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Reply to "APS Middle School Band - what's the deal?"

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[quote=Anonymous]My 6th grader has been playing her instrument since 4th grade and was really excited to start middle school band this year so she could play more "real music" than they did in elementary school.  She's not a prodigy at all, but has been practicing regularly for two years and is pretty good at her instrument.

Unfortunately she's been really unhappy in 6th grade band and is now threatening to quit.  Apparently the teacher has started from the very beginning to accommodate the new-to-band students so class 1 was holding your instrument, class 2 was making a sound, class 3 was playing a note, class 4 was playing two different notes.  That's as far as they've gotten so far and she's miserable.  She just doesn't have the patience to sit through 1+ hour each class of listening to the teacher start from the beginning to teach each instrument the basics.  Apparently there hasn't been any instruction for the kids who already know how to play.

So tell me, does this get better?  Do I need to ask to have her moved to a 7th grade band section (is that even an option)?  Should I just let her quit and move to the Wheel or chorus?  She loves to play her instrument but absolutely hates just sitting there not playing.  Once the new kids can play a few notes will the class jump to harder content and just expect them to catch up or is she going to be bored out of her mind all year?  My school growing up would have expected kids who were new to their instruments to catch up on their own, but that isn't how it's been working thus far in APS.[/quote]

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