You ever have one of those moments that puts things in a new light and you start looking at things differently? I had one of those moments today. I got to school, unlocked my office and flipped on the light, put my bags down and got the coffee brewing for the morning. Went around unlocked the restroom, and the locker room, business as usual. I pushed my key into the band room door, and I stopped, noticing the note taped to the band room door. “Thank you for being bright in the darkness. I’m still alive because of you. I planned on committing suicide last night, but I’m alive because of you.” And I’ve thought about it all day.
Its small moments like that, that helps us remember that everyone is fighting a battle, and the best we can do is be there for others and give them reason to smile and look for another reason every day to keep going. Being a light take almost no time but can help guide so many people that we might never know it did
musicteach.....During my 41 years as a band director, I had something similar happen several times. A note or a letter saying pretty much the same as what you found. Unfortunately, I also lost three kids. As teachers, we never really know how our actions are affecting our students. We just have to do our best and hope that it is enough. I can tell from your posts that you care for your students...that's the biggest thing I miss about retirement. I loved my kids and miss them a lot. .....David
Wait when were you Going to tell me you were a band director for 41 years!? I’d love to talk shop sometime!!
musicteach.....It doesn't really come up very often here on Empty Closets. But yes, I taught Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Marching Band, and Pep Band for Athletics from 1972 until 2013. I loved it all and was very sad when health issues caused me to retire several years before I wanted to. I taught in mostly rural areas. The last 33 years were at the same high school. The program ran about 120 in both Concert Band and Marching Band. I had two Jazz Ensembles by audition from the Concert Band (required to be in the Concert Band) and split the Concert Band into three pep bands for basketball games. I had the only marching band program in the area that our school was in. It was 75 miles to the nearest marching band. We did a lot of marching comps which, for us, meant a lot of long bus rides. I actually really enjoyed the bus trips...it was a time that I could spend with the kids just relaxed and having fun! There is a lot more to share...especially when we were chosen to play for a very important person, but I think I should save those until you are a Full Member as many of those performances, etc. come to close to revealing personal/location information. So I guess that's the beginning of a reason to become a Full Member! As a side note...be sure to read the Code of Conduct before you apply for Full Membership. Some people don't and that's a problem. Looking forward to sharing with you more.... .....David
musicteach.....I'm not sure that I have any secrets! But I will tell you what I told one of my junior high band directors. He took the job mainly to be near family. He had a Ph.D. in Trumpet performance and had done a lot of professional work in Las Vegas and California. He was a good guy but I have to wonder if junior high is the right place for him (he's still there). He was having trouble with the retention of kids in the JH Band from 6th grade - eighth grade (I got them for 9th-12th). I had listened to parents, old siblings, and also sat in his classes quite a bit. I told him; "You've got to love the students more than you love the music". I meant that his job was to nurture the kids from nothing up to a level for me to be able to integrate them into a very active HS program. Instead, he was insisting on perfection even down at the beginning level...the kids just couldn't do it and got discouraged. He was having a terrible time accepting music that was not perfect because he would not accept anything less than perfect from himself. I had to remind him that, even though he was good at the age of 13 or so, he wasn't perfect then either. He had kind of forgotten that! He's doing better now, but I don't think he'll ever be able to make that change completely. For myself...I did love and severely miss "my kids". But I also required hard work. Here are a couple of phrases that I had on the walls of the band room in large letters: EARLY IS ON TIME...ON TIME IS LATE IF YOU WANT TO BE NUMBER 1 YOU'VE GOT TO PAY THE PRICE...Vince Lombardi YOU GOTTA WANNA! .....One more thought...I have over a thousand "Friends" on Facebook. 98% of them are former students. One of them started a post last year asking all the former band kids what their "most remembered" phrase was from HS Band with me. There were several different ones but one stood out with by far the most "votes". I never said, "One more time" when we were rehearsing the marching comp show on the field...I always yelled: "AGAIN". That's what most of them remember...we always knew that we could do it better, but we'd have to do it again! I loved my kids and I loved the music. I wanted both to be the very best possible. But it was always in that order. .....I hope I haven't run on too long...but my kids and band were my heart for all of those 41 years. I really do miss "my kids"! .....David
I know the feeling! I love my students. You know as high school band directors, we’re in a unique spot. They’re not beginning students so we can expect and demand higher levels of excellence. My program is very active as well. But they’re also at a stage of life where everything is changing for them. And in some ways, the structure of marching band gives them order amongst the chaos. We even have to take on a parental figure role sometimes too and navigate waters that no other teacher has to navigate. If you’re fifteen minutes early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late. And if you’re late, you’re running laps. It’s always amazed me when you talk to a band director from another school, another state, there are nuances and things we just share. One more time, again, the on time bit. That was always amazed and fascinated me. Especially when your band meshes with students from another program they’ve never met before and they have these shared memories. I usually say “do it again but better”. I can usually hold my hand up and make a circular motion and my drum majors will call it “take it back!” I spend most of my time on the ground with the band. Watching, listening, fussing because there’s a line that looks like a %. I’ve never learned how they can turn a straight line into a percent sign but they can. And I know when I was in school we did it too. Must be a band thing. I have a really great relationship with the band directors at the four middle school bands that feed into ours. So one thing I’m really trying to do is foster those relationships to my current assistant band director (who will be talking over next year). It’s so important to have that relationship. Honestly probably one of the things I’m going to miss most about next year. What do you think of my recent career move?
