In thinking the teacher is being ridiculous?

[maggii]

At my ds school they hold a music concert in April every year, students who take music lessons at the school will automatically get invited to perform and those who have lessons out of school will have to ask the music teacher if they can be invited too. My son who’s 12, has been playing bass guitar since he was 8, he really tries hard to improve his playing and puts a lot of effort and time in practicing, he’s self taught, and he’s actually very good for his age!

For the four years he’s been playing, he finally feels confident to perform at the concert, he asked the music teacher if he could be invited and he told my son to get me to email him, so I did. I’ve got an email back today saying he isn’t allowed to perform as they don’t approve of the instrument!? He said that the bass isn’t as interesting as the other instruments, and that they don’t want to encourage other students to play it and that it’s not a good instrument for a solo piece (ds planned to have a backing track with the drums playing, which students are allowed). Am I missing something? Is the bass guitar considered a negative instrument?

Ds is heartbroken, any student who asks to do the concert always gets a yes, so he’s feeling very down about it all. Very tempted to reply but I know I’m going to come across argumentative, as to be honest, I am feeling very argumentative about this situation. The music teacher flat out said no, and that was the final decision. Ds was so excited to finally play to people other than me, dh and his sister, so I’m frantically looking online at some local music concerts or events he can play at as he wants to take the next step.

So my real question is aibu in thinking the music teacher is being ridiculous over the bass guitar? Is the bass a bad instrument, will it have a negative influence on the other students?? Do I reply to his email?!?

Sorry for the long post, I’m just very upset for my son!

Another Primus fan here. Sounds like your DS's music teacher lacks knowledge, imagination and is tedious himself. Definitely complain OP.

@Alondonleerie like I said, I tried to post the screenshot, I tried to post it at least 10 times, every time it said it couldn’t post it. Thank you for your lovely comment of ‘nice try’ though, really appreciate it!:)

I was very shocked at the email, I was extremely angry at his choice of vocabulary. I know he is very new, perhaps first teaching job so maybe that could be why his choice of words were not professional. our school teachers all email parents directly, Not sure whether they reach senior leaders. But I can assure you this is genuine (sadly) I don’t have the time to sit there and make this all up, am certainly not a sad f*cker that would do that!

That email is not from a teacher. Terrible grammar, missing apostrophes, run-on sentences, inappropriate synonyms, misused (and missing!) commas... I appreciate he's a music teacher, not an English teacher but he wouldn't pass his PGCE with those kinds of basic errors. I'm inclined to agree with PP - someone is trying to impersonate him for whatever reason.

wow, shocked at that. I'd bring it further, because his wording is so inappropriate no matter what he is discussing.

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Surely any instrument is valuable, especially if he's self taught! Very very impressive! Also, imho although bass instruments (bass guitar, cello, double bass eg) don't generally get the most interesting parts, their solos can be amazin!
Sounds like a rubbish music teacher if they don't appreciate all aspects & efforts in music.

As a music teacher myself I think that letter from the teacher is truly horrendous!! What a narrow minded, ignorant individual! I’ve actually worked in some places where there’s a certain snobbery about the ‘worthiness’ of classical v band type instruments, but thankfully it’s pretty rare. I’d definitely be having words!!

That teacher needs introduced to Geddy Lee if they think bass isn't interesting!

Aye i get that the teaxher is bring a bit lf a bellwiff, but surely foisting Rush on someone is banned under the terms of the Geneva convention.

That email is awful on so many levels.

OP I appreciate your concern about raising this with a departmental head / deputy head or whoever and wish to avoid placing your son in an awkward position. However I still think you should refer this on up the line - you could say that your son will not take part in the concert, but that senior management should be aware of how this teacher is approaching his role.

If the teacher thinks listening for 5 mins to an instrument he does not care for is boring, he needs to be marking 60 essays on the pivotal role of the 30 years war week in and week out. Everyone knows parents go to the school music concert to listen to their children, not to have the most amazing musical experience of their lives. Yes - there are periods of boredom, which frankly is more acceptable than the year 3 violin group or year 2 recorders - in my experience. Actually I did witness an amazing musical moment at a school concert - 12 lads with a music teacher playing plastic chairs - classical it was not, incredible it definitely was!! Your son is to be commended on his determination. And I agree with a pp - bet a bass player stole his girlfriend - tell your son that!

Op, did you amend that email to make it looked worse? Or make it up completely. I'd be very very surprised if a teacher wrote that as you're presenting it. Not least because it's written by someone lacking a basic grasp of grammar.

Loving all the sneering about the grammar in the email. As if teachers have perfect grammar and spelling 😄

As if lots of teachers don’t fall out of university, stumble into their probationary year and think ‘fuck it, I don’t have any idea what to do with my life, this will do’.

The last paragraph looks plausible; the previous doesn't sound anything like any music teacher I know would send (and I know a good few!). I can see that it might be a classical concert and therefore not the right instrument for that particular occasion (in which case there should be an occasion suitable for your DS).

But the last paragraph doesn't ring true with the earlier ones - it makes no sense. If that's what the teacher actually wrote that's bizarre and I would take the choice of language further. It needs pointing out that you can't call instruments tedious and tell a child they will bore the audience.

I'm amazed this didn't get picked up by someone else at the school. At every school I've ever worked you can't email directly and someone checks what you send. If he's new as you say then maybe a word about how to phrase things wouldn't go amiss.

As if lots of teachers don’t fall out of university, stumble into their probationary year and think ‘fuck it, I don’t have any idea what to do with my life, this will do’.

It's not quite that easy, CockyCockerel. Yes, I certainly knew a good few people when I trained who thought "what shall I do with my degree, may as well teach" but the training usually sorted out the sheep from the goats and a lot of those didn't survive the PGCE year. Some, including my then boyfriend, found they were actually very good at it, finished the training and made excellent teachers.
I'm not saying all teachers are good!

