Your Child's Precious Music Time

This year is a music study year in District 11.  That means we are taking a look at our curriculum and asking important questions about what works, what is important, and what we would like to change.  At the first meeting, we discussed music instructional time across the District.  Here's what we discovered:

There is currently:
36 hours a year for elementary instruction
75 hours a year for middle
150 hours a year for grade 8
255 hours a year for HS

In one year of high school there is more instruction than in 5 years of elementary.  One year of instruction in grade 8 is as much as 4 years of elementary. These numbers are amazing!  Imagine trying to teach a subject in a little less than a 40 hour work week.  As I told the kids, I see you as much the entire year as your classroom teacher gets to see you every week.