Reply to Recent Experiences at Loiderman?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Multiple kids left last year.  Lots of staff turn over.  Band/Orchestra teachers are not great.[/quote]

Another new orch teacher this year. Great teachers at the elem feeders but not sure what’s going on in MS[/quote]

I suspect it's the leadership.  They got a new principal who everyone had high hopes for as she had been there for many years and very likable.  But, several VPs and multiple staff left.  Another orchestra teacher... thats a bad sign that the last one lasted a year.

Part of the music problem is the teachers.  The other part is what another poster said about it not being test in so anyone can do the band or orchestra.  They don't really do teaching with multiple instruments all in one class period in MS or HS so either a child has to be naturally talented and teach themselves or be in private lessons and/with private orchestra or other groups to really get good.  The bands/orchestras that are good have kids from private lessons and the orchestras vs. a school being that good just because.  We are another family who moved to the private music groups and the difference in quality is night and day.[/quote]

Playing an instrument is a serious endeavor. It's not possible, at all, to be "good" at it if you do not have individual lessons. It's not like a sport or dance where you can mostly learn as a group and only need private coaching occasionally. Most music groups in schools absolutely suck because hardly any kid has private lessons. The wealthy neighborhoods have music groups that suck less because parents can afford to pay for private (individual) lessons.

My middle schooler plays the violin. Weekly private lessons at a school of music for a few years then $100/hr twice a week at a studio. She's been concertmaster of her youth orchestra. She's played every day, except a few days off for sickness and travel, for years. You can't replicate that in any school setting apart from a music conservatory.

So this idea of public magnets for certain skill sets definitely has its limits, especially when there is no talent selection and no requirement to train with professionals outside of school.
[/quote]

School arts programs can be a superb _part_ of the training of a young artist (in almost any arts discipline), but they generally simply can't be everything that kid needs if they want to pursue that art in college or as a career.  That's not the fault of the school, the families, the district, the funding, the other students, the program, the curriculum, the teachers, or anything else.  It's a question of format and time, neither of which can be 'remedied' in a conventional school environment, and probably doesn't need to be.  School by definition has to be a lot more than a good place to pursue violin or dance or digital art, or it's not actually school - it's a conservatory or an institute.  If arts programs in conventional school environments introduce students to new art forms they didn't encounter before, get beginners excited, build confidence and experience at the intermediate levels, and support advanced students in seeking bigger and bigger opportunities even when it takes them outside the classroom, then those teachers are doing more than their share and deserve our deep thanks.

- (Graduated) music major at a large university school of music[/quote]

They are good for daily practice but there is only correction, not teaching of instruments.   But, this is at any school not just loiderman.   But, the band teacher is a huge weak link.  Mcps doesn’t offer high levels of music do families have to got outside.  [/quote]

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