Consider this, folks who teach 6th grade band:

Your incoming 6th grade this next year by and large are emotionally 3rd graders.

They didn't finish their 3rd grade year - so they never transitioned out of that mentality. They lost most of their 4th - and last year was NOT a great year for ANYONE in ANY situation in terms of enforcing a "normal school environment." And this year has been so focused on making up for all the "learning loss" that their "kid" time has been largely GONE all year - they are so tired and stressed that they lash out at each other (and their teachers) ALL the time.

They're INCREDIBLY immature in some ways and WAY TOO mature in others - they've spent the last year+ on Tiktok and YouTube (among other, less savory sites). They've literally been raised by computer algorithms. And they think that those behaviors are not only normal but APPROPRIATE.

To top it off: many of those kids have lost TONS of "specials" time because of the need to cram in extra STAAR review because many of 'em are literally a full grade level behind across the board academically.

Plan on moving SLOWLY next year, and spending a lot of extra time on things due to kids being super immature. Many kids will BARELY be able to read music and know basic musical skills. Hell - many kids are BARELY be able to READ, PERIOD.

I've been saying for a long time now that the pandemic will set band/choir/orchestra performance back a decade. We're now going into Year 2 of overcoming it. Some programs will make it happen faster, but by and large, expect next year to be TOUGH - especially at the beginning of the year.