Random Poll of Eleven Days Ago! (896)

[Kor]

First option. Not saying that I liked the instrument (at the time I did, I think), but it was a very efficient method to open me to music and prepare me for playing the flute. I was always a musical person, so it was good overall.

[Stopwatch]

Wasn't forced to play it at any point but I had a go for a while (just generally though, not in school or anything)

[Akonyl]

yeah, I liked it. I'm sure other people didn't though, since I was one of the kids who removed the mouthpiece sometimes in order to make that horrifyingly loud screeching noise.

[Jefufuh]

I was forced to. Didn't care.

[PT]

I was forced to play, but I didn't mind.

Thing is, I had to learn it on my own because I switched into a new school a month into the year and the teacher didn't really bother trying to teach me the basics, just finger placements for the piece they were working on at that point. So I didn't really know much about it.

[aly_angelflight]

We only played the recorder for a single day in chorus back in middle school, and that was it. Other than a brief incursion into guitar chords, we only went over music history/theory and sang in music classes, for that matter.

Oh, and learned the chicken dance. XD

[Kleene Onigiri]

No D: I don't even think we had any possibility to do so.

[Callid]

No, and it was not offered either.
(Why teach children the recorder anyway? Piano is way more awesome! )

[erina]

Yes, but I didn't mind.

[PT]

(Why teach children the recorder anyway? Piano is way more awesome! )

Piano is pretty advanced for teaching a bunch of elementary age kids who probably aren't gonna stick with it any longer than they have to.

[Stopwatch]

(Why teach children the recorder anyway? Piano is way more awesome! )

Piano is pretty advanced for teaching a bunch of elementary age kids who probably aren't gonna stick with it any longer than they have to.

Not really, though that's just my opinion

You don't even have to have them playing with two hands, just get them to play some stuff like Little Bo Peep and Frère Jacques...

[Callid]

(Why teach children the recorder anyway? Piano is way more awesome! )

Piano is pretty advanced for teaching a bunch of elementary age kids who probably aren't gonna stick with it any longer than they have to.

It's much easier to successfully produce a melody on a piano than on a recorder, simply because producing a single note requires no cooperation of your fingers whatsoever, just press one key - not to mention that you cannot possible play a note out of tune in any way.
Yes, they might not achieve the full potential of a piano, but they will, in all likeliness, be able to play polyphonic in the end, which they'll be quite hard-pressed to do on a recorder

[PT]

The thing is - I don't know how it is for you guys - but for me: I was in a class of 20-25 or so students, and we had all of our lessons together, including music.

And there were several other classes in my grade. We're talking probably at least 100 students in a single grade, and multiple grade levels in the school. I'm not sure what the other grade levels learned, but think about just the 100 students in my grade. Can you seriously imagine one single teacher teaching 100 students a day how to play the piano? Especially in groups of 20-25 at a time?

Recorder is much more feasible for that purpose because each student can learn at once and we could all know a song in time for the Christmas production. (Well, more or less.)

That's my point here.

[Callid]

The thing is - I don't know how it is for you guys - but for me: I was in a class of 20-25 or so students, and we had all of our lessons together, including music.

And there were several other classes in my grade. We're talking probably at least 100 students in a single grade, and multiple grade levels in the school. I'm not sure what the other grade levels learned, but think about just the 100 students in my grade. Can you seriously imagine one single teacher teaching 100 students a day how to play the piano? Especially in groups of 20-25 at a time?

Recorder is much more feasible for that purpose because each student can learn at once and we could all know a song in time for the Christmas production. (Well, more or less.)

That's my point here.

I do agree that it'd be a bit hard with pianos, as you'd need an notable amount of pianos, which, considering their price, is not feasible. Getting 30 recorders is possible for a school with moderate budget, 30 pianos - not so much. I was, however, only arguing about the "advanced" part. A recorder is more difficult than a piano, it just happens to be more practical due to price issues.
Though - 30 keyboards should work... :x

[Anaine]

It was optional for one year when we were 9 years old, and I wanted to play. And I thought it was really fun too so I really wanted to play something else when the course stopped. Eventually I started playing french horn and it's awesome