Watching a band get worse...

[Biggs]

For some people, band is their only social activity in school, and will be the thing they remember most,

Those people deserve to be miserable.

Some people are making this band their career and deserve half a chance to do a good job with it.....

Naturally, I wish the director the best. I imagine he is the only person who is making the band his career, correct? If any students are banking on a music career based on just their experience in a high school's band, I expect them to meet a sharp learning curve at the next level.

Biggs, that was just plain wrong, some people such as me were too poor for anything else, and band provided me a life and to meet new people and part of a way to college (plus academics).

WARNING: RANTING WHILE REMINISCING

Yes, I know high school band can be a fun time. After all, I was in one for four years. However, students who do not diversify and explore other activities and areas of study are doomed to be one-dimensional robots. I find it hard to believe that you were "too poor" for any high school activities, as studying the tuba is not an inexpensive pursuit (why else would I drive myself insane with two jobs this summer?). If athletic fees are too high (my high school's were about $150 - a steep price, especially for less-than-serious athletes), then look elsewhere. Start your own team. Write for the school newspaper. Run for class president. Be a Boy Scout. Raise chickens. Get a paper route. You will probably meet life-long friends in band. Expand on that concept or else you might run into life-long limitations.

End of rant. I'm out of high school, so I don't really know why I care so much. Probably because the young people I meet at my university music building are some of the most-sheltered individuals I know. Not to mention some of the dullest.

[Arkietuba]

Being in band should be enjoyable, and if your not enjoying it, whats the point of being in there.

It is the responsibility of the leadership, band, and director to make sure it is a learning experince and is enjoyable

Uhhh...the point of band is to make music, it doesn't matter whether or not you enjoy it...that's what chamber ensembles were originally for. Those were groups that got together for the sake of the musicians so they could make music for their sake.

The band director has only ONE responsibility...that is to TEACH, hopefully the teacher does it in a way that makes the kids interested in it, but they shouldn't sacrifice information for making it fun. I had my most fun at All State just listening to what the guest conductors had to say and all of their ideas. I learned new ways to interpret crescendos from Stephen Mellilo and also how accents can be made more effective. He didn't make it fun by being funny or being our friend. He made it enjoyable by teaching us new ideas that we had never been exposed to. Also, he made sure we MADE music, we had a group of elementary students come to sit in on one of our rehearsals and when we hit this really sweet moment in one of his pieces, he stopped conducting and cut us off......he said, "Look, look...you moved this little girl to tears with your music! This is what this week is about!" I'll never forget that little girl. Also, his less than one year old son applauded us after the concert and he's never seen a concert before that...that moved me too.

That's what a director should do...he's not responsible for making it fun...there are other ways of having fun like playing w/ friends, video games, and now that I'm legal drinking and gambling. The director has ONE responsibility to the student and that is to teach them all that they know and prepare them for the college band.

[LoyalTubist]

One of the things you notice, after you graduate from high school, is that the band always falls apart after you leave. Even though the band might get better scores and sound better it's worse because YOU aren't in it.

[Dean E]

. . . some people such as me were too poor for anything else, and band provided me a life and to meet new people and part of a way to college (plus academics). . . .

"Poor" is a state of mind and self-esteem--"broke," on the other hand, is a temporary condition (which some prefer to call a cash flow problem).

I was one of many students from working class, split-up families, where there was little money for life's basic needs, let alone private lessons and personally owned instruments. I played tuba because the school furnished the instrument. Many tuba players fit that mold. HS band provided social and travel opportunities, in addition to those I got from the library, personal reading, church, and jobs.

Dean E

[MileMarkerZero]

Try to remember that being a band director and being a musician are two totally different things. In other words, band directors wear many different hats.

Relatively little of what a band director does is musical in nature.

In a small program, they do everything themselves: line up the busses, arrange all the music (rarely do arrangements come tailored for a small band's instrumentation), decide on uniform issues, deal with the administration on numerous issues ranging from budget to discipline, usually try to organize the band parents, and on and on.

In a large program, he is overseeing his staff, overseeing budgets (plural), working with the band parents (in a large school they are usually already organized), and hundreds of other issues on a daily basis.

