6th grade - music requirement?

[gatorsmom]

Our small private Catholic school requires Schola/choir singing elementary through middle school but no requirements for instruments. There is a teacher offering private piano and guitar lessons after school but that’s optional.

[pinay]

Our district (in CA) doesn't require music, but band and choir are electives offered at the middle school level. At many of the middle schools, they're really the only options, other than ASB/student government. Most of our elementary schools have 5th grade music programs but it's more of a supplement rather than a class- traveling teachers go to each school so they probably get instruction once every other week.

[mom_hanna]

We have this same exact music requirement in our public schools. My dd missed it as we were abroad her 6th grade year and I'm still sad about it. ds took an instrument and while he has switched instruments multiple times, he loves it. He is a freshman now and is in marching band, regular band, and mutliple choirs. He found his passion because of the music requirement.

[doberbrat]

String lessons start in Grade 3 here and band instruments in grade 4. The classes are taught in school and families rent instruments - if they cant there is a pool of loaners for kids. I'd say 1/2 of students are playing an instrument by grade 3.

In MS you must take 1+ semester of music, drama and art. Music can be band, orchestra, chorus or general music. Most kids take music in 6th because in 7/8 you take languages, which cuts down on the elective slots available.

DD2 is taking band, orchestra, drama & PE right now. Because she plays the flute & the violin, she alternates between band & orchestra classes. There is no substituting sports for PE here.

[essnce629]

CA here and zero music requirement in middle or high school. I wish there was.

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[♥ms.pacman♥]

thanks all for the replies! ok looks like my DH is right, our school district must just be the oddball that requires music for 6th grade.

I WISH there was a music requirement in our district! Our 6th graders only get 2 electives, and they must have 2 years of PE to be taken in 6-7-or-8. Most kids who aren't doing athletics will choose to do PE for 6-7 grades, so that leaves them with only ONE elective.

Interesting! I guess our district is super strict. PE is required for 6th grade. As is music. And math, social studies, science, and English/literacy. So they don't get any electives at all for 6th grade (they have 6 classes, where literacy/English is a double-period). I think for 7th grade they get one elective. Our district is well known for being tiger-parent central (lol), though many parents do complain the kids don't get enough homework. LOL

I agree exposure to music is beneficial even if they don't end up pursuing it. DD has done piano since she was 4 bc her daycare (Primrose) offered lessons once a week during the day, and then she liked her teacher so she continued it (I think she liked it mainly bc she had the same teacher who is very friendly and not super strict or demanding, and made it a fun class). DS never had any interest in any music whatsoever so we didn't push it. If he hadn't been forced to take music in school, he would have never in a million years took French horn classes. He didn't want to do band, but it was his only option given the choices and schedule. He didn't want to do orchestra, and he would rather walk over hot coals than do choir (even though one of his BFFs was taking it)..lol.

I swear I am the total opposite of a tiger parent...and I HATE the idea of forcing kids into lessons they don't want, as i do think it can create resentment (this is why my kids can't speak Spanish at all, and only speak English, much to our dismay). but now with DS's first year in middle school i now have 2 data points showing that sometimes forcing a kid into doing something can end up being really beneficial (first was going to a new middle school for a math program, second was this French horn and music which he is now obsessed with). i guess it depends on the kid though. i don't think this approach would work on my DD. My DS though, seems like he needs to be forced to try new things otherwise he would never do anything new.

[ett]

In 6th grade kids have to choose between band, orchestra, and chorus. So basically any kid who doesn't play a band/strings instrument has to choose chorus. There is also a music requirement in 7th and 8th grade, but I think there might be a music theory class option in addition to band/orchestra/chorus. Both my kids did orchestra, so I'm not clear on other choices. There is also a PE requirement for every grade in middle and high school.

[Kindra178]

We just have traditional music class, one quarter a year for 6-8. No requirement to play an instrument or participate in choir.


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[KrisM]

In 6th grade here, they have to have an "arts" class. It can be art, band, orchestra, choir, or theater. In 7th and 8th, it continues to be required but you can change between them. My kids all took band and DD also took orchestra. DS2 wasn't sure about band, but I strongly encouraged him to try with the promise if he didn't like it, he could stop after a year. He loves it and plans to continue through high school as well.

[Tenasparkl]

In sixth grade here they offer a elective “wheel” where you take different classes every ten weeks to explore what you want to take in the future - art, cooking, music/choir, beginning band, computer lab etc. You can also just immediately start with band in 6th. Choir is a big thing our district so many choose that for seventh and eighth grade. My DD is currently in choir and they’ve got tons of performances (including a trip to Washington DC) competitions and a Disneyland performance.