In my current and past schools, the music programs were easy to understand. I think of my high school music experience as standard or as the definition of music education, since that was what was around me every day. Three bands and choirs, one for the freshman, one that was un-auditioned, and one that was auditioned. The un-auditioned choir was actually a women’s choir and the boys who did not make Concert Choir stayed in the freshman group. Both band and choir had a separate extracurricular auditioned chamber ensemble, and band had two extracurricular jazz bands (auditioned and un-auditioned) as well. We did not have a marching band, though some surrounding schools did. Our school did not have an orchestra, although there was a community one for our school and the surrounding schools. We had musicals, but that world was separate from me.
I would see structure as someone visiting without knowing the program. I would also see tiers, where there was a clear “top” group. That would be an interesting observation to make. That is something that was unique to high school for our program, although the middle school had a show choir that was auditioned. It was separate enough from choir that the “tiers” in middle school were grade level, not skill level.
In comparison, SCSU has a little less structure. Since each music student is on their own journey performance and teaching wise, it might seem more chaotic from the outside. Each person can be found in a practice room working hard at their own music. There is not really a “tier” list for band or choir. There is one concert band, a sports band that is separate, one concert choir, and a chamber/jazz choir. Each is separate from each other, though many people overlap. Since the repertoire between each group is different, there is something for everyone. Each group is lightly auditioned. Though there is less obvious structure, there is a place for every individual, regardless of talent or musical interest. It feels similar enough to my high school, since there is also no school orchestra or marching band. The music the concert groups do is somewhat similar as well. The main difference, especially with band, is size. High school had about 80 players and here is under 30. However, music is music!
