (the prestige of having a marching band) and not an end in themselves (growing kids who could benefit from a group activity that is well-managed and enjoyable on its own terms).

This isn't a debate; you aren't winning. That's a different class.

Requiring marching band is what schools committed to marching band do. Those who don't have small not-very-good not-very-fun marching bands. That's how it is. (And yes, marching band is an end in itself. Kids however, view only themselves and don't realize this in 8th grade. As do parents nowadays.)

Band and a full orchestra are two different things, fwiw. They play different music, serve different purposes. In some cases have different instruments.

I would think that a school committed to marching band with a student body that was committed would not need to make it mandatory. Just like they don't make math team mandator for kids taking AP calculus. Or they could offer two different audition-only band offerings, one for kids who want to do marching band and one for kids who don't (or let those kids be in a full orchestra if they play an orchestra instrument).

As someone who went to a school meeting with a very strong marching band we had a few differences that are apparent from this thread:

(1) You could do marching band even if it didn't fit into your school schedule by attending practices after school. This prevented schedule-driven attrition that makes kids drop out of the program because they don't have room or need to take a conflicting AP course.

(2) Marching band was scheduled so it wouldn't conflict with high school sports. You could absolutely do both. There were only a few completely mandatory things per season and he got permission from all coaches for their athletes to attend those sessions.

(3) The high school band director was also the director of the elementary middle school music program and he went to great lengths to grow the pipeline and get kids excited about band. He had his high schoolers recruit and mentor younger students. He held events to get them excited. We got to a point where 80% of middle schoolers were in band or orchestra, with about 50-60% continuing as high school freshmen.

(4) We hit critical mass. Once you get to a point where 1/3 of the high school is participating in band, people start scheduling around it and there are strong social forces to join.

Someone give that high school band director a huge bonus! That's a lot of extra work and looks like it paid off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

Op here I was just asking to find out if there was special flexibility given for documented other music commitments. Sounds like probably not and DC was lukewarm on doing band at school anyway since she strongly prefers playing with an orchestra so she will just stick to that. No big deal.

Do you mean only participating in the regional youth orchestra? Because ours actually requires that students be participating in a school performance group as well. I assume it’s an agreement with the MMEA to prevent the youth orchestra from cannibalizing the school music programs.

So check the fine print on her orchestra before you make a decision!

This is true of all of the local youth orchestras that I know of. They can make exceptions but not for "don't want to". You are correct that it is to protect school music programs - and it also benefits young musicians who benefit from the various music experiences.

This youth orchestra meets on Saturday, which is why it isn't possible for DC to be in marching band. Separately, she asked for permission to miss a week of orchestra for district band and they asked her to skip district band in favor of the orchestra (which she did).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great!

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome.

Exactly.

Kids are always expected to show up for music performances. You don't take orchestra and skip the concert. It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra? That seems like the obvious solution.

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus.

Wow. That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS. Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program. They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program. It's embarrassing.

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.

No. My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year. More than half the school participated at some point during high school. And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture. The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band. Most of the top musicians played in several groups. (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

It's just done differently in different places.

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.

A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program. That's super undersized. There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band. That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.

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I agree. I was astounded to see how small the bands in Arlington are given the sizes of the schools. My high school with half the student population had almost twice the band participation as YHS/WL currently have, and 40 more than WHS has. And it wasn't due to a lack of other opportunities like ones here.

[Anonymous]

Op, reach out to the band director. There are usually band tryouts in the spring and matching band camp in the summer. Some require marching band, some don’t. Some are flexible some are not. Also, it’s rare but possible kids get into the higher level band as freshman. Mine is a freshman doing higher level band. Our band director said no to flexibility early on but has been very flexible with outside sports and orchestra.

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Anonymous wrote:Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great!

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome.

Exactly.

Kids are always expected to show up for music performances. You don't take orchestra and skip the concert. It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra? That seems like the obvious solution.

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus.

Wow. That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS. Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program. They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program. It's embarrassing.

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.

No. My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year. More than half the school participated at some point during high school. And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture. The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band. Most of the top musicians played in several groups. (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

It's just done differently in different places.

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.

A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program. That's super undersized. There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band. That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.

The pandemic really hurt band and orchestra programs. Many are half the size they were in 2019, some more, some less.

If you have a music student, you have seen this firsthand. If you don't, then you can see it there in the numbers.

But why? I'm genuinely curious as to why kids aren't participating like they were when it doesn't seem other sports teams and activities continue to struggle. And regardless, the pre-COVID programs were already smaller compared to other places to start with.

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Anonymous wrote:Your kid can't do everything, OP. She had to pick one. Orchestra or band. Marching band directors need every single student to participate. If the director starts excusing one student for reasons, then he or she has to start excusing other students for their reasons, and the marching band dwindles to nothing.

If your kid wants to do orchestra, then do that but don't try to change the rules that apply to everyone in the band for good reasons.

Op here I was just asking to find out if there was special flexibility given for documented other music commitments. Sounds like probably not and DC was lukewarm on doing band at school anyway since she strongly prefers playing with an orchestra so she will just stick to that. No big deal.

Do you mean only participating in the regional youth orchestra? Because ours actually requires that students be participating in a school performance group as well. I assume it’s an agreement with the MMEA to prevent the youth orchestra from cannibalizing the school music programs.

So check the fine print on her orchestra before you make a decision!

This is true of all of the local youth orchestras that I know of. They can make exceptions but not for "don't want to". You are correct that it is to protect school music programs - and it also benefits young musicians who benefit from the various music experiences.

This youth orchestra meets on Saturday, which is why it isn't possible for DC to be in marching band. Separately, she asked for permission to miss a week of orchestra for district band and they asked her to skip district band in favor of the orchestra (which she did).

She made the wrong choice. Seriously. District Band is a fun intense few days and is a great way to grow musically. Missing one rehearsal is not the end of the world. Kids get sick, families travel, etc. It happens. If she chooses not to do band in school, then she has missed her opportunity for District Band. How disappointing.

Re Saturdays and marching band - she could probably find some flexibility from both groups if she needed it. But her teacher and the youth orchestra have put in some strange, detrimental requirements. So it's hard to give you real advice, given that.