Experienced band directors avoid/deal with these issues as a second nature due to their years of doing it. New directors tend to get bogged down for a year or three before it becomes second nature to them. Remember the old saying: When you are up to your arse in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original goal was to drain the swamp.

Give him time. I have always thought that one of the shorcomings of music education programs is that they don't teach the logistical end of being a band director. It would save a lot of people a lot of grief.

And as others have said, do your part. Be the example. Take the initiative on your own to be excellent. Don't wait for the band director to tell you. Trust me, if you and a number of the other upperclassmen take that initiative AND expect it out of others, it will be contagious.

[Arkietuba]

Okay Doc,

You're right for the most part. I just got the feeling from (I think it was tubashaman) that they felt that band should be fun and that every student should have a fun time. They may not be his opinion but that's what it sounded like. I was coming from a college music major's perspective...wasn't really thinking about the kids that don't want to major in music.

The only times I really have fun are when I'm in chamber ensembles, and sometimes orchestra like when we played "Death and Transfiguration". I guess most high school kids wouldn't really like chamber groups.

Oh, I wasn't trying to promote under-age drinking either. 'Cause none of us have ever participated in that sort of behavior. Seriously kids, alcohol is bad...unless you're 21.

[lgb&dtuba]

Sayeth Doc:

Always with the negative waves."

Good post, Doc.

It would be interesting to see just what percentage of high school band geeks actually go on to college to major in music. Back in the stone age went I went to high school not a single one of my classmates from any of the 4 years I was in that band went on to college to major in music.

As for having a private tuba teacher, there weren't any in small town NC even if I had wanted one. For that matter, I never even saw, let alone touched a tuba (just sousaphones) until my 30's when I bought my own, on a whim, for community band from the Tuba Exchange before it was the Tuba Exchange. From Vince when he was a piano tuner with a few tubas in his shop. There wouldn't have been anywhere to buy a tuba except by special order back then around here.

For me in those days band was just a social activity. Along with baseball, cross country track and various clubs. Something to do. A way to get out of the house. Pre internet. Pre video games. Pre owning my own car. And like many people it was mostly a memory until I was earning enough, the kids were big enough, and I had the time to pick up music again.

I suspect that in the grand scheme of things it's been that way for way more people than not.

Jim[/quote]

[tubaguy9]

Being in band should be enjoyable, and if your not enjoying it, whats the point of being in there.

It is the responsibility of the leadership, band, and director to make sure it is a learning experince and is enjoyable

Uhhh...the point of band is to make music, it doesn't matter whether or not you enjoy it...that's what chamber ensembles were originally for. Those were groups that got together for the sake of the musicians so they could make music for their sake.

The band director has only ONE responsibility...that is to TEACH, hopefully the teacher does it in a way that makes the kids interested in it, but they shouldn't sacrifice information for making it fun. I had my most fun at All State just listening to what the guest conductors had to say and all of their ideas. I learned new ways to interpret crescendos from Stephen Mellilo and also how accents can be made more effective. He didn't make it fun by being funny or being our friend. He made it enjoyable by teaching us new ideas that we had never been exposed to. Also, he made sure we MADE music, we had a group of elementary students come to sit in on one of our rehearsals and when we hit this really sweet moment in one of his pieces, he stopped conducting and cut us off......he said, "Look, look...you moved this little girl to tears with your music! This is what this week is about!" I'll never forget that little girl. Also, his less than one year old son applauded us after the concert and he's never seen a concert before that...that moved me too.

That's what a director should do...he's not responsible for making it fun...there are other ways of having fun like playing w/ friends, video games, and now that I'm legal drinking and gambling. The director has ONE responsibility to the student and that is to teach them all that they know and prepare them for the college band.

Uh...yeah...I completely and FULLY agree with that...It's good to have fun, but work me 'till I pass out...

Okay...maybe passing out is a little extreme, but the point is, that I'd rather work really hard during rehearsal, and do really well on the performance, than not work too hard in rehearsal, and not do too well in performance...

[tubaguy9]

Oh yeah...and as section leader, as I said, I'll work my tuba players...In sectionals, I'll have us play something till it's almost perfect, and quite possibly, do breathing exercises 'till we can't see straight...

and then when we're done, play video games, hang out, etc...