The foreign language can wait until grade 10. He will still be able to get through three years of it in grades 10, 11, and 12 if it turns out that his college list requires more than two years of foreign language. If his schedule continues to be cramped, there always is summer school - he should be able to get take a full year of college foreign language somewhere in summer school, which not only would be equivalent to two years of HS language, but also almost certainly would give him more choice as to language to take.
Cshecmia, I neglected to wish congrats on your son’s admission to UF. Congratulations!
Thank you very much for the advice. I am torn. The jazz band could be “life changing” as one commenter pointed out. He does love jazz band and is so happy when he’s there. While he is disappointed, he isn’t broken up over not being able to take it as a freshman. His highschool has a great reputation when it comes to band. There are many talented kids coming from middle schools. I’m afraid he will get lost in the shuffle when other freshmen will be taking jazz and he won’t.
He will have an opportunity to talk to band director at band orientation this summer. Maybe he can offer some advice as well. I thought of emailing him but not sure if that’s a good idea or what I would even say. “My kid wants to take jazz but isn’t.” At this school they have three different levels of jazz band.
When it comes to foreign language I personally think 4 years of foreign language would be difficult. I am wondering how a student can progress through four years of foreign language, with summers off, and still make the grade. That is my personal feeling only because I took two years of Spanish and one of French and barely knew what I was doing. My kid is more focused than I was at his age. Thanks for reading this rambling and for the advice you all have given. I appreciate it.
“I took two years of Spanish and one of French and barely knew what I was doing.”
My experiences were similar which is why I can’t get all excited about the current fashion for pushing for foreign language instruction past the bare minimum required for HS graduation. Unless the school’s program is truly excellent or the student is extremely self-motivated, there just isn’t a lot of evidence that the student will be able to use the language for anything beyond checking a box.
When I knew for a fact that I would need second language skills because of an impending international move, I was able to take intensive summer classes at the university where I happened to be working as a lab tech. Living in that other country for seven years is what made me a fluent speaker.
He should definitely talk to the band director. If he’s really a good trumpet player, the director may much prefer having him in jazz band than in marching band. Jazz band will be much more helpful to him if he wants to improve his trumpet playing as well.
I still think getting into jazz band at ground level is important. Camaraderie will have been established and there is a tendency in high school theater and music programs for kids to have to kind of earn their opportunities via seniority. Plus it adds an enjoyable class to his day during his first year.
One of my kids is now getting her PhD in music: she gave up a math level and science in order to take theory in high school and, yes it was life -changing. The guidance counselor explained her choices in a note to accompany the transcript, and also explained the scheduling problems.She did very well with admissions.
My kids used Virtual High School to accommodate their interests in the context of a small school with difficult scheduling problems. The school then joined Virtual High School as a member so that 25 students could take an online class each semester. I wonder if that would help…
I can understand your son making a decision different from my daughter’s of course. I just wanted to say again that colleges may not care, and that music can easily end up being far from a frill as an area of study.
The whole thing about camaraderie would depend on the school. At my kids school freshmen are pretty much never in the top levels (including Jazz band) so you aren’t really behind.
Jazz band is listed as 11-12 but a few sophomores are in it. Same with the top level of choir.
Talking to the band teacher may clarify how it typically works at this school.
One of my kids had a dilemma Her senior year. The HS is a small one, with only one section of each AP class. She wanted to take AP Modern Euro…but it was offered the same period as honors wind symphony. She begged the powers to be to change the whole schedule (about 8 kids were affected). No dice. They expected her to switch to the easier band period…that wasn’t going to happen. So they all took AP government…which they all hated. The class had 12 kids in it…8 who really wanted AP Modern Euro.
But my kid was not switch her wind symphony spot to another ensemble. Nope.
I read the band student handbook. At my kid’s high school you must take marching/concert band (half the year is marching, the other half is concert) in order to be enrolled in jazz band. Since my child is experienced and takes private lessons, he could possibly take jazz band alone. However, I am pretty confident, if given a choice, my child would choose the marching/concert band over jazz. He has fun in both, but likes marching band a lot. I will talk to him more after school today and ask him his thoughts.
There are 3 jazz ensembles: Jazz ensemble 1, 2, and 3. Students are assigned by audition and teacher recommendation.
