Current Events > At what age should children be able to choose to drop music from their schooling

(+) Yeah! (+)

I remember, after being gone for a week, that I came back to school, and there was an uproar when I entered the music classroom. Apparently, some of my buddies made the music teacher cry after they were goofing around too much. She asked them whether they would just quit the forced choir to which they immediately responded yes and walked out.

Your buddies sound like jerks.

Devilanse333 posted...

Your buddies sound like jerks.

Yes, but I didn't secretly didn't want to participate in musical programs either, but I didn't have the balls to rock the boat.

I easily could have been a music teacher.

But I knew the modern school system was fucked.
From the stories I am told, including this one, I am so glad I did not become a teacher.

Also: For the Record, I have a High School Letter, and it's for Music.

SiO4 posted...

I easily could have been a music teacher.

But I knew the modern school system was fucked.
From the stories I am told, including this one, I am so glad I did not become a teacher.

Also: For the Record, I have a High School Letter, and it's for Music.

Both of my parents were teachers, and I can tell you that my dad, even though his grades weren't as good and he attended a less prestigious college, had the much cushier job as he taught 4th grade instead of 7th grade. If you do get involved in teaching, stick to the elementary levels. Anything above is a nightmare.

music education is important!

averagejoel posted...

music education is important!

Yeah, but about did you really enjoy participating in those Christmas concerts?

In my school you had to choose to participate in the chorus/chior. Music class was still a thing, it just didnt involve that

cadcrafter posted...

In my school you had to choose to participate in the chorus/chior. Music class was still a thing, it just didnt involve that

That sounds better than my situation.

not every school has a music program

and you can always play your way out of it, no one wants a bad musician forced into it

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

not every school has a music program

and you can always play your way out of it, no one wants a bad musician forced into it

That would have been a brilliant idea for the kids. Perform so terribly that they needed to get kicked out.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I still have my old recorder that I used to play Hot Cross Buns somewhere in my closet. Still works too, last I checked.

coolcono posted...

Both of my parents were teachers, and I can tell you that my dad, even though his grades weren't as good and he attended a less prestigious college, had the much cushier job as he taught 4th grade instead of 7th grade. If you do get involved in teaching, stick to the elementary levels. Anything above is a nightmare.

I assume the Parents are the real nightmare...Well that and we live in a Society that excepts School Shootings as just another part of doing business.

It's pretty gross.

I'll stick to teaching people as friends, off the books.

Music was only "required" in elementary school for me, and even then it was like once per week and rotated with other non-core subjects like Art and Spanish. In middle school, you could take Choir or Band as electives, but they were set up in way that required you to take Choir or Band each year in order to take each subsequent class, from 6th grade all the way to the end of high school. Plus both classes took up 2 elective slots, and you only got 3 slots per year so you couldn't take both of them. I wound up not taking either, which lead to me running out of available classes that I could sign up for by the end of 8th grade. I guess they expected every student to take at least one year of Choir or Band.

Music is more important then some of the other shit we make kids do, like cursive.

FuriousFox posted...

Music was only "required" in elementary school for me, and even then it was like once per week and rotated with other non-core subjects like Art and Spanish. In middle school, you could take Choir or Band as electives, but they were set up in way that required you to take Choir or Band each year in order to take each subsequent class, from 6th grade all the way to the end of high school. Plus both classes took up 2 elective slots, and you only got 3 slots per year so you couldn't take both of them. I wound up not taking either, which lead to me running out of available classes that I could sign up for by the end of 8th grade. I guess they expected every student to take at least one year of Choir or Band.

My high school had me in regular guitar class my freshman year, music theory my junior, and classical guitar my senior. Maybe they were hinting at needing more teachers.

coolcono posted...

Yeah, but about did you really enjoy participating in those Christmas concerts?

In my town you take music education until high school, but there are no required concerts. Starting in 4th grade you can choose to participate in band or choir. You still have to take regular music class which is more of an appreciation class.

Once in high school you have a pool of electives and you dont have to take music to fulfill that.

coolcono posted...

