Jim Griffin for Congress

K-12 Music Scheduling Guidance

The Music Schedule is often the most critical area of support for arts programming. While funding, staffing, equipment and curriculum are all essential, a flawed schedule often results in the demise of quality arts programming.

Attention to scheduling at all levels is essential to program success. Quality elementary designs will create healthy middle school programs, and a well-designed middle school schedule will create the framework for a successful high school program. 

Elementary Areas of Consideration:
  • Music is for everyone. Standards, CT arts guidance, NAfME, NHFS and more all highly recommend weekly arts instruction in grades K-8 (Art and Music)
  • Instrumental music should start in grade 4, and should include band and orchestral instruments.
  • Elementary lessons should occur at least once weekly, and students should also have an ensemble rehearsal at least once a week. Lessons and rehearsals should take place during the school day and may be hard scheduled or designed as a pullout model. *Pullout models work best when times are coordinated with the elementary supervisor or building principal to work around core math and reading time, and other specials.
  • All K-5 students should have Applied Music as part of their weekly instruction, regardless of instrumental involvement. Often referred to as classroom or general music, this is a regular part of an elementary schedule along with weekly visual art classes. Students should have art and music at least once weekly. 
  • Equal access to instruments should be carefully considered. Districts should offer instrument rental plans and scholarship options for student in need. A variety of options for instrument access, including music vendors, lease programs and district acquisition. 
  • Appropriate spaces should be provided for music instruction. 
Middle School Areas of Consideration 
  • All 6-8 students should have music as part of their course of study.
  • Instrumental or Applied Music should be provided to all middle school students. 
    • Applied Music is the modern equivalent of General Music. The critical difference is the focus on performance. Programs often utilize guitar, ukulele, keyboard, technology, composition and world percussion in these courses. In most cases, these classes are focused on student who do not wish to participate in band, choir or orchestra. 
  • All students should have the opportunity to take band, choir or orchestral training with the school day. This training should consist of homogeneous lesson groups (with like instruments or voice parts) and ensemble rehearsals. 
  • Schools should provide at least two lessons and one ensemble rehearsal each week regardless of the scheduling model.
  • Band, Chorus and Orchestra should be taught by certified specialists with training in these particular fields.
  • Equal access to instruments should be a continued focus. 
  • Appropriate spaces should be provided for music instruction.
PowerSchool / Matrix Scheduling Guidance - Middle School 
  • Music teachers need to provide detailed student information for proper scheduling before any matrix is built. This includes who plays what, what homogeneous grouping are needed and any breakdowns of beginner vs. advanced.
  • The design of the lessons and rehearsals need to be decided before any matrix is built. In most cases, lessons can be built in the same manner as other unified arts classes that move students off team/cluster. Rehearsals are often the greater challenge. By keeping ensembles to grade level only (not combining grades), schedulers can usually build these simply by combining the homogeneous groups on certain days.
  • Three music teachers - one per grade / one per discipline (band, choir, orchestra) creates the easiest scheduling design. 
  • In most cases, the design is simply scheduling a grade level for music during their time off team/cluster into the three ensembles/lessons. For every 15-25 students who are not in ensembles, that creates one section of Applied Music. Any music teacher can teach Applied Music. 
High School Areas of Consideration 
  • High School Music courses are usually elective, although there should be arts graduation requirements at the high school level 
  • Courses offered at the high school level should include (but are not limited to):
    • Concert Band / Marching Band
    • Jazz Ensemble 
    • String Orchestra / Symphony Orchestra
    • Concert Choir (Large ensemble)
    • Select Choir SATB
    • Select Choir SSA
    • Music Theory (possible AP)
    • Guitar
    • Piano 
    • Music Technology (STEM)
  • Students should have the opportunity to take music ensembles each year of high school. In most cases students should have the opportunity to engage in multiple ensembles. 
  • Where applicable, accelerated ensembles should be considered, to allow student to achieve the proper course credit and not have academic classes negatively impact GPA
  • Schools should work to support arts and athletics, so students are able to participate in both. 
PowerSchool / Matrix Scheduling Guidance - High School 
  • Ensemble courses should not be scheduled against AP or singleton courses. Ensembles often have large numbers of high achieving students. 
  • Ensembles can be a major benefit to a schedule if considered appropriately. Music ensembles are the only course in the school not bound by normal course capacity limits. In fact, many music teachers are specifically requesting a large group during one period. This can often reduce class sizes in other areas significantly. 
  • Music groups use large instruments and rehearse in large spaces. Attention should be paid to what they are scheduled against and what rooms are used when ensembles are in session.