Parents Don't Want Violins Switched for Glockenspiels

Piedmont parents are rallying against the school district's decision to make changes to the fourth grade instrumental music program.

Fourth grade has historically been when Piedmont students get their hands on orchestral instruments for the first time. In three-month rotations, fourth graders have been getting weekly lessons in flute and clarinet, violin and cello, and trumpet and trombone, before choosing whether they want to continue with one of those instruments or specialize in vocal music in fifth grade.

Next year, the school district plans to replace those half-hour sessions with the Orff-Schulwerk program, which teaches music theory and notation using xylophones, recorders, and other simple instruments. In the spring, fifth graders will demonstrate the three orchestral instrument groups for fourth graders who will then have a chance to hold and try out the instruments to decide their musical focus for the next year.

In a message published in elementary school newsletters last week, the district administration said with Orff-Schulwerk, "children would arrive in fifth grade with a selected instrument, a stronger background in note reading, understanding of rhythm, and more experience playing and performing together." 

In a rallying cry emailed to parents Saturday, Stella Ngai and Regina del Rosario Chan, both parents of third graders at Wildwood Elementary School, objected to the Orff-Schulwerk program as a "method usually used for children under six."

Ngai and del Rosario Chan are declaring Friday, June 3, "Save the 4th Grade Instrument Program Day". They are asking parents to send their kids to school wearing campaign t-shirts and carrying letters for their principals asking that the music program be kept as is.