At freshman registration the guidance counselor mentioned that it may be possible for my child to study the jazz music on his own and preform with the jazz ensembles after school. Not sure if this is true or if she was just guessing.
I forgot to mention that this school’s marching band is huge. Marching/concert typically has 250 kids and they travel to Europe and other great places every other year – Ireland, London, Rose Bowl, etc. My kid wants to be a part of that.
I think you should make an appointment to talk to the band director as soon as you can. He may want to audition your son. Again, I suspect if your son is a very good jazz trumpeter, he may waive the concert band requirement given the schedule conflict. On the other hand, he may also need good trumpet players in the concert band. To me, the fact that half the year will be concert band makes this a bit less of a conflict, because he’ll get good playing practice in concert band.
Hunt, yes, thank you. I agree about concert band. I may be worrying over nothing. Rehearsals are last week of school in early June. I will email band director today to see what he thinks.
Life would be easier if we didn’t live out of zone. We live out of zone but are a 10-minute drive to the school. The career academy course is throwing a wrench in his elective choices. We don’t want to knock the academy because we have heard good things and they also do very beneficial and fun stuff – a paid 6-week summer internship between junior and senior year and a senior trip to NYC to visit Wall Street and all the tourist sites. A lot of kids love the academy and we have also heard of kids disliking it and dropping out. I have heard of people selling their house and moving to a zoned area just to get out of the academy. Finance seems boring as all get out to me, but I think anybody could benefit from learning business etiquette, accounting, financial planning, etc.
Our son has suggested that we sell our house and move. We are about to be mortgage free this summer. We will have more financial freedom. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to move just for an elective. My husband says heck no we’re not moving, but I have entertained the idea.
Thanks again for replies. I am probably worrying about this for nothing, but it is seems like a somewhat important matter for our child to consider.
At UF, 3 years of a language is more than enough (last fall my daughter got in with 3 years of Spanish). UF will care a lot more about his EC’s, such as marching band and Jazz, than that 4th year of a language. Unless you’re looking at schools a lot more selective than UF, I would’n’t worry about.
Thanks. College is still a long way off and there is really no way to predict the best course. Just go with your gut. Ive always felt that a happy kid is a successful kid in the long run.
My daughter faced a similar situation with art and language. She took French through middle school, qualified for Honors as a sophomore and convinced the school to let her take AP French her junior year (normally only seniors take that) so she could take more art classes. She is a top academic student and character award winner so she got the exception.
Marching band is musically not very challenging, unless your son is given a lot of solos (which can happen for trumpets). Jazz band is more important, or symphonic band/wind ensemble, as these are audition bands. In most schools, getting into jazz band as a sophomore is a significant accomplishment.
First chair of all-state band is a big deal, especially on a popular instrument like trumpet. Your son is very talented and should do as much as he can to enhance his musical education and performance opportunities. Definitely check out the Music Majors forum here for more advice on high school scheduling and college searching!
I would add that if your son really wants to do marching band, he should! I’m a marching band geek myself and always encourage kids to do it for the experience and the discipline.
Thank you honestmom. He made 1st chair All-County,not All-State. :-). He tried out for All-State, but no dice. I just asked him, marching or jazz as a freshman? He picked marching. While he prefers jazz he is willing to hold off for a year so he can do marching for four years.
Did I miss this? Have you spoken to the band director/s? He/she/they can give you a lot more information about all of the ins and outs of their particular department than anyone on this forum will be able to do. Even within our county wide school district, each of our (dozen) high schools’ band directors and music departments has different vibes and different ways of working with individual students’ needs and desires. Some directors are very rigid, some will figure out a way to make it work.
Some of our high schools have jazz bands that are fantastic because the director loves jazz, but then that director barely goes through the motions of marching band. Some directors in our district absolutely live for marching band and the jazz program is barely alive. A few schools are strong in both areas (all in the same district with the same curriculum and courses.)
Don’t drop the foreign language freshman year, though.
I’d still talk to the teacher. If he auditions your son and wants him in jazz band, he will probably be persuasive.
I agree with eastcoastcrazy as well–at my kids’ high school, the band director was a jazz guy. The jazz band was very good, the concert band not as good, and the marching band (really more of a pep band) was kind of an afterthought.
My kid is more focused than I was at his age. Thanks for reading this rambling and for the advice you all have given. I appreciate it.