Feeling fed up... Why bother learning an instrument in ptimary school to drop it in year 7?

I think the money has to be a big part of it.

Here you can have a free instrument for the first year, but after that you have to buy your own. Lots of children give up after that first year as either their parents can't afford to buy an instrument or they don't feel that their child is sufficiently committed to warrant buying one.

We were fairly lucky that DS2 and DD's instruments weren't too expensive to buy. DS2's trumpet was bought through the county music service (I think they get bulk buy discounts) and cost about £115, DD's violin was second hand from the music shop and cost £55. They are 9 and 7 and really enjoy music, playing in County Wind Band and Strings Ensemble, so I hope they'll carry on to secondary.

DS1 is 11 and has played the piano since he was 7, but has taken up the violin too this year as he fancies trying an orchestral instrument. He is taking advantage of the fact that he can get the instrument for free for a year. I don't know whether he'll carry on when he goes to secondary next year, it is too early to tell yet.

SoWhat, the complete opposite of what you say is true for us. My DD (12) plays Suzuki violin and she's been doing vibrato for a couple of years now. She has great tone and poise and has always made a lovely sound. She plays in an orchestra, has group lessons once a month and has even played in a Suzuki organised fiddle workshop. She's busked at Christmas for charity and played at the RFH and Snape Maltings. Oh and she's a music scholar. I'm sorry that your teacher did you (and the Suzuki method) such a disservice.

SoWhat there's nothing stopping you getting into playing folk now, surely? My MiL is 60 and has weekly folk fiddle lessons.

Has anyone had the pleasure of themselves or their children learning the violin by the Suzuki method? Fine for kids of 4 (and what it was designed for) but soul-destroying for children from 7 up. I was 'taught' by one of the foremost Suzuki specialists of the time. The main activity was playing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' in a number of variations. No effort was made to train us to make a pleasant noise. Learning the vibrato technique (the way of wobbling your wrist and the finger on the string to get the violin to sing) was never mentioned. Lessons at school were individual then, but only consisted of playing scales (badly) for half an hour.

Somehow I eventually scraped through Grade 5. Goodness knows how low the standards must have been, because I sounded like shit.

Unfortunately it wasn't until I was 21 that I was exposed to Irish music, that I discovered was really exciting, that I'd really like to have been able to play it, and that I would have been able to play with people in pubs etc all my life and used it to have a great time musically and socially.

Ten wasted years, just to spend my twenties watching other people who had had the chance to choose non-orchestral instruments and were taught properly, playing in bands and having fun, while I sat there being 'the lead guitarist's girlfriend', too embarrassed to get up and have a go myself because I after all that 'tuition', I just wasn't good enough.

My prominent Suzuki teacher died a few years ago, and got a wonderful obituary in the paper. I read it and spat.

DSS1 did violin and DSS2 did guitar. DSS1 didn't carry on for long because playing a violin on your own is awful. DSS2 managed several years but he has no voice so his enthusiasm waned at his failure to perform in public as he imagined!

That must be why I am so lousy at music.

Dd got to grade 3 on her primary school lessons but we haven't heard anything about when her lessons will start in y7. I'm feeling a bit frustrated. May try emailing the music dept. this weekend.

I don't know how music lessons will work well, Dd has to remember a different timeslot each week for her lesson. I'd rather she went private but she's keen to still do it thru school.

Can't comment about quitting; I'd say most violin kids simply lost interest or wouldn't practice regularly so their parents didn't want to pay any more, by y3-4. Nothing to do with workloads, computers or other exC activities.

I agree stillenacht - music is an academic
discipline with all sorts of cross-disciplinary and transferable skill benefits in addition to the pure joy of it.

Music is however extremely expensive to teach... Which is why state funded education has such a hard time supporting it.

I agree with word factory, that many children start lots of hobbies when they're little, but as they get older, the commitments for all the hobbies naturally increases. So, children have to make a decision about which ones they want to commit to. And the others fall by the wayside.

My DD started gym, 1 hour a week, ballet tap and modern1 hour a week and swimming 1/2 hour a week. Over the years this has increased - gym is now at 18 hours, ballet has become 2 hours (but that includes dropping the tap) and swimming has fallen by the wayside.

Even if she didn't compete at gym, the hours naturally increase. They start with a half hour lesson, but this can turn into a two hour plus lesson when they're older.

As children get older, and better at their hobbies, the demands upon them increases and they have to choose. My daughter also learns the flute (she's year 5). It's manageable at the moment, as she doesn't get a lot of homework. But when she goes to secondary and her homework increases, she'll have to make decisions about which of the three hobbies (gym / ballet / flute) she wants to commit to and which ones she'll give up. Unfortunately, you can't do all the extra curricular stuff with all the extra homework at secondary school.

Personally, I'd prefer to see less homework, and more children doing extra curricular like music. And I'm a teacher too .

In France DC can get extra points on their bac for music, art and other extra-curricular activities as an incentive to parents not to give up on those (costly) extras.

You know what - the LAs are very anxious about the tutoring effect and want to put a stop to it. This would give a great incentive to the kind of parent happy to shell out for extra-curricular to divert their cash to music (useful) rather than 11+ tutoring (redundant). Suggest it to them!

Here in France there isn't the concept of school orchestra (or very rarely), but the conservatoires do a good job of getting DC to play together. Some DC seem to spend all Wednesday and all weekend playing instruments and doing the requisite accompanying music theory, choral singing, voice and dance.

I am fully with you in that I think that to learn an instrument properly is a wonderful thing, but I think there are so many competing activities for time and budget. If 11+ tutoring is what is getting in the way, that is indeed a tragedy. Maybe musical proficiency ought to add points to the 11+?

Yep Bonsoir - my DDs play and sing together and their friends do too... been treated to Passenger - "Let her go" on many occasions lately with their friends round.. I think there is a Y8 "talent" contest coming up.....

and they are all into Harry Potter too. Tonight's lesson was fab with "Professor Umbridge" and "Hedwig's theme" being chosen as their new pieces...

( I think sometimes the "fun" gets forgotten in the exam chasing - so we are having a sabbatical from all that til next summer)

Piano is fun - DD's best friend does piano too, and other friends, so they practice and sing when they go to one another's houses.

It may depend on the area then. Sometimes they have 90 applications for music scholarships at one of our local academic private schools. That is applications of scholarships, not number of children playing instruments, never mind the Chinese requirement that the child plays the violin and/or piano to super human levels which accounts for a good proportion too. Another has over 500 pupils a week having lessons.

Did the DC at your school do tutoring for the 11+?

I would hazard a guess that many families' budgets for extra-curricular activities are severely eroded by tutoring for the 11+. And DCs' time.

My dd is in Y6 and plays viola, we're hoping to keep going to secondary but the music service is consulting on the second huge hike in prices in as many years for everyone except those on free school dinners. I think the summer holidays are tricky too, there is a huge gap between lessons, that's a lot of self motivation needed.

60 years ago a home would be more likely to have a piano as there were very few tvs so they made their own entertainment.

and eee bah eck I am a northerner and I LOVE a brass band. My first boyfriend's school had a brass band and it was very cool to be in it. One bar of the floral dance and I'm right back in 1978

Do you know I am gutted about this too

My 11 year old is grade 4 piano and I would love her to learn another instrument at secondary school but I simply cannot afford it. I have two kids - music lessons cost me 400 a term as it is!

I wish it was different as I think shed be fab on a woodwind instrument - I wrote to the school about it but nothing helpful back