At Delta Community Music School we are gearing up for our 6th annual South Delta Jazz Festival and Workshop. From July 7 – 11th we will hosting the Jazz Workshop where students of all ages can come and learn about Jazz improv and perform in small ensembles.

A trend that I have noticed this year and last year is the growing number of potential students who are not able to come to our program because they are taking summer school classes; i.e. continuing their high school academic studies into July and August. After speaking with various colleages it seems enrollment in summer programs throughout the province seems to be down this summer. As an example Comox Valley Summer Music Camp in Courtney BC , a program that has run successfully for many years, has canceled its Pacific Jazz Workshop this year due to a lack of enrollment.

I would be interested in hearing from others for their opinions of why enrollments are down for these sorts of summer programs. From my own experience with my private students I would say that many of the students I know that I have been trying to encourage to come to our Jazz Workshop are not able to come. The overwhelming reason is they are all taking summer school high school courses to “get ahead” or “get a better mark” and to “be ready for University.” Some of these students are only in Grade 7 and 8. It seems many Metro Vancouver parents believe their kids should be in school 12 months of the year, with little time for much else. I am wondeirng if this is unique to metro Vancouver, or whether this trend is taking off elsewhere around the province as well?