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A question for those of you band directors and/or contest judges. My small band (19 total players) is scheduled to perform at the area large group contest tomorrow. They have been working hard and under normal circumstances would do a good job with our limited instrumentation. However, the rules in this area are that I can use my 7th & 8th graders (which count for 11 of the 19) but I can only use them as 50% of the band so that means I have to choose 3 that cannot play at contest so now we're down to 16 players. One gets left as he is in Vegas for his sister's wedding this week, but sadly he is the only trombone player in the band. Number 2 gets left as I can get by with 2 drummers and he'll most likely be on the in-elligibility list this week anyway. Number 3 gets left as she is 1 of 4 flutes. I feel bad for her because she has worked hard and deserves to be there as much as anybody else.

Now the new issue. We are playing a flex band piece, "Three Czech Folks Songs" by Johnie Vinson, that really needs all 5 parts, and a new simpified version of "Salvation is Created." I get to the school this morning to find out that my loan bass player, the only one covering the bass parts, broke his arm yesterday skiing. There are big gaps in both pieces without that part. We'll run the pieces this afternoon to see if we can get by without the bass line, but I'm not really sure that we can. I'm also trying to convince another HS student to come in and try to learn the bass parts in less than 24 hours. The problem here is that I don't know how capable she is and she hasn't touched a bass in over 2 years.

The positive is that the flute player will now be able to play since the bass player was a JH kid so numbers wise she gets his slot, and if the HS bass player can do this and the JH drummer is eligible then he gets to play as that adds one more HS student to the numbers.

Any advice on what to do other than the above? If you were a judge, how would you look at a band that was missing the bass part on songs such as these if we go without?

Aaaaaaaauuuuurrrrrggghhhh!!!!!! So much stress and so little time to deal with it. Thanks for reading my little stress reliever and thanks for any words of advice/wisdom that you might have.

Bring 'em all. F@#* the judges!

The flute player would be going regardless and she is a good good kid who fully understood it was the rules and not because of anything else. I think we're going to luck out and found one of the HS girls who can fill in on the bass on this short notice. It won't be perfect but it will be very helpful and very much appreciated by all. When all is said and done the addition of the new HS bass player and the loss of the JH bass player means the extra flute gets to play and the drummer would've gotten to play, but as feared, he showed up on the in-eligibility list this morning so no go for him by his own actions I just do not understand these lazy students who are perfectly capable of doing the work in their classes but choose to not do it and take the bad grade. If I'd have done anything like that mom would have kicke my A** all the way back to the school and sat there with me while I did the work. However, that is a rant for another day.

Looks like it is all going to work out for contest. Keep your fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong in the next 24 hours. These students have worked pretty hard and should make a good showing for themselves.

I just judged 18 bands last week at a festival here in Georgia, including one JH band that had 9 students on stage. As an adjudicator, I judge who's on stage. If you're missing a part, then you're missing a part. I reward good sounds and good playing, that's my only rule. I want to hear characteristic sounds coming out of instruments. And, to be perfectly honest, I'll forgive missed notes and cracked pitches in a band if they're making phrases happen. I just want to hear an attempt at interpretation, not regurgitation. Also, as a former HS band director who once took a band to contest (in Texas) with one trumpet, I completely understand. Do what you do and let the chips fall where they fall. If you evaluate your program based off of what three strangers think about one performance, then you need to adjust your evaluative criteria. As long as your kids are getting better every day and enjoying themselves, all the ratings are is a guideline to help you improve. Best of luck to you and your band on your upcoming performance.

Thanks for the info Cale. I truly hope that our judges tomorrow (only 2) judge in a similar manner to what you're saying. I'm trying to teach the kids about music vs. notes and I hope that is the message that I'm conveying to them. I'm taking them to the contest more to give them another opportunity to play and to hopefully hear some other bands perform. I'm still new to this area and don't know any of the other teachers or what their bands do so I'm just as curious as the students. However, with all that said, I've already turned in my resignation and am waiting on my admission acceptance for grad school to go back and finish my master's degree. I'm also not sure if I am cut out to continue teaching in the public school system. We'll see what happens after I finish the MM degree.

And now to pour salt on the open wound. JH drummer is in-eligible and just now I get a text from one of the other drummers that she has dr appts in town (60 miles away) and won't be able to make it to contest. So now we go with a new bass player (very greatful for her willingness to help) and only snare drum with the remaining drummer. If you hear any strange noises coming from eastern ND don't worry, its only me whimpering in the corner. I'm just sick of this. Why can't we get a break. These kids have worked hard and deserve to play with their full band

Just got back from the contest and I have to say that I am very proud of my band students, especially of my JH kids. I got in this morning and the fill in bass player comes up to me and tells me that mom had already made plans for the family so she was very sorry but she could not help out as she had hoped.

On the positive, my regular bass player was back in school today with his full arm cast but was more than willing to play the bass drum with his good arm. I took some of the above advice and just said screw it and let all the JH students play (minus the one who wasn't elligible). Don't think the judges noticed the 2 extra youngins and I wasn't about to tell them.

The judges were pretty good guys and had some helpful, positive comments. They both gave us a star rating (Star, I, II, III). I'm not sure we deserved the star but it was a good spirit lifter for the students. Despite the set backs the last 2 days they rose to the challenge and they went out on stage and gave it their all.

http://gallery.me.com/dbergrude#100155& ... lack&sel=2 I had a couple of parents that will be sending me pictures from contest tonight but in the mean time if anybody is interested here are some pictures of my band providing a pep band at the class B state basketball tournament in ND a couple weeks ago. 19 Students (11 JH, 8 HS), 1 college trombone, 1 college sousaphone, and me on trombone & sousaphone. We were one of 6 different bands over the 3 day tournament and we were by far the smallest, but again, they rose to the challenge and played well. We received a lot of compliments and even a few thank yous from some of the BB players' parents.

I feel you, brother. I teach in a small, rural school in backwoods Tennessee. We have a HUGE group this year with 31 kids! 11 of those are in Jr High. I rewrite parts, teach kids to transpose, and do whatever we have to do to make the music work. It is never about the judges or the scores. It is always about the kids and their musical experiences. I hope that you do find a way to teach after grad school because you sound like a "good un".