It’s My Imagination

Our Own Musician

My daughter came home from school yesterday and was quick to inform me that she had spoken with the band director and is eligible to try out for playing the Tuba.  Oh my!

A little background.  The school district in Illinois, where my daughter attended 5th grade, begins band in 5th grade.  In 4th grade, the students take a music test and try out on different instruments to determine what they like and what they’re best suited for.  My daughter’s top choices were the oboe and the baritone (euphonium).  In the end, she chose the baritone and, according to her band director and private lesson teacher, was very good.  I was told numerous times by a variety of individuals that she had a bright future if she stuck with it.

Last December she was chosen to play in a Low Brass Choir.  This band was comprised of all male musicians, except for my daughter, and ranged in age from 5th graders to seniors in high school.  It was really something to see and hear.  They performed at several schools and the school district board meeting.  She was also selected to perform in a solo contest last January.  Only a handful of 5th graders get this opportunity and even fewer place in the top 3.  She received a 1st place award, again showing her skill and talent.

When we moved to Texas we discovered that this school district doesn’t begin teaching band until 6th grade, and, they only start the students on basic instruments, flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone.  The band director allowed her to continue with her baritone, but she has been so extremely bored.  The new students spent weeks learning how to blow through a straw which, apparently, was supposed to help them learn to blow through their mouthpiece.  In the mean time, she began taking guitar lessons to keep her music interest alive.

The school district allows a select few students to switch instruments beginning in February.  The students have to take a music test, try out on the instrument of their choice, and commit to being in 7th grade band.  The additional instrument choices are saxophone, oboe, bassoon, baritone (which she currently plays) and tuba.  To my surprise, my daughter said she’d like to learn the tuba.  She enjoys playing baritone very much, so she doesn’t want to give it up.

At this point, her band director has said exactly what I was hoping for.  I will enroll her in private lessons for her baritone so that she will continue learning and playing that instrument (which is almost paid for!).  If she succeeds in try outs for the tuba, she can switch to that instrument for the remainder of this school year and he feels she is such a quick learner that the switch will happen pretty smoothly.  This will allow her to be eligible to play either instrument in band.  The school owns its own tubas, so I won’t have to buy one, thank goodness!

In addition, she will continue learning the guitar, she began learning to play chords just this week.   I guess we’ll know more in a couple of weeks, after the try outs.