That's properly atrocious, that is.
Talk about denigrating a student, not only for their choice of instrument but also for "boring the audience" - SO rude!!

OK, it's not necessarily the most entertaining instrument by itself, especially as a lot of people do have trouble hearing the differentials in lower notes (I know this, I played the double bass myself and some people have trouble with even tuning it because they don't hear well at those frequencies - so of course they don't play it!)

But why in hell's name didn't he just suggest your son play WITH someone else? Why just decide he's not "interesting" enough for a solo - he could have paired up with someone else and done a duet!

And as for not wanting to encourage others into playing it, for God's sake, there are few enough decent bass players (double bass or guitar) out there, that encouraging more into those instruments would be a GOOD thing, not a bad thing! What an idiot that teacher is.

But the musical side of it aside, he's just smashed down a student who has plucked up the courage to put himself in the limelight - that's not the way good teachers behave.

The last paragraph looks plausible;

It does yes, suspect someone is attention seeking and a drama llama, I really don't believe that email in its entirety is what the teacher wrote. It's like someone with shit English skills decided to try to make it look worse by adding bits.

Someone needs hit over the head with Roger Waters' bass.

Pfft. The bass is a great instrument. Such a mean attitude from the teacher.

My son did two years running at Youth Music Theatre and was invited back for a third solely on the basis of his ability to play bass. (He has no music exams under his belt and he can't read music - he still made it through).

Apparently bass players are in hot demand. You should look into it.

The productions are a great experience and my lad learned so much from doing it.

I'm sorry your boy has been left out like this but don't let him forget that every band needs a bass player and they are renowned for being the coolest member of the band x

On a more practical note, I would get your DS some lessons. It might help if he has picked up any bad habits and could get him a great piece to play next year.

At many schools, the bass players are encouraged to play in ensembles and I would contact your LA music service to see what might be available with them. My LA runs bands with bass players. (Junior, intermediated, Senior) They comprise brass instruments, drums and 6 string guitars too. The senior jazz band tours and is one of the best in the country and frequently performs at the schools prom. They sound professional - move over Jools Holland! So he has everything to play for - so to speak. They are certainly not snobby about non orchestral instruments.

DH is a bass player. He reads music. This is an important skill and should be built up by having lessons. It means you can join in more readily. Good luck to him and prove the teacher wrong.,

He is so rude and, just as bad, has dreadful grammar and punctuation for a teacher!

You did say in your op that students who have lessons outside school can be invited. The music teacher could just have replied that your ds did not fit that criteria being self-taught. It does sound rather rude if that's what he said

Even if the only instrument your son played was the triangle, he should still be encouraged to play
Christ, what's with dissing percussion on this thread? The irony that everyone is piling in saying how cool the bass is, then we get daft comments like this. To quote a PP: Two words: Ray Cooper

@Bluntness100 Totally agree. And interesting that whoever did so shares OP's fondness for run-on sentences and excess commas...

How judgmental and snotty he is! Pillock. I'd take it to the head.

OP, if he hasn't already seen it, your DS might enjoy this www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00023xl/guitar-drum-and-bass-series-1-2-on-bass-tina-weymouth .

Actually, send the link to the music teacher as well, he clearly has no understanding of what a bass guitarist can do and it will enlighten him.

And a big thank you to the PPs who mentioned Jaco Pastorius. I've had a real big hit of nostalgia and listened to "Hejira" for the first time in years. DP seems to have hidden "Bright Size Life" though ...

I’m really sorry to read this OP - the music staff at my school wouldn’t dream of saying anything like this! How very rude! And I think he underestimated how “tedious” 50 pupils playing the flute and violin is - I think the audience would MUCH before a bit of drum and bass!

If you reply to this (which I think you absolutely should!), you should DS’s form tutor or head of year. This teacher sounds like the kind of person that emails staff saying that music is the be-all-and-end-all and everyone should drop everything to come and watch a Y7 prodigy play hot cross buns on the recorder. Believe me that other teachers find THAT irksome!

I would email back something like this (note the angelic sarcasm sweet smile. You could also forward this as an FYI to the Head but say that you don’t necessarily want action but to make him aware of the teacher’s attitude towards a lack of encouragement of pupils.

Dear teacher,

I am very sorry to hear that you consider the bass guitar “tedious” as I believe that the EFFECT on the audience would be far from boredom. I would be interested to know the broad range of instruments that will be showcased and what you would recommend for my son so that we can steer him towards an instrument which is more enjoyable for listeners?

DS was devastated to be told he could not play an instrument that he loves so much, however we will of course put an end to this if it will make him more in line with all the other pupils if this is your professional advice; DS and I value any input which will guide him in the right direction.

This rejection has, as you will understand, knocked his confidence to perform in front of an audience and so any opportunity to do so in future would be much appreciated.

I look forward to attending the concert with DS so that he can see a wide range of instruments and varied genres of music which will help him going forward and broaden his horizons and make him a little less “boring” of a boring performer (optional extra - of course parents would much rather an evening of exciting Classical music that a bit of variety!)

Best wishes and I look forward to meeting you in person,

I’m a teacher and have sent many emails to parents and received the odd disgruntled reply but I have NEVER spoken to a parent like that and nor would I - teacher is UTTERLY in the wrong here. If there were hundreds of bass guitars already, I could understand but actively discouraging the bass because they think it’s boring is thoroughly unacceptable. The whole point of a music teacher is to encourage and foster a love of all music and the enjoyment of a pupil. This has actually made me very angry (as you can probably tell!)

This teacher needs to be called out and get back in their box!!!

(Apologies for a couple of typos in last post - anger got the better of me and I failed to check my work! Lol)