I have been teaching recorder in an after school program and we are all
'volunteers'. When it comes time for the recital, we prepare pieces the =
whole
class can play together and I've never had a kid sit out on these. I =
encourage
them to play a solo or duet with a friend and have to limit the number =
of these
to one each. I've been doing this for 6 years and have only had one or =
two
refuse to do a solo. I can see that if you have a whole class involved =
who have
not 'volunteered' to be in it, there will be a lot more who would rather =
not
perform. I guess I would suggest that you invite everyone to play, but =
don't
force it. Best, Sue


On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 06:06:15 -0500 (CDT), you wrote:

>I am teaching recorders currently to fourth and fifth grade students (we
>just started in January). I am new to this school system and this is the
>first year of recorders for both of these grade levels. I am planning on=
a
>recorder concert for fifth grade only (I think), at the end of the =
school
>year. I teach recorders only during their music class time; there is no
>extra recorder ensemble (yet). Many of the student's are really picking =
up
>quickly. However there are several in each class who are just not doing =
so
>well.
>
>Of course I would like the concert to sound good. So here's my question.
>Do any of you have concerts where only some of the students from a class
>perform (besides a special group)? I would like to invite all of the
>students to participate, however I'm not sure that I want to make it
>mandatory. I know there are some that would not play the songs (at least
>recognizable) and absolutely hate performances. And many of the students
>have prior commitments (sports, dance, other lessons) which might =
conflict
>and keep them from coming. I don't know whether to send home a note =
simply
>asking for those who want to participate to return a form stating so, or
>what!?
>
>What are your thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!
>