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My son is taking lessons from a private instructor for drums. He practices roughly 1/2 hour each day.

He also plays each Sunday at our church with our praise band as the only drummer. They practice for roughly two hours one night per week.

Could he get some type of high school credit for this?

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If he doesn't "need" the credit on his transcript, I would keep his drumming as an extracurricular activity. You can't have too many of them or show too much involvement! :-)

 

On its list of 'desired high school curriculum" my state lists 1/2 credit of "fine arts." We have tried to do 1/2 credit of fine arts somewhere in high school for each child -- music theory or something similar. Given his background, having him work through a bit of music theory (and notereading since drumming doesn't involve it) would help his musicianship and would make a great 1/2 credit course.

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It sounds like our boys are doing the same thing. My son has been playing the drums for the worship team for the past year and half and also takes formal drums lessons. I have every intention of giving him music credit for that. I plan to also include a Music Appreciation class for one semester to round it out. As for theory, he's picking that up working on the worship team. I wouldn't call the theory "formal" instruction but he's learning musical notes and lingo rapidly as he hangs out with his musical worship team friends.

 

Gail

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Hi Stephanie,

 

I think he only needs one or two "fine arts" credits on his transcript. I was planning on giving him one whole music credit for high school, not one per year. I thought I'd see to it that he got another whole credit for art throughout his four high school years as well in order to have the "full" fine arts in his curriculum.

 

Truthfully, he spends enough time on music that he could probably earn one credit per year, if you go by hours alone. If you track the hours on an informal basis, they add up:

 

1/2 hr practice per day x 6 days = 3 hr

2 hrs worship practice per week + 2 hrs practice and play on Sun. am = 4

1/2 hr lesson each week = .5

TOTAL weekly = 7.5 hrs

 

Since he does this year round, multiply by approx. 48 weeks (allowing for 4 off weeks due to vacations) you get 360 hours a year. A whole credit is anywhere b/w 130 and 150 clock hours.

 

I don't count all these hours only because they are all concentrated on drumming and thought I would need to include some other aspects of music as well, such as music history and appreciation---which I mentioned in above post. As to the theory, again, he is learning notes and musical terminology working with the others on the team. He's learned to read music as he works on the praise team with the other instrument players, for example.

 

Another thing to consider is that he is not planning on a career in music. Were he planning that, we would be much more focused on music. His goals are to get a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and become a police officer.

 

Hope my reasoning on all of this is helpful to you, even if it may be a little more detailed than you asked for. :)

 

Gail

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My 9th grade dd has been taking lessons for 8 years and is a fairly advanced student. She already has 100 hours for this school year and there are still several months left in the school year. I plan on giving her a full credit for music as she has worked hard and dedicated a great deal of time to practising. Students in highschool get credit for music classes/band/orchestra so I believe that it is appropriate for highschool homeschoolers to receive credit for their music studies. IMHO

Heather:D:D

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ISTM, though, that if your son is playing only one style, or a limited range of styles, and isn't reading music but only drum notation, it would be better for him either to supplement with some kind of music theory or history in order to earn a whole credit. It sounds like a pretty light credit... most public schoolers in band or choir will have put in much more time than that.

 

My son has been playing guitar for 8 years and has played classical, flamenco, folk, and rock styles and has a great teacher who is teaching him music theory. He has done a music history course and has played in public. I will most likely count his music history class as one credit, and list his lessons and playing experience with the extracurriculars, giving him only one credit of music for four years of playing, even though he usually practices over an hour a day.

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Our experience, fwiw

 

Ds took a year of guitar lessons with his dad, who taught guitar to 8th graders when he was a chaplain at a private school in Dallas. Because he incorporated music theory, we gave him a credit (I think we called it Guitar 1: Theory and Practice, or something like that).

When he continued, we added it to his extracurriculars--he wasn't doing as much, and dropped it about halfway thru the second year.

This year, we are giving him .5 credits of Music Appreciation--he is going thru both A Chronological (something-something) of Music History (can't remember the exact title!), and the book, The Classical Music Experience. He does readings in both The Gift of Music and Spiritual Lives of the Composers, as well as listening and writing responses to music from Naxos.com. It's working out pretty well.

 

I'd say, go ahead and give him a music credit, but only one, and list his Praise Team stuff as extracurricular. There are kids that get orchestra/band credit in hs, for sure, but they also take lessons, and don't get credit for that.

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