For the first year of the program, the concerts are organized so that only the kids who have mastered pieces play; if a student has not yet gotten that far in their ability, they sit down for that piece(s) during the concert.
I am so distressed by this. Again, I have no problem whatsoever with high-level auditioned ensembles, but there should always also be a musical ensemble available where you do not have to "pass" to perform. Practice is great and can be required of a student (DD is required to practice and keep a log), but not allowing students to perform? Wow.
I have deep respect for music - it is about as important to me as math or other academics. In other words, I take it as seriously as many on this forum take acceleration and differentiation and placement issues. All kids should have the opportunity to learn and perform even if they do not value the privilege. However, it is best by middle school age, if they perform within their competence range so that they can enjoy the experience and be proud of their accomplishments and avoid disparagement from their upset peers. It is one thing for parents and students to suffer through some badly performed pieces but quite another to have every single piece in the concert butchered.
According to the 16 page letter linked from the article, the "right to squeak" policy addresses the instrumental music programs for 4th through 8th grade. I assumed the "right to squeak" is more relevant in middle school (6th - 8th) for the simple reason that you shouldn't be squeaking by then.
Our instrumental music program begins in 4th grade, but performance is not an issue at all because 4th grade is purely exploratory for all kids. There are two performances in 5th grade and every student fully participates and nobody expects a solid performance from these elementary students. However, the teacher also offers solos and duets and ensembles to any student who wants to accept the challenge and put in the extra practice. Many do and as a result, the concert has a mixture of good, tolerable and unpleasant performances.
In middle school, each grade has their own band and orchestra as well as a school-wide honor band and honor orchestra by teacher selection. Both music teachers adamantly want to group their classes by skill level but the administration won't budge because they want grouping by grade (age). Two or three times a year, all the band groups perform in one concert and all the orchestra groups perform in another concert. The honor and 8th grade groups generally provide the best performances in these combined concerts. There is no "right to squeak" law from the top so the teachers do have some discretion but everyone is encouraged to learn the few pieces - easy enough vis-a-vis their expected curriculum level if they only put in some practice. Some kids are lazy but they are socially savvy enough to only pretend play through sections that they did not practice. Some oblivious students, mostly in band and rarely in orchestra, exercise their right to squeak regularly and play wrong notes loudly to a different tempo and/or rhythm from the rest of the band - let's just say that these students are neither appreciated nor welcomed by their classmates. They would have been better off if they were only allowed to perform pieces that they can actually play. Many (all?) of these students do leave the band and/or orchestra programs by 8th grade if not by 7th grade. With particularly bad performances, the whole band group, not just the culprits, gets to suffer again during the next class in the form of a lecture/critique/writing analysis class work.
