Jay called his grandmother the minute he got home from school. He announced to her that he gets to start playing the bassoon in the seventh-grade school band.
Jay, not his real name, will add bassoon-playing to his clarinet-playing this year, his second year of band and fifth of studying music.
He loves music and band. He practices without being reminded and works ahead in the book. He takes his written music in the car to work on reading it. He rehearses his fingering while he hums the notes.
He practiced piano for three years in the same way, but band offers an additional set of rewards for him. It is a social as well as musical experience; good social experiences may be more important in middle school than in any other level.
He gets to excel, shine, solo. He competes for and sometimes wins first chair. He performs proudly in front of family and friends.
He drills, follows routines, learns key and time signatures and, to a degree, he leads. He is part of a team, likes his social activity and admires his teacher.
He has enjoyed other activities such as Little League baseball and youth wrestling, but he is not athletic enough to make school teams or to excel at sports. He has done well in some public speaking competitions, but there is little call for that activity at his age and it isn’t as much fun.
His well-placed self-esteem around music infects other areas in his life.
For Jay there is no downside to playing in the school band.
Except when it got taken away.
Jay’s school performance varies from subject to subject. His math skills are good and he does well in science. He reads quickly and accurately, but his comprehension scores were down last spring.
In fact, his reading score fell slightly below the acceptable level on a sixth-grade test meant to measure readiness for the seventh-grade WASL. The school required that he give up band until he brought his reading score up to WASL-dictated levels.
Out of band during the fall trimester, Jay became depressed. Often after school he only wanted to watch TV. He began to describe himself in negative terms.
He told some people that he was back in band before he actually was. He talked with his cousins about the different kind of reed instruments.
He did assignments but forgot to hand them in. His performance in other classes deteriorated. Sometimes he didn’t even want to go to school.
By the end of the first trimester the connection was clear between the lack of band and his deteriorating mood. Near the end of that trimester his reading score was higher but not yet at level.
His parents advocated for him to be allowed back in band, a counselor listened and watched, and an administrator stayed flexible. Now, Jay is back in band and has even added one instrument.
If his reading level in this year’s tests are not at WASL level, he will face the same issue again – will he have to give up band? It puts a lot of pressure on his performance in the WASL, sure, but it raises a more basic question.
Namely, is it right to deprive a child of one productive school activity when one grade drops below a WASL standard? Is it right if more than one grade drops below?
Band is not a reward for “cleaning your plate.” Taking away band because of a low grade is like telling a child that she can’t eat her spinach because she didn’t finish her carrots. Playing in band is good for some boys and girls; music is a language for some.
Band and activities such as athletics and the arts can be lifelines. “Big bands turned me around. I made music my mother,” said musician-producer Quincy Jones, describing how he survived childhood in a dangerous neighborhood in the series, “African American Lives,” which continues this week on PBS stations. Middle school is not an easy place for many youngsters, and in Jay’s case, band has been the highlight of his school day, helping make each day doable.
Further, when activities build on children’s talents or strong interests, taking them away can depress them, as it did Jay. Depression makes it harder for children to perform, not easier. It makes other successes less likely, not more likely.
Whatever the goals of the WASL, and however well it reaches those goals, it is a failure whenever it cuts the lifelines between students and their schools and between students and their sense of self.
Bill France, a father of three, is a child advocate in the criminal justice system . You can send e-mail to bill@billfrance.com.
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