achievement recognition

[markaustinhowle]

Hello, I am looking for info (research possibly) that points out the need for individual student recognition for achievement in band. (No, I’m not a student trying to avoid doing my homework.)

Two key issues are:
1. Recognition for the purpose of reducing risk of drop out from the band program and
2. Recognition for the purpose of encouraging individual achievement as a musician on his/her instrument.

Any articles from journals would be helpful. Anything would be appreciated— opinions, testimonials, examples etc.

Often students are recognized and rewarded often enough for other things besides musicianship. These include good citizenship, attitude, esprit de corp, respect and loyalty to the directors, appearance, etc. I am interested only in recognition for the musical achievements and how that recognition can help encourage a student to try to achieve higher musical standards and how it can simply keep a student interested in band vs German club, etc.

[WoodSheddin]

When I was in grade school the biggies were the honor bands. I grew up in Missouri and they had the usual All-District and All-State Bands. These were based on auditions and could be very competitive. These were especially good for the over achieving bandsman.

They also had another honor band called All-Conference. This band was formed by all of the local conference band directors submitting a list of their top 5-10 players or so. They would submit them in a ranked order and the conference bigwigs would make a band based on the lists and the instrumentation needs. The day you arrived at the All-Conference get together they would have a quick round of auditions for seating. You would do a rehearsal and then a concert. This idea was geared more towards retention and esprit de corps for the band directors. Each band was relatively equally represented. The quality was not as good as the audition based All-District bands. But it gave an opportunity for lesser talented students to get a taste for the honor bands and got them motivated. It also got the band directors motivated since they each were guaranteed to have students partake.

I enjoyed both the All-Conference and the All-District/All-State bands for different reasons. The All-Conference bands gave me more of an opportunity to mentor because I was in a section that had a wide range of talent. The All-District Band was similiar, but most everybody could play their part fairly well and there were also many more All-State members there. The All-State Band was very very good each year. This gave me my first opportunity to play with musicians who were genuinely more advanced than me. That is where I first played with Kelly O'Bryant, Chris Lair, and Jarrod Williams. I missed playing with Tony Kniffen by 1 year. It was also some of the only times in high school that I got to hear a flute played properly, or a trombone section play with great ensemble skills and power.

I personally never took music all that seriously until one year I decided just for the hell of it to audition for All-District Band. In Missouri you can audition your Freshman year of high school. I did not audition that year and am not even sure if I knew honor bands existed when I was 14. My sophomore year though I heard about it and decided to give it a try. To my amazement I got 1st chair in my district.

If you made All-District Band in Missouri then you qualified to audition for All-State Band. So when the time came for that audition, my band director drove me over along with a couple of others who had made the All-District Band. I nervously played through my stuff. Afterwards I waited by this enormous poster they used for writing in the names when the results came back. When they started to write in the names for the tubas and got to number 5 out of 6 I saw my name being written and was floored. Absolute disbelief. I had auditioned on a whim. When the day was done we were allowed to cutout our names from the poster and keep them if we like. I am pretty sure I still have that strip of paper in a keepsake box in my attic.

Seeing my name on that roster was one of the major events in my decision to take music more seriously. If it had not been for the honors band program I would have never realized that I could actually be competitive on any real scale in music. I would have happily plodded along on tuba and eventually probably gone on to major in engineering of some sorts in college. I just wish that I had realized even sooner so I could have had that much more of a jump start.

[WoodSheddin]

BTW, here is a picture of my section leader my senior year of All-State Band. He is one sexy beast then and still a section leader today.

[jjelwood]

Sean,

I played in the All-District Band with you in the 1988-89 school year. You studied with my college teacher, Dr. McAdams right.

[WoodSheddin]

Sean,

I played in the All-District Band with you in the 1988-89 school year. You studied with my college teacher, Dr. McAdams right.

I was in Odessa High School that year I believe. I did take one lesson with Charles McAdams. I had first taken a lesson at a music store in the Independence Mall with one of his college students. His student said to take a lesson with McAdams instead. I took the lesson. He had that Miraphone 184 I believe. Things didn't gel in the lesson for me so I did not go back. If I did go back, it might have been a couple more, but we never really clicked. I got the same non synergy when I took a lesson with Steve Seward. I eventually studied more with Scott Watson after attending Midwestern Band Camp the summer after my sophomore and junior years.

Were you in the All-District band with Kate Neely? You would remember her because she made it into All-District band on practically every woodwind instrument it seemed. I think she also made All-State on baritone sax. She is now married to that handsome devil whose picture I so unceremoniously plastered all over this thread.

p.s. I just remembered why I wanted to take a lesson. When I got the All-State music it had notes above the bass clef staff. I had no idea that music could be written for tuba which went ALL THE WAY up to Eb above the staff. I wanted some lessons to figure out how a tuba could possibly play that high.

