trumpetdad

"However, I'd be interested to hear parents perspectives on the issue of their children's involvement in music/brass. As trumpet players what do you want your kids to be able to get out of their music educations?"

Chris -- I'd like to take a crack at these questions from the point of view of a parent with a high school player looking toward college or conservatory. I'd also like to turn the question back to the forum participants in general.

First, I think music (and sports) can be a huge source of emotional release for kids as they pass through a high-pressure school environment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm worried that academic pressure sometimes forces kids without great organizational skills to drop music (or sports) because there isn't enough time in their days to do music and keep up with their school work, and I think this can be a real mistake for some kids.

So I guess I agree with you that it's very important to get more kids involved in these sorts of "release activities" -- including adjusting music education among younger kids toward the popular styles to get them interested, if that's what it takes. In an ideal world, I think high school students should be able to take an hour a day out of academics to study folk, rock, gospel, small-combo jazz, rap or hip-hop etc. -- if that's where their musical interests lie -- in addition to traditional wind ensemble, jazz big band or orchestra. Ideally, the kids would need coaches, sort of like chamber music coaches in classical music education, and facilities and resources would obviously be an issue. You'd have to have volunteers with specialized musical skills come in to help out -- band directors can't do everything! And obviously, it's hard to imagine organizing rehearsal space for rock bands with full drum kits -- clearly there'd have to be some extreme compromises on volume.

I know this sort of thinking may seem really far-fetched, and that some schools can't afford even a jazz band program or an orchestra. But even if it couldn't be organized as part of regular school, it could be great after-school activity (in addition to sports) for a visionary principal and band director to organize for the kids, especially in areas where outside-of-school musical opportunities are more limited.

As for my question, I'm wondering what forum participants think about the breadth of their educations at music schools and conservatories. Although high school kids can (and do) change their minds, I'm pretty certain mine wants to do nothing but music, and is virtually certain to only pursue music as a career. I don't think a double major is in the cards.

So I'm looking for a school that would allow very eclectic musical education: modern orchestral-style playing, as well as maybe baroque music, music scholarship, new music development, improvisation and jazz, maybe even voice, conducting, etc. I have no idea which directions my kid might eventually head toward, but it seems to me that at the undergrad level anyway, the more diverse the educational possibilities, the better.

I don't want to start arguments about which music schools are better than others, but I'd be interested in students' and teachers' insights in which sort of programs seem to be more compartmentalized on learning to play trumpet as well as possible vs. programs that might be more allowing of kids studying a wider variety of musical skills. Sort of narrower education in playing the trumpets as well as possible vs. a broader education on being the best musician possible with trumpet as a main instrument.

Thanks in advance.