The trumpet was my first instrument and I enjoyed it. But once I started playing guitar the trumpet took a back seat. And by the time I went to high school I decided not to continue to play trumpet in the band. I recounted this experience to someone the other day who asked "Why did you quit?" Assuming that it was because I wasn't any good. I was mediocre, and certainly not so passionate about it. It was hard for playing trumpet in the band to compete with learning rock and blues on the electric guitar. Not only because the latter is more socially 'relevant' (i.e. more people go out to clubs and buy music on cd, etc that is rock/blues than is marching band) but also because it's more fun and creative to me -- or at least works more actively a different part of the creative musical brain.
To me this is an oversight of music educators in schools. I know that there are places where improvisation is taught, but it strikes me that overall learning music in school presents only the tiniest slice of what music is. Why no rock band classes instead of just marching band and orchestra? I do teach one class in an elementary school (an afterschool, no grade situation) where, in addition to learning to read music we really do focus on trying to learn songs. Let's face it: popular music culture is not music-score driven, so the need to teach people to read music is less (there, I said it). Just like in 'real life' songs have to be learned by hook or crook: by ear, by tab, by watching someone play.
It's really a shame that this isn't done: teaching AC/DC's Back in Black, Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, and so on, would definitely bring a lot more people into the fold of music.
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