Violin in Elementary Schools??

[tluv00]

Originally Posted by MrsSteel

So basic music, art, and PE are still available at all Wake County elementary schools ... right? And by "music" I mean singing and maybe playing a recorder and such. Is this correct?

For the life of me I could never figure why they called it a recorder. It was a flute for crying out loud, a flute that made someone billions of dollars because they look exactly the same as they did when I was in elementary school and I am sure it's the same manufacturer who has sold trillions of those things. I could only play twinkle twinkle little star and mary had a little lamb but of course that was because I was in the principals office every day for most of my elementary school career.

[raleighjayne]

tluv--yep, basically.

Mrs. Steel--Yes, every elementary school MUST offer PE, art and music.

[MrsSteel]

Tluv, I played the flute for over a decade and, lemme tell ya, there is an ENORMOUS difference between a flute and a recorder. Just sayin'.

RaleighJayne, thanks for the clarification.

[tluv00]

<sarcasm> I left that out of my thread. Sorry

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by tluv00

For the life of me I could never figure why they called it a recorder. It was a flute for crying out loud, a flute that made someone billions of dollars because they look exactly the same as they did when I was in elementary school and I am sure it's the same manufacturer who has sold trillions of those things. I could only play twinkle twinkle little star and mary had a little lamb but of course that was because I was in the principals office every day for most of my elementary school career.

Geeez you sound like my son he couldn't keep his mouth shut and we tried everything including music lessons. All he ever wanted to be was a business man and Lee Iaccoca from Chrysler was his idol. He was G/T and very bright but couldn't shut up and had to chime in on everything. He is a very successful businessman today and gets paid well to talk to people and still loves to chime in. Still wish he had taken the Bass serious. Still remember the second grade video of him being chairman of Chrysler making decisions. Was for a GT class which brings this back to the original poster and having multiple options for kids in school to help develop their individual talents. Viva la Violin and it does contribute to IQ growth.

[findingmesomeday]

Originally Posted by tluv00

So parents can participate in school activities since they are closer, not have to spend as much on gas, kids could get more sleep as could parents, they would be at schools where their neighbors and friends are, less cars on the road polluting and causing accidents meaning less traffic. Oh wait, having to travel a long distance would do the opposite....my bad.

Oh, the horror of it all!

[cry884]

My violin teacher teaches adults and little kids in individual lessons. She used to teach at the Kindermusic place. PM me for her info - I highly recommend her. She's near Creedmoor/ 540 and kid lessons are $20/wk. ($40/wk. for adults after you move to hour long lessons)

[welovedurham]

It took me 6 pages to insert Durham into the conversation? Wow, I'm falling down on the job here.

DS takes private piano lessons. He'll add guitar starting next year, and looks forward to playing a band instrument in middle school. His elementary school offers music as one of the specials, and the emphasis is on rhythmic instruments. I was amazed at open house to see the quality and breadth of instruments in the music room... maybe 25 different kinds of drums alone, plus several types of xylophones, guitars/mandolins, clickers and clackers, gongs, and so on from all over the world. I could hardly pull my hubby and son out of the room. It is my son's favorite "special."

The arts magnet elementary in Durham offers Suzuki violin to all its students. All students in all Durham schools have a music special similar to what I described above.

Our school also offers science as one of the specials. So far they have done great hands-on chemistry and physics experiments in the lab and outdoors.

I believe the "world cultures" magnet in Durham and perhaps some others offer language instruction, and there is a Spanish-English bilingual program at one of the schools. (Ours chose science instead of language.)

Specials are offered in the afternoons on a rotating schedule. There are seven specials this year for my son's grade: art, music, science, media center, computers, and PE.

The computer lab is fully outfitted with a Mac for each student, and my son is already proficient with a Mac (we have PCs at home) and has the "home" row of keyboarding memorized.

The art room is, again, impressive regarding the quality and breadth of materials. They do weaving on a full-size loom, pottery in a real kiln tucked in a back room, painting, color theory. My son is not artsy at all, but he understands perspective now after last week's lesson.

I didn't say anything about the most important thing, the specials teachers, but they are all very enthusiastic and passionate about their subject areas.

I don't mind that the specials and types of instruction vary among schools. That is part of the great choice system in Durham. Somewhere in Durham, there's a curriculum that fits your child.

[sachivalay]

My child who started playing violin at 4 yrs. is now learning/playing violin at Washington Elementary (a Wake county GT Magnet) in year around Orchestra elective. They start from 3rd grade onwards.