Letter to the Editor | Elementary music program needs to be reinstated

From the music of “Grease” to Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter”, the Piedmont High School and Piedmont Middle School bands and orchestras performed last week in inspiring musical celebrations to cap the school year.

But our district’s sterling music program is now being threatened. Recently, the school board approved a program to end instrumental music education for fourth graders next year, a move that is short-sighted and will limit the musical potential of our students. 

Learning an instrument takes time, and it requires repeated hands-on practice to become proficient enough to play more than just “Hot Cross Buns.” Delaying instrumental music education to fifth grade means that students will have less of an opportunity to master an instrument, and this could have a major impact on middle school and high school band and orchestra. Students also lose out on all the cognitive benefits that come from learning an instrument.

Current and recent elementary and middle school students have complained about a challenging and frustrating music experience. Instead of fixing this problem — such as hiring a full-time music teacher, asking for parent volunteers, or incorporating other kinds of classroom support — the school board threw the baby out with the bathwater. 

Next year, our fourth graders will get 60 minutes a week of “theater arts” in a program that has yet to be defined or developed. The school board heralded this as an exciting change. While we love theater and all that it offers for kids, we don’t understand why it must come at the expense of music. There are plenty of ways to incorporate theater arts into our classrooms — indeed, many of our elementary teachers have already done this — but there are very few opportunities for students to try a variety of instruments and perform in groups. Now they won’t have that chance until fifth grade. 

Next year has been called a “bridge year.” This only adds to the uncertainty around the future of Piedmont’s music program. Furthermore, this change was made with little transparency and was unnecessarily rushed. Parents and students were scolded for raising their concerns, and there was a fallacy of collaboration with teachers and staff. 

Our neighboring school districts — including Berkeley, Orinda, Lafayette, and Moraga — introduce instruments in the fourth grade, and with regression such as this, we will continue to lose students to private schools.  

With this shift, our district is not being innovative. It is taking a step back in the musical education it offers to our students.

Signed,

Ellen Lee, parent of PHS (clarinet) and Wildwood students
Tanny Karunakar, parent of PMS and PHS students 
Alissa Welch, parent of PHS (trombone) and PMS (tenor sax) students
Eleanor and Aldo Ceccarelli, parents of Beach, PMS, and PHS students
Catherine & Andy Minor, parents of PHS (trombone and baritone), and Havens (trumpet)
Brian Weiss & Ann Dowley, parents of PHS senior (Trumpet, Voice, 7 years of Musical theater) 
Matthew Goldstein & Laura Ruberto, parents of two PHS percussionists, Beach grads
Hilary & Josh Gitter (Havens – Viola) 

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