Music moms: help me think through orchestra options

[garddwr]

There are some new children's orchestra's starting up in my area, and I want my kids to participate but am having trouble with scheduling. There are several levels of orchestra, starting with beginners (more of a beginning strings class, students do not need any experience on their instrument to join). Beginners is followed by two intermediate levels. The lower intermediate level would I think be ideal for my kids--the music is fun but not complicated, and all in first position. The conductor will be doing a lot of teaching about how to play in an orchestra. The music would be easy for dd10, but she is my high anxiety child who gets very stressed about new situations and not being able to do things perfectly so I think it would be a good introduction to orchestra playing for her; ds8 has been playing (cello) for a little over a year but has just started reading music, this orchestra would be a good fit music wise and a bit of a stretch reading wise, which would be good.

The problem is that dd10 has a conflict every other week with this orchestra's schedule. The conductor has suggested that she could come only every other week as the music will be fairly easy for her to learn, so that is an option. The other possibility is to put her in the next higher level orchestra, which would be a bit of a stretch for her--she could learn the music, but it is really beyond her sight reading abilities at this time and most of the kids are older which is intimidating to her.

 

A third possibility is to put her in the beginning orchestra playing viola instead of violin, she has expressed an interest in learning viola and in fact has a viola she pulls out a few times a week and  plays her violin songs on, but she has not started learning to read alto clef and is not taking viola lessons. If we did this I  might just wait out the first half of the year and put her in partway through as the beginning of the year everyone will be learning the basics of holding the instruments etc. and she doesn't need to spend time doing that.

 

I've been so excited to have a children's orchestra option in the area and would really like to make things work, the scheduling issues are driving me crazy. What would you do in this situation? Dropping the conflicting activity is not on the table at this point.

[Sarah CB]

I have three strings players.  If your kids haven't had any orchestra experience and your dd is a little more anxious about new situations and she's going to be missing every second rehearsal then I'd definitely put her in the easier group.  There is so much to learn about playing in an orchestra without also struggling with challenging music.  I think if her focus this year is just on having fun and learning how to play in a group then next year she could do the more difficult orchestra.  

 

My older boys are in Youth Symphony and they're tackling a huge pile of repertoire this year, including Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.  Thankfully, they have years of orchestra experience so all of the "playing in an orchestra" skills come naturally.  Now they're able to throw complicated music in the mix without getting lost or overwhelmed.  It doesn't take a terribly long time to figure this stuff out, but it's a lot easier when the music is very manageable.

 

You may also want to see if whoever is running the groups would like "pointers" for the newer kids.  In our orchestra, parents would keep a pencil moving along the notes that the kids were playing so that the smaller and newer kids never got lost.  It made a huge difference - and I learned how to count ;)

[MinivanMom]

I wouldn't put her in the higher level orchestra initially.  If the director is fine with having her miss every other practice then I would do that to begin with.  Once she has gotten comfortable with the orchestra environment and has built some more confidence then you can move her up to the higher orchestra. 

 

If I were you I wouldn't make the viola switch at the same time she is starting orchestra.  I think that would be too many new things at once for an anxious child.

[Ravin]

If the viola cost wasn't an issue, I'd probably leave it up to DD whether to do the every-other-week plan or do viola beginner. 

[Jen500]

If the viola cost wasn't an issue, I'd probably leave it up to DD whether to do the every-other-week plan or do viola beginner. 

:iagree:

 

Does she really like the viola? In our youth orchestras, the violin (as you move up to the higher levels) is hugely competitive, and there are many more violin players than viola players. This was not on our minds at all when we started, but just something to think about.

[Aurelia]

If the viola cost wasn't an issue, I'd probably leave it up to DD whether to do the every-other-week plan or do viola beginner. 

 

 

:iagree:

 

Does she really like the viola? In our youth orchestras, the violin (as you move up to the higher levels) is hugely competitive, and there are many more violin players than viola players. This was not on our minds at all when we started, but just something to think about.

 

Yes. This. I switched from violin to viola, and had a similar experience. I still prefer to play viola. 

[garddwr]

Thank you all who have responded. I think we will go with playing viola in the beginning orchestra; we have the viola already and the beginning group will give her a nice low-pressure environment to learn to read alto clef and play in a group.

 

Some of you mentioned the lower competition levels for viola playing; this was actually my rational behind buying the viola for her. I don't know whether she will eventually choose to make viola her primary instrument or stick to violin, but it is certainly nice to play an instrument that is in greater demand.