[WoodSheddin]

I immediately thought of the JP Sousa Awards that the Instrumentalist Co. sells:

We had that at my High School and it was a total joke. It went to the suck ups and those in the marching band click. It was not based on musical talent, but more on marching band leadership. Needless to say, for a guy who marched trombone his senior year to avoid carrying that damned Sousaphone, I was not in the running.

BTW, that damned Sousaphone is still damned.

[MartyNeilan]

I immediately thought of the JP Sousa Awards that the Instrumentalist Co. sells:

We had that at my High School and it was a total joke. It went to the suck ups ....

Ditto. Seen a lot of schools with a lot of those awards and Sean hit the nail on the head.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

BTW, here is a picture of my section leader my senior year of All-State Band. He is one sexy beast then and still a section leader today.

OUTSTANDING!!!

[ken k]

Not really a good answer to this thread directly but it just illustrates the priorities in our society.....

unfortunately this is another area where the athletics machine has it together. The local newspapers have pix of HS athletes in the paper daily. They turn these kids into celebrities and for what? becasue they can run fast or catch a ball. I am not saying they don't work hard at it but is this news? A local kid signs with a division I college for field hockey (or whatever sport, it doesn't matter) and it is front page news....cut me a break.

So some youngster picks up the paper and sees this picture of a kid in the paper playing sports. Does he ever see a picture in the paper of a kid in band? Only when the football player runs him over.


So in response to your question. It would be up to you. Perhaps you could ask a local music store to sponsor an award. Here in Reading PA we have the Reading Musical Foundatoin and they are big into scholarships, both needs-based and merit-based. Some of the scholarships are the typical college bound type but others are for summer camps or private lessons or new equipment. They always pay to have a nice big spread in the paper, but this is only about 50 students twice a year.

For the average ability hard working band member, who just is not of that caliber, maybe you just need to come up with your own system of recognition, whether it be a band jacket or letter for the jacket or a pin or even just buying them a CD of a professional performer on their instrument. We started to do this at our jazz festival rather than giving trophies which just collect dust on the top of the band lockers. And we are going to start doing it for some of our school awards as well.
Or maybe a band student of the week type thing and have pictures posted in the hallway or display case in your school. It could be enough to motivate another kid, you never know. I would have some concrete criteria to meet rather than just making it a popularity thing however.

ken k

[lgb&dtuba]

Two key issues are:
1. Recognition for the purpose of reducing risk of drop out from the band program and
2. Recognition for the purpose of encouraging individual achievement as a musician on his/her instrument.

As for #1, if we're talking about recognizing musicianship, then I would think you actually mean to reward a kid for improving, not for just taking up a seat. If a kid is actually improving and deserves recognition then the kid is showing interest and that's probably not the kid who is at risk for dropping out. Competitive chairs were always the way to recognize that musicianship, weren't they?

If you are just trying to keep warm bodies in the chairs, then other ways are needed, since you will deliver exactly the wrong message by recognizing musicianship when it isn't there.

For #2, honors bands, all state, etc. seem to traditionally fit the bill.

If you want to go beyond those traditional methods, then you'll need to get creative and be prepared to invest more of your own time.

Using my high school band director (from the dark ages) as a pretty good model for this I'd suggest a few of the things he did.

1. We had a fall and spring talent show. All students, whether in the band or not, were encouraged to participate. The band director was both producer and musical director for these shows. The concert band performed. The dance band performed. Soloists from the band were encouraged to perform. Combos were formed. Band members played backup to other student acts, either on their band instruments or other instruments they knew how to play. The band director was a pianist and naturally accompanied a number of the acts. He also recruited a drummer and a bassist (that would be me) for a trio that became the pit band.

It was a small school by today's standards, maybe 300 total, but quite a few people participated because it was fun. And the fun was what encouraged many of us to pick up new instruments and participate so we could be part of the fun.

2. We had a dance band (big band) that was formed out of the main band. It was strictly extracurricular, not for credit and on our own time. He found us gigs around the area, rest homes, that sort of thing. We even played a restaurant one time. We played for a few civic organization shindigs. Once again it was considered a fun activity and you had to qualify to be a member. For someone like me that meant teaching myself trombone since a sousaphone wasn't part of it. Making that band was both the reward and recognition.

3. Some of us wanted to form a quintette. Once again, the band director stepped up to the plate and found us some music and even made arragements for us to play at a local shurch a time or two. Once we had achieved some acceptable level of competence.

We had trophies, letters and sweaters to wear them on, and all that sort of stuff, but having extra music activities to participate in and qualify for beyond band class was what inspired most of us to stick with it.

Fun and variety, not rewards.

[Jeremy K.]

Is jjelwood "The Jerr" from CMSU lore?

Your arrangements are still getting kicked around there I hear.