Alabama Bandmasters Association John Cooper, President
Three Things Every First Year Director Needs to Do – Now!
There are at least three things that every new band director needs to do as he or she begins their first job. Now that the dust has cleared on the first few weeks of school, you are beginning to fall into your regular schedule.
These three
suggestions might help improve your year.
First, read the Alabama Bandmasters Association Handbook. It can be found online at
http://www.alabamamea.org/ bandmasters/
index.htm. The handbook will give you information on how we can work together to improve all our bands. If you’ve read it, but not recently, read it again. Every time I go through it I notice or remember something new.
Second, find a mentor — or two, or three!
The Alabama Bandmasters Association tries to assign mentors to younger directors, but sometimes it works better for the new director to find a mentor with whom they are comfortable.
You may need more than one mentor. As a young teacher I had more than one director who allowed me to question them and learn from them. Many times I didn’t need to ask them questions, I just watched them work. I took note of how they did things. I’m certain that over the course of my first five years I learned as much or more from these directors as I did in college.
Develop a group of mentors for different situations. Any new teacher needs a mentor to help guide them through the maze of paperwork and procedures that are unique to each school. This mentor might not be a band director or even a musician, but it
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should be someone to whom you can go with questions. If you have a small rural band, you will also want to identify a mentor with a small rural band. If you have a wide range of grade levels in your band, find someone with experience working in that situation. Think about where you want to be in five or ten years, then find a mentor that has already blazed that trail with success.
Finally, buy (and use) a calendar! It is the nature of a director’s work that we must be planning for many things simultaneously. We have to plan our lesson plans for the next day, the trip to the football game next week, and the band trip next semester all at the same time! Among all of this we have band, school, and personal deadlines. I learned many years ago that the responsibilities of our jobs can keep you awake at nights, but using a
calendar to keep track of everything helps me sleep!
I am excited about the Alabama Music Educators Conference in January! There are a number of outstanding bands from many different levels that are already planning and preparing for their performances. Our clinics will be outstanding as well. Sessions are planned to provide practical solutions to make teaching and learning more efficient. There are sessions planned on specific topics like breathing techniques, lab bands, using technology, and dealing with parents. In addition to all of these we are anticipating the largest number of vendors we have ever hosted at the AMEA In-Service Conference.
The
worst thing may be that it will be difficult to take full advantage of all of these opportunities!
From Alabama Jazz Chair Randall Key...
All-State Jazz Band requirements are listed on the AMEA website at
http://www.alabamamea.org. Click on the Alabama Bandmasters Association link located at the top of the page, then click on 2012 All-State Jazz Band requirements.
The
postmark deadline for All-State audition material is November 10, 2011. A special thank you is extended to Sid Dedeaux for the implementation of additional all state jazz groups. Last year’s jazz ensembles were a huge success and we certainly encourage high school and jr. high students to submit an audition recording.
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