Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.

Every school decides its core subjects. At my alma mater, it was Latin, which also is an academic discipline with national and state standards. Every student had to take Latin in addition to a foreign language. The school also did not have a band or orchestra at all. It’s ranked one of the top 10 all girl’s schools in the country. I still went to all-state.

My school requires Latin and music/band. Obviously also English, history, math, science, art, foreign language, and PE. I'm curious what other subjects people see treated as core.
What is replacing music at other schools?

Ha. My all-girl’s school had a required dance class that a student could under zero circumstances be excused from.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.

Every school decides its core subjects. At my alma mater, it was Latin, which also is an academic discipline with national and state standards. Every student had to take Latin in addition to a foreign language. The school also did not have a band or orchestra at all. It’s ranked one of the top 10 all girl’s schools in the country. I still went to all-state.

My school requires Latin and music/band. Obviously also English, history, math, science, art, foreign language, and PE. I'm curious what other subjects people see treated as core.
What is replacing music at other schools?

Anonymous wrote:At our local public (DCPS) band is offered before school as an activity starting in 4th.

Hm, our DCPS had no instrumental at all. Even middle school was an after school club but only in years when they could get a volunteer to run it.

3rd grade at our private

At our local public (DCPS) band is offered before school as an activity starting in 4th.

No band, but orchestra starts in 3rd. It's mandatory, replacing the regular music class. They play better than you would expect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.

Yes, and schools teach it. That doesn't mean there will be enough talent for the kind of accolades OP wants.

Starting band in 6th is ridiculous. I went to a crap middle school in the middle of nowhere where half the girls did drugs or got pregnant in high school. They actually opened a nursery program on the high school to keep kids in school to graduate. And we started band in 6th. I would expect privates to offer SOME musical education beyond music general music class.

Our current public in a good neighborhood and virtually no FARMS offers band in 4th, orchestra in 3rd. I don’t know about band, but I believe orchestra kids get private lessons once a week during the day, and group practice is once or twice a week before school. So it doesn’t cut too much into academic work and doesn’t interfere with other after school extracurriculars.

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

Yes, it actually is difficult. Since most public schools and some private schools have band as a core elective or arts class, it’s rare to see band as an after-school community-based extracurricular. Orchestra and string ensembles as extracurriculars are more common since children start string instruments earlier and schools often don’t teach them at a high enough level to satisfy students’ needs.

ADW schools start in 4th:

https://www.adwband.com/

It's optional and at additional expense. It's a great program and it's great that it's an option for the kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.

FWIW our private, which does band as an after school activity in elementary, points out that every time you add a subject, you have to take time away from something else. They are very careful about what they will add during the academic day to guard their ability to teach everything they want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.

Every school decides its core subjects. At my alma mater, it was Latin, which also is an academic discipline with national and state standards. Every student had to take Latin in addition to a foreign language. The school also did not have a band or orchestra at all. It’s ranked one of the top 10 all girl’s schools in the country. I still went to all-state.

My kid had music in elem but band was offered as an after school program for an extra cost.
Now she’s in the MS at the school ( K-8) it’s an optional elective. If chosen they do it twice a week for a semester. My kid has never chosen it.

Meh. If you want your kid to learn to play an instrument, private lessons are the way to go.

Anonymous wrote:Is it hard to find an extracurricular band that meets twice a week? It seems like making a mountain out of a molehill to try to force an entire school onto your preferred band schedule when there are probably mixed feelings in the parent community. One of my kids is heavily involved in taekwondo. I’m sure many parents would like it offered in school. But it’s unrealistic to expect every school offer every enrichment.

But music (band as a component) is a core subject with national and state standards. It’s not an activity, it’s an academic discipline.