musicteach.....I agree, there is something about band, especially marching band that pulls people together. It's like walking into a group of people in a foreign country and then hearing people speaking your native language! The other thing I noticed that makes me feel so good is how my kids could do their absolute best to beat another band in our division, but then cheer for them before their show! That one really made me proud. Ah yes...your career move...I faced the same thing about 10 years into my career. You can see from my Avatar that I live in Idaho. After some performances that put the band onto the semi-national stage, I was contacted by two different mid-sized universities inquiring if I would be interested in an interview. One was in the Midwest and the other was in Texas. They both offered to do the first interview by phone and I decided that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead with it. As a result, they both offered to fly me to their campuses for an in-person interview. That was when it became very real! I had to do like you did and set down to write a list of pros and cons for both schools and for my current high school. In the end, I decided that my place in the "Band World" was at the high school level. After all, someone has to do it and I really did get along with HS kids. So my advice to you, and I realize that you have probably already made your choice, is to decide where you fit into the "Band World". Where will your talents and personality contribute the most to your students and your school (Secondary or Post-Secondary)? Also, what are your plans and dreams for your career? Not many high school directors have a Ph.D. How does that fit into either high school or university? Whatever you choose I think that you will do an excellent job. Let me know how this all plays out. .....David
Yanno... the camaraderie that is there between bands is absolutely night and day. One of the things I drive home and really enforce is that my band is huge. When y’all roll up somewhere, they always looking at you. You haven’t even stepped off the bus yet and they’re already looking at you. So when you do step of the bus, it’s time to bring the A-game. From that moment forward, they’re looking at you, and they want to know who the big band that just rolled up is. Do everything with purpose, pride, and discipline. Marching from the parking lot to the warm ups areas: purpose, pride, discipline. Warming up: purpose, pride, discipline. But then when they’re done performing, and they get changed and just get to hang out and be teenagers, it’s completely different. They go into the stands, be talking to random strangers. I look up into the stands and there’s pockets of blue spread out. There’s two of my tuba players hanging out with the tubas from like twelve other schools (it’s ALWAYS the tubas). And it amazes me as a director that this happens, and yet, I know we did it growing up. Even in the military, it was that same post-performance energy. I remember one time we had marching a parade in front of SecNav, Secretary of Defense, and some other high ranking officials. There was this major tension and when we were finally released, we just let out a big WHOOOOOOOT. And then we immediately started teasing one of our snare players because he dropped his sticks in the parade. Not only that, it’s the sportsmanship that you see. That’s not something you plan for or rehearse for. It just happens. I have literally seen this band break formation marching into competitions to help unstick another band that was stuck in the mud on the field.
