Can anybody explain why a band just lets the newbies start right away with the rest of the band and an orchestra has to have a beginner's concert for the new kids first all by themselves? Just wondering. Is this the norm for most schools?

You might want to ask the director or instructor about that. Our school doesn't have an orchestra so I'm not sure if this is the usual thing or not, to be honest, but I would imagine it would vary according to the school.

I thought it was a great opportunity for the young ones to shine on their own. There were no big kids to overshadow them and it was their own concert to be proud of. I think I like that idea.

Our school system starts the children off in middle school. They have their own orchestra, jazz band, etc. We are in a college town so they are very involved with the arts. We also are blessed with a lot of student teachers and the music program at our local college is very involved with the grade, middle and high schools. I love it here.

I am under the impression that the instruments need to be started early on. The earlier the better, I always thought. My kids always seem to drop the instruments by middle school, which is such a shame.

I think you are right, luvssound. My impression is that orchestral instruments are a little more difficult than the band instruments. This is from playing sax in the concert band myself, and if they are little ones they would benefit from their own concert to show off and get the performance jitters out.

I agree with luvsound on this one too. It's got to be the difficutly of the instruments. Our school only has a band and not an orchestra either. I think if the band teachers didn't let the kids play right away, they would get bored and drop out of band.

As a string player, I would hardly say that it's the difficulty of the instruments. In fact, I wouldn't say that they're much removed from brass or percussion. It's just more obvious with string instruments (in tone and intonation) when you're faking it.

That said, I do think that it requires more discipline than most other instruments to derive a pleasing sound from a stringed instrument, given it's lack of auto-tuning mechanisms, such as valves on a brass instrument or keys on a sax or flute. Obviously kids from a very early age understand how to hit things with sticks, but these, too, require a certain finesse.

It's not so much anything for or against the kids in either group as it is to divide the ones who are in it because their parents are forcing them and likely don't care or don't practice from the ones who are out to advance on their instruments. This is why most schools divide the bands into Concert band (the lowest level), Symphonic Band (intermediate), and Wind Symphony (the highest level). It can become much more obvious and much more painful for both those listening and participating, when a child is not with his peers in skill level in a string program.

I'm glad that people are curious about these things. Seeing people who are curious as to how and why things work and who are willing to ask questions to find out puts a smile on my face. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask, and if I don't know the answer, I'll try and find someone who does.

P.S. I play the double bass, in case you'd like to know. =)

Well, I think its better for the kids to start with their seniors instead by their own. This way they'll have supervision of good band members. I think that's the reason for that.

Actually, that always depends. Not every children are like that. Sometimes it also depends on the inspiration and how they see doing it could benefit them.