Thanks Orangina for the update. It is nice PAS received additional funding to expand the music program. I suppose we have another four years before I child/children enters PAS and I am just being a worried parent.

Perhaps when we visited the students were encouraged to practice together to show the parents the numbers of instruments available? As a trained musician, I can tell you personally, you cannot practice well with other instruments playing with unless, of course you were practicing together in an ensemble, band or orchestra.

Good to know the teachers close the classroom doors for the sake of the students not practicing.

Also for the poster who kindly extended his/her welcome to new Spruce Hill nighbors, thank you! We close on our home in about a month and are very excitetd with more space and the lovely neighbors-to-be we've met.

We did have some concerns about break ins to cars and houses. The seller of our house was broken into at least twice in the past 10 years so we realize it is not as safe a place as our current home in Center City and will do our best to exercise caution because we have a young child.

Perhaps someday PAS can employ what the Philly public schools I went to as a child twenty years ago did, have two to three rooms desginated as music practice rooms and have the kids sign up in 30-45 minute increments to practice? Just a thought, probably not workable because there isn't even three small rooms available at any given time for such a program of practice?

The more I think about it, the more I feel badly for the music students because I personaly think practicing in group won't really help them improve. Again, this is from my own experience as a trained musician (19 years of private lessons and a short career in the classical music competition arena). Who knows, maybe I am totally out of touch (no sarcasm intended here) and the students practice together even in private school?