musicteach.....I really understand that "release of tension" comment. It made me immediately think of a performance at the Portland Rose Parade a number of years ago. PRP folks had been having trouble with some bands not doing a very good job of looking sharp for the parade (about 5 1/2 miles long, so not too bad). To correct this they implemented a "White Glove Inspection" done by Marines in dress uniform. The inspection was of band uniforms and instruments. My kids spent days cleaning and polishing their instruments as well as making sure the uniforms were clean and neat. When the Marines started with us you could almost hear the kids holding their breath. After they finished and the kids went to parade rest there was this huge SIGH of relief. The other time...the one I've been hedging about as I have to be careful sharing details that can identify anyone until both of us are full members...we had been chosen to play for the President of the United States. This meant a background check of all the band members and directors by the FBI. That made everybody nervous...but we all passed that. Then on the day of the performance, as we were entering the stadium, each student was required to play a few notes in front of the FBI Agents. I guess they wanted to be sure that none of the trombones were actually rifles! I had to stand there and help as some of the kids got so nervous that dry-mouth set in and they couldn't get a squeak out of their instruments! That process was slowing things down a lot so just as one of my Freshman Tuba players came up (Yes, it is always the tubas!) An Agent-in-charge told the other agents to just let the kids in, they had been checked and cleared. I walked in with the tuba player and I noticed that he was sweating and looked really panicked. I told him it was ok that I would have played his horn for the agents if he couldn't. He replied; "No you don't understand...my horn won't play right now. I was worried that I'd get hungry so I filled my tuba with granola bars! Yep, it had to be a tuba player! I could write a book.... .....David
It is ALWAYS the tubas! This is so terrible but there are stereotypes in band based on instruments and some of them are true. Like the tubas will keep you laughing. Last night at rehearsal, I happened to look and all of my tubas last night had on BRIGHT neon Orange socks on. And I’m just like ???. “It’s a tuba thing Mr. Musicteach!” But he was right, it is a tuba thing. Something just rolled down the stands? It’s probably a drum and/or a percussionist knocked it down. Speaking as a trumpet player, trumpet players are the most annoying things ever and always have attitude. Percussionists constantly beating on something. Flutes and clarinets constantly have drama. Constantly. So for our drum majors, their uniform is white/blue, instead of black/blue (Ive always liked contracting drum majors uniforms) and they had mustard on the side of their white uniform pants. I was just ugggghhhhhhh. This was at one of the last home games. That’s the only bad part about white. It doesn’t hide ANYTHING.
musicteach.....Yes, the stereotypes really do seem to be true all too often! As for white...Our uniforms were a bright Kelly Green top with gold piping on the seams and white...yes white pants. So my problem wasn't the drum majors it was the whole band! And because of the material of the white pants I had to require white underwear! That's so much fun telling high school kids what underwear they can wear! Absolutely no eating in uniforms ever and the uni colors also caused me to use white shoes. I'm sure you know just how easy it is to spot anyone out of step when they are wearing white shoes! All in all the uniforms had a bright, crisp look which I liked...but it sure came at a price! I guess in a way it made the kids really pay attention to being in-step and certain movements as well since they were so visible. Here I'm complaining about something (the kids) that I really miss...but there certainly are some funny stories when it comes to marching band...I'm sure you have quite a few! .....David
Oh the whole band with white pants/shoes? I could NEVER. And yeah definitely white holds no secrets at all. Usually with the drum majors, I like to have their uniform the same style but contrasting. Unique enough that it sets them apart, but still you know who’s they belong to. So for my high schoolers, the regular uniform is 80% black. It’s only the chest/shoulder/and one sleeve that are blue. It goes from the split in the collar down under the arm pit. Then the pants were black with a blue stripe on the outside. Drum majors instead had white where the black was so it created a nice contrast. For my Uni I ended up going with a simple style. So the base uniform is all black except for its a stripe of color down the front of the uniform which has the schools initials. There’s a colored sash that goes around the waist and hangs down. And then they have a cape that hangs from the right shoulder and tucks through a little piece of fabric at the bottom. Drum majors uniforms are the same except their main color is the school’s other main color and the stripe down the chest are the same color as everyone else’s. Same colored sash from the waist and the shoulder cape is the same except it’s longer and hangs free. So for the regular uniforms, the cape stops just below the butt. The drum majors capes go down mid calf. Plums for both are the same they are the black plasticity all-weather ones. Tubas I went with a beret they’re the schools main color and they have the mascot on the flush. Section leaders will get a silver cord around the left shoulder, captains will get a black cord around the left shoulder, and drum majors will have gold. I think they’re going to look a lot sharper....especially over the jump suit things they’re wearing now. It’s kind of a right of passage, too. You’ve earned this uniform, you’ve earned the right to wear it. I did end up replacing the jump suits, too. I took a page from Ohio and got practice uniforms both shorts for when it’s warmer and jogging pants for when it’s colder. Paired with the tour shirt I think those will be great. Probably worn at the rehearsal before the game practicing the entry to the field. Which speaking of, I need to work on that too. They’ve done six different versions in as many games and all of them were horrid. One of them it looked like a gaggle of geese not a marching band going onto the field.
musicteach.....Very big job in front of you! When did you/do you take over at the university? I think I understood that when you said "uni" you meant the new job. Uniforms can be a real pain in the ***. But when they're done right they add so much and give the students a real sense of pride. You almost need to have another staff member just to deal with the uniforms. It's unfortunate that they cost so darn much! .....David
Officially the paper work is done. I am still under contract to my h.s until March so I’m going to do what I can for both until then. Probably exit after our spring concert.