Yeah, but about did you really enjoy participating in those Christmas concerts?

at my elementary school each class sang a song at the christmas concert and the spring concert at the end of the year -- granted, it was a tiny rural school with split classes, so they still weren't all that long.

from middle school onward, concerts like that were pretty much just for band/choir, and sometimes for other people who wanted to do a solo act or something. my high school generally had a variety show in the auditorium on the last day of classes in december where people just signed up.

I guess for the most part, I was rather neutral on the experience as a whole.

but also, education is still important whether or not any individual person enjoys one specific aspect of it

Full_Pokedex posted...

Music is more important then some of the other shit we make kids do, like cursive.

Many places no longer teach cursive.

I had to have music till 10th grade or so. I would rather have spend the time on the other classes, instead of learning notes, there is only so much time in a day.

Devilanse333 posted...

My high school had me in regular guitar class my freshman year, music theory my junior, and classical guitar my senior. Maybe they were hinting at needing more teachers.

Did you retain any of it?

I think music class is valuable time some extent. I was in a school that forced participation in a performance though and I hated it. Although maybe learning that I hated it was also valuable

birth

Questionmarktarius posted...

birth, possibly before.

Ya, I feel the same way,
My Mother was very musical.
I only had a brief time to learn from her, but I did.

JHS and up, it was an elective.

As soon as they don't want to take it.

All kids should be exposed to various aspects of music while young. Listening, studying, analyzing, playing, singing, expose them to all it. Stop requiring it around middle school.

SiO4 posted...

Did you retain any of it?

I still have my chops and then some, but years of playing in metal bands have eroded my sight reading skills.

I don't think it even should be a part of school except as an elective.

When I was in high school you needed to take a year long class of either music, art, home economics or engineering. I chose engineering because music and art had worn out their welcome with me and I wasn't too sure about home ec. Looking back I should have went with art.

Its pretty important for brain development of children so they shouldnt be able to drop it until highschool at the earliest.

Ai got music covered nowdays

Devilanse333 posted...

I still have my chops and then some, but years of playing in metal bands have eroded my sight reading skills.

So you're on a Guitar?

SiO4 posted...

So you're on a Guitar?

Yes.

We used to have a music class every week in grade school. The music teacher had a cart and would go around to different classrooms

One thing I learned for example is for to read a music staff (FACE and Every Good Boy Does Fine)

Through middle school seems reasonable, but that's partly just for logistics. Like schools only have the capacity to offer so many electives and if you stopped making kids take a music class then you would have to find something else to offer.

And by the end of middle school, kids probably have a decent idea if they enjoy it or not. Plus most puberty-induced voice changes have started to take hold so the singers will know if they have any talent for it.
But making a high schooler take a music class they aren't interested in or don't have talent in is just cruel. And they are much more equipped to have a larger variety of electives.
Also every music class needs to effectively a participation class. If the student put forth a good faith effort, they get an A. Giving someone who is trying, but just isn't particularly gifted a B or less feels cruel.

Compsognathus posted...

Also every music class needs to effectively a participation class. If the student put forth a good faith effort, they get an A. Giving someone who is trying, but just isn't particularly gifted a B or less feels cruel.

my high school music classes had performance tests. they weren't super difficult, but it was definitely possible to do poorly on them

averagejoel posted...

my high school music classes had performance tests. they weren't super difficult, but it was definitely possible to do poorly on them

My younger brother's only B was from high school choir. He liked choir. He liked singing. He just didn't have a very good voice (no one in my family does). Needless to say he never took another choir class again.

Devilanse333 posted...

Yes.

Ya, you can get away with a lot on a guitar.
The Piano has to be more precise.

coolcono posted...

Yeah, but about did you really enjoy participating in those Christmas concerts?

Kids don't enjoy 98% of school, if we let them just drop a subject because they didn't enjoy it they'd get none of their core learning done, they'd just be in electives all day.

Damn_Underscore posted...

We used to have a music class every week in grade school. The music teacher had a cart and would go around to different classrooms

One thing I learned for example is for to read a music staff (FACE and Every Good Boy Does Fine)

My 7th grade music teacher had a group of really stupid students back in the day who insisted egbdf must be a real word. He eventually told them it was pronounced ig-uh-bih-dif.