Students in today’s secondary schools often have a myriad of different courses to choose from each year. As a band director, I admit that I am certainly biased, but I believe that enrolling your son or daughter in the band, orchestra, or choir at school has many incredible benefits. One of these benefits, in the form of a macro-level life lesson, is the ability to collaborate.
Collaboration as the Goal
Picture this scenario in your head: a 5th-grade student is able to make it all the way through elementary school partaking in the occasional group project but mostly keeping to him/herself. He or she completes the work required of them, goes home after school, and repeats the next day. Then, when they arrive at band/orchestra/choir class the next year, suddenly this student is thrown into an environment where collaboration is the entire goal of the course.
Students in this course are no longer working for their own good grade, but rather for the good of the entire group. Decisions are constantly being made in each student’s mind: how will my sound benefit the rest of the group? How can I improve our sound together? These are often new concepts for middle school-aged students.
Striving for Excellence
Not only do students have to operate in a way that lifts everyone up, but the stakes for accuracy and performance are often much higher. Generally, a 90% or higher on a math test is considered a “good grade”; an “A”! However, a student playing or singing 90% of the right notes will not result in a good performance! Check out this video of a school band demonstrating this concept.
Music in schools allows students the opportunity to contribute to something that is larger than themselves, where they truly must achieve together. This is the only way that quality music will continue, and we will continue to see lives changed through this avenue! Please, if you have ever considered whether or not to enroll your student in a music course at school… CHOOSE MUSIC!
And don’t forget to augment your in-class music experience with private lessons from one of our awesome instructors!
- Tyler Long, Music Instructor at Vibe Music Academy
