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The Elementary Instrumental Music Program was adopted in Poway Unified in 1968.  In its original inception and implementation, it was comprised of two distinct components.  The primary component was the Fifth Grade Instrumental Music Program.  This program was much the same as it is today.  It was a curricular program in which students who were participating in the program were "pulled out" of their regular fifth grade classroom to receive instrumental music instruction from a credentialed music teacher.  The instruments offered for instruction in 1968 were the same as those that are currently offered. Those instruments are: flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, and some instances, cello, viola, oboe, French horn, baritone, bass clarinet, tenor sax and even harp. The second component of the Elementary Instrumental Music Program was a Fourth Grade Music Program which had every single fourth grader in the district receiving instruction in the fundamentals of music from a credentialed music teacher.  As originally implemented, these classes met once per week for the entire school year. 

As the school district grew, so did the instrumental music program.  In 1984, the District deemed that it was no longer feasible to fulfill the instructional commitments of 12 elementary schools with only two full time music teachers.  In 1986, an additional full time music teacher was added to the instructional staff.  As the district experienced explosive growth in the years that followed, more elementary music teachers were hired to meet the needs of the increasing number of elementary schools and the increasing numbers of students in those schools.  For the 2002/2003 school year, the instructional needs of  21 elementary schools were met by 8 music teachers that had a total staffing of 7.4 teachers as two of the teachers were on part-time contracts.  This increase in staffing was necessitated not only by the increased number of school sites, but by the increased number of sections of fifth grade at each school site and by the increased percentage of those fifth graders who are participating in the program.  District wide, for the school years from 1995/96 through 2002/03, the program enrolled approximately 85% of all fifth graders and served as many as 2200 students in a single school year.  Because of the unprecedented budget crisis that faced the State of California and PUSD, the program was significantly reduced for the 2003/2004 school year with four full time teachers covering the needs of all 21 elementary schools.  The most significant impact was that students enrolled in the Fifth Grade Instrumental Music Program only received music instruction one day per week as opposed to two days per week as it had been prior to the budget crisis of the 2003/2004 school year. 

Regrettably, as this tremendous growth occurred, the District was not able to maintain its original commitment to the Fourth Grade Music Program.  At most school sites it is a mere shadow of the program that existed in the 1970s and 1980s.  At some school sites it has been supplanted by thematically based musical productions that are linked to the curriculum.  Given the reductions that occurred in the 2003/2004 school year, the fourth grade program is likely to continue to be dramatically reduced, if not absent altogether at most school sites.

The Poway Unified School District instrumental music programs are justifiably recognized throughout the state as programs of exceptional quality.  The Fifth Grade Elementary Instrumental Music Program is the foundation on which the excellence of all of the succeeding levels of the instrumental music programs in the district are built.  Over the last 35+ years, students in this district who have started playing an instrument in the fifth grade have had the opportunity to participate and learn in some of the finest middle and high school instrumental ensembles in the state.  Some, though very few, students have gone on to pursue careers in music and the arts.  But that is not the primary goal of any of the music programs.  The primary goal is to give students the opportunity for a complete and well rounded education; an education that focuses on developing the whole child; an education that is grounded in the core academics and completed with robust exposure to, and active involvement in the arts as mandated by the California State Board of Education Content Standards. 

Poway Unified School District