Am I silly being miffed that my DD wasn't offered music lessons?

[bringbackopalfruits]

My DD is in year 2, and I've just found out that some of her class mates have been offered violin lessons. At the moment I don't know anything re: the criteria for who was offered, and will look into it. But, I'm just feeling very annoyed at the moment that lessons weren't offered to all.
Is this standard in schools, that some children would be picked out for this kind of activity? It'd be good to know how to approach this with the school (which I'm very keen to do but in a calm reasonable way!)

I would be very unhappy with the 'aptitude test' my dd quite literally cannot sing a note in tune At ALL and I was deeply sceptical when she wanted to play violin. However she can hear the pitch and correct when she is wrong perfectly well. She is also dedicated to practice. Progress is slow but she loves it and many of her peers who started at the same time with far better vocal ability have given up.

BantyCustards Wed 02-Nov-16 22:31:51
Meh, free state school music lessons are pointless IME. If your child wants to learn an instrument then get private lessons.

Yeah, my dd went from total beginner to beyond grade 6 at primary, not that useless.

My2Bundles: well that experience certainly proves that all school lessons are crap.... even if they are taught by the very same people who also teach privately .

I am sure that there are benefits to out of school lessons , but not all families can afford them, and in areas and schools where music is taken seriously in-school provision can and does enable many young people to discover a talent for and love of music. A friend's child was in a state primary where every child had a violin lesson every day. He had never played before , fell in love with it and is a child prodigy . Lessons in school, then via a LA music service , then a specialist provision . Thankfully all free. He plays in top youth orchestras.

We pay £14 pounds for 20 minutes 1-1 lesson at school. Is that so different from private lesson outside of school? Why school lessons are crap?
The time is short and no lesson during holidays, also no choice of teacher, so there are downside to it. But it is very convenient since we don't have to ferry him to lesson etc.

Didiplanthis - yes my DD is the same, a terrible singer, but she has a very good ear for music (music teacher's words, not mine) and is making great progress on flute and plays in local orchestra. If she was judged on singing alone she may never have been given an instrument.

I think the school lesson is fine, but it is normally for a group of children , so the progress is slow. Like DS2, there are more than 20 students in his violin lesson, so it is very slow. But I think it is nice for every child has a chance to get to know an instrument. Then if they have interest, they can carry on learning. The group lesson then need to be paid after the first year, but it is still quite cheap compare the private lesson.

IME school lessons are either individual or small groups (up to 4 pupils). I've not come across groups of 20 ever (and I've worked in many schools).

The groups of 20 will tend to be in schemes like 'Fast4Music' rather than peripatetic lessons, and will be a term of whole class lessons.

In the school where I work all of year 4 have a whole year group flute lesson once per week. Tbh progress is minimal, they sound just as bad in June as they did in September.
Individual lessons are offered to y5+6 but only to 4 or 5 pupils. LAC children are given priority then it's names out of a hat for the rest that are interested.
It's a shame it's not offered more widely.