Five Powerful Strategies To Begin Your Year
As we begin this new school year, it is always a good idea to try and take a little time and review where we have come from and also look forward to where we want to travel. I came across this previous contribution to “Tips That Click” many years ago and have reflected on it personally at the beginning of every year since I discovered it. Dr. Johnny Jacobs wrote this in the early 90’s when he was serving as Band Supervisor for the Jefferson County school system after a full and successful career on the podium. Jefferson County was the flagship school system in the state at that time and leadership of Dr. Jacobs and his predecessor, Mr. Larry Deagon, set a benchmark for the instrumental music programs of the entire region. Dr. Jacobs says so many good things in a relatively few words and I hope this article will get your year off to a good start!
Supervisor’s Broken Record Dr. Johnny Jacobs
While trying to arrive at an unusual contribution to this column, I realized that such a contribution would be more likely to come from my point of observation than from what I might say. As a supervisor of bands for the last four years, I have had the opportunity to assist many band directors. In doing this I find myself saying some things over and over. Some of these things are neither new nor profound, but are apparently issues that are prone to escape one’s consciousness in the day-to-day fray. If I find it necessary to give these reminders to my outstanding group of teachers, perhaps they might be meaningful to you the readers of this column. So, here are five bands from my broken record.
1. LET THE BAND WEAR ITS OWN SHOES
Many times I witness a combination of teacher frustration, student frustration, and overall inefficiency, because what is being attempted does not fit the circumstances. In
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this case, what is being attempted is not based on the needs of the students but on the needs or preconceptions of the director. Band directors frequently enter new situations with goals based on the kind of band they want to have and the kind of performances they want to present. The band we have in our fantasies, the band someone else had or has, the band we were in high school, or the band we had at another time and place may have little relationship to the present situation.
The teacher’s needs and desires certainly cannot be ignored; however, the goals of a band program should be based on the needs of the students. This means the particular students in the current situation. If I were to say that the director’s desire to perform the Hindemith Symphony or the latest Cadets drill should be forgone until he or she has the band to do it, all would agree. Goal misappropriation, however, does not have to be this obvious or extreme to be problematical. It can be subtle, it can extend to all aspects of the band program, and it can result from too much caution as wells a too much ambition.
Keep an open mind concerning what you plan to attempt until you have assessed the needs of the students, the capabilities of the students, resources of the situation, and the limitations of the situation. Much frustration and inefficiency will be avoided as a result.
2. DO LESS AND DO IT BETTER
I frequently observe directors who are trying to do too much and not doing any of it really well. It is good to have after school practice. It is good to have section rehearsals. It is good to have jazz ensemble. It is good for every student to play a solo and play in a small ensemble. It is good to give private lessons. It is good to have a pass off system. It is good to hear challenges. It is good to have visiting clinicians. It is good to teach theory and appreciation. It is good
Phi Beta Mu
to take students to honor band. It is good to go to contest. It is good to go to band camp. It is good to play concerts. Do you see the point? Too much good can become superficially executed; then it ceases to be truly good.
The same point can be made in the organizational area of the band. Someone somewhere has devised a form for every conceivable purpose. The problem is that someone has to fill them out and someone has to keep up with them. There are, of course, certain things that a responsible, ethical band director has to do. There are some who do not do these things, because they are unethical and irresponsible. They glide by with far less than appropriate effort. There are also some directors who try to implement every good idea that anybody ever had. In most school settings this is futile.
Be realistic. Do the ethical basics and whatever else you can add and still do a thorough job. Your students will be better off than if you attempt too much and do it haphazardly, and you might make it to retirement without burning out.
3. DON’T DEPEND ON THE KIDS
“My band would be a lot better if my kids would practice at home.” Have you ever said or heard this? It is a worthless statement and is probably not even true.
Students need to be motivated to practice individually. They need to be taught how to practice successfully. How good your band is will definitely relate to how successful you are at getting them to do it. You do not, however, have to depend nor should you depend, on their doing it for the band to be good and to be successful. (I am talking to most folks. If “good” and successful” to you means a standing ovation at the Midwest Clinic, I am probably not talking to you.)
August/September 2016
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