Reply To: When kids quit….. :-(

[nafmeadmin]

I teach grades 4-9. in 4 & 5, all students are required to be in the band, so I get to know all the kids in those grades. Starting in 6th grade, they can choose to stay in band, join the string orchestra, or join the choir.

I do get a little down when kids who I’ve been teaching for two or more years decide to leave, especially if they were good players. But I look at it from their point of view–they just want to try something different, or maybe band just wasn’t for them. I do get the thought, though, that maybe the reason they left is because they didn’t like me. So I make the effort to still talk to them when I see them during the school day, and generally speaking they are happy to socialize with me. So I feel good about that.

I was the best saxophone player in my school system all the way from grades 4-12. But in grade 12, I had become enamored with singing, so I quit band and joined the choir. I’m sure my band director was shocked and sad, but it had nothing to do with him–I just wanted to try something new.