Depending on the school strings starts in 4th grade - choice of violin, viola, cello or string bass. Students may begin in 4th, 5th or 6th grade at many schools but a few will not take 6th grade beginners. There are also a handful of schools with 3rd grade violin through the Kennedy Centers CETA program.
Band begins in 5th grade - choice of clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone and percussion (bell kit with snare or drum pad) - other winds are at the discretion of the teacher (French horn, oboe, bassoon) Also some schools will do 6th grade beginners and some will not.
Most schools have chorus on a different block so playing an instrument and having chorus are possible, but you pretty much cannot do band and strings since they usually meet at the same block.
Each school has a different schedule for the instrumental music but most are now having them part of the specials block so instrumental music students gets 1 general and 1 instrumental music a week (and maybe chorus)
Contact the director at your school to get specifics of the program there.

Anonymous wrote:Can they opt out of all 3 and just do regular/gen-ed music classes for 5th and 6th?

At DC’s class, chorus isn’t during music. They are pulled during other times, like morning meeting. All students still go to general music class.

Anonymous wrote:Can they opt out of all 3 and just do regular/gen-ed music classes for 5th and 6th?

Our school starts it in 4th grade. We have band and orchestra, but not chorus. Kids can opt out and take doubles of another specials but we don't offer a general music class after 3rd grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first few weeks of school, all the fifth-graders got a chance to learn about the instruments available, and parents were given information about how to sign up for band. I think band started late September, which gave families time to get instruments. The kids are grouped by type, at least at our ES (all woodwinds have band at same time, all brass do, etc.). That means that specials are based on instrument grouping vs. homeroom in fifth and sixth. I am sure some ES do things differently.

I suggest emailing the band teacher if you want to start thinking about it. Most likely though, you will receive a lot of emails about it at the beginning of the school year!

Do they have to choose between chorus or strings or band?

This is basically how it worked at our school too. It's actually great that he has specials with friends that aren't in his class.

Strings started in 4th so in general if someone is choosing between strings and band, they have a year of strings under their belt (I suppose they could have done nothing in 4th, especially with COVID last year, and are making the decision to play SOMETHING for the first time this year, but I think that's probably more the exception than the norm).

Anonymous wrote:Can they opt out of all 3 and just do regular/gen-ed music classes for 5th and 6th?

Yes. Note that all kids have regular music at our school regardless. Students who don’t do band or orchestra have something called Expansions (an art/music combo — not entirely sure). Chorus is during class time vs specials.

I am sure some schools structure differently, but instruments are optional.

Can they opt out of all 3 and just do regular/gen-ed music classes for 5th and 6th?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first few weeks of school, all the fifth-graders got a chance to learn about the instruments available, and parents were given information about how to sign up for band. I think band started late September, which gave families time to get instruments. The kids are grouped by type, at least at our ES (all woodwinds have band at same time, all brass do, etc.). That means that specials are based on instrument grouping vs. homeroom in fifth and sixth. I am sure some ES do things differently.

I suggest emailing the band teacher if you want to start thinking about it. Most likely though, you will receive a lot of emails about it at the beginning of the school year!

Do they have to choose between chorus or strings or band?

They have to choose between strings or band. Chorus is separate and open to all.

Anonymous wrote:The first few weeks of school, all the fifth-graders got a chance to learn about the instruments available, and parents were given information about how to sign up for band. I think band started late September, which gave families time to get instruments. The kids are grouped by type, at least at our ES (all woodwinds have band at same time, all brass do, etc.). That means that specials are based on instrument grouping vs. homeroom in fifth and sixth. I am sure some ES do things differently.

I suggest emailing the band teacher if you want to start thinking about it. Most likely though, you will receive a lot of emails about it at the beginning of the school year!

Do they have to choose between chorus or strings or band?

The first few weeks of school, all the fifth-graders got a chance to learn about the instruments available, and parents were given information about how to sign up for band. I think band started late September, which gave families time to get instruments. The kids are grouped by type, at least at our ES (all woodwinds have band at same time, all brass do, etc.). That means that specials are based on instrument grouping vs. homeroom in fifth and sixth. I am sure some ES do things differently.

I suggest emailing the band teacher if you want to start thinking about it. Most likely though, you will receive a lot of emails about it at the beginning of the school year!

DD says they do something like sectionals in band, grouping kids by instrument, and giving them instruction, but they're all in the same room, and taught by the same instructor (at her school anyway). Because band kids are far fewer than orchestra kids, they end up getting a fair amount of attention, and make progress much faster than orchestra kids. I think instrument choice varies by school.

Are the kids taught the instrument they choose in a class separated by instrument, or is it taught together? What instrument choices do they have?