Today is a very proud day at our house. Our second child, Jordan, just performed at his first band concert, after a mere five weeks of instruction on his trumpet. We also found out recently that our oldest, Morgan, has not only made second chair at the middle school for viola, but has been selected for the district's honor orchestra, which convenes this Saturday.
swelling with pride
It's curious how the instrumental programs here work. The band program is huge, gets fiercely competitive by high school, and gets richly rewarded. Until last year, the main reason people would attend high school sports was to hear the band. The bands are always flying off to Six Flags or Disneyland, and even got to march at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego a few years ago.
Orchestra, on the other hand, is just now starting to develop into something that's a big deal. The music is getting more complex, the awards are starting to come, and the orchestra is getting to go on trips now.
When I was in school, we just pounded rocks on other rocks to make music. OK, it just feels that way. Anyway, I wasn't able to pick from all the instruments until fifth grade, but could play a string instrument starting in third grade. Yeah, thanks a lot for messing THAT up, Prop 13. GRR
With the boys, they get to pick any instrument and start playing in fifth grade. They make a big deal out of it, let the kids come and try them all out, and finally have a big sign-up day at the school where we sign up for the instrument of choice, get the rental agreement, and pay for the music and everything else.
Morgan, being the contrary sort he is, decided to play viola because he wanted to play something different. One year in, he showed real talent, but wanted to switch to percussion because he saw all the cool things the band kids got to do, and felt left out. We promised to let him try out for percussion, and work out private lessons with a high school kid from church, if he continued to practice the viola. Sadly, it didn't pan out for him; we've been forced to nag him to bring the viola home and practice. His talent still allows him to outshine the other kids, but I wonder how much longer that will last.
Jordan, being the more happy-go-lucky sort, actually wanted to play trombone but was told that his arms were too short. If you've seen Jordan, you'd know how much that made me laugh. Jordan has never been too small for anything, in any of his ten years. Tonight, we also found out that one of his friends, who is almost a year older but quite a bit smaller, is playing trombone. What the?!? Anyway, Jordan switched to trumpet, and has been delighted with it so far. He practices with minimal supervision, and is excited to see the older kids at their performances, so he can see what the future holds.
And I get to think of what great music they'll make, once Jordan gets better, and they can find music they can play together. Right now, practice time gets pretty dissonant.
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2 comments:
It sounds like their school has a great music program. It's great to hear, given how many schools seem to be cutting music out.
That they do; it's one of the main reasons we chose to live in this school district.
It's such a sad thing to see that they're cutting music in school. I'm sure there are lots of other frills that could be cut, in order to dave music.
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