Band VP’s Message
Quit Staring . . . at the Scoreboard
Brian Redmond WMEA Band VP
“Getting a well-rounded education and developing a love of learning that hopefully will continue to last my lifetime certainly helped prepare me to understand what’s coming at me in
this world and to adapt” - Len Elmore (Sportscaster, lawyer, former NBA player)
Let’s play a game: You are the director of one of the two following bands. Which one would you choose to be (not take over for and change, but rather who do you want to be)?
Band #1 - 20 students in 9-12 band. The students do not have a strong musical foundation but have been improving steadily during your time with the program. Grade 2 pieces are challenging for this group. The band has not received a superior rating at festival for as long as anyone can remember, and hasn’t sent anyone to All State in even longer. The students generally work hard and work well together.
Band #2 - 100 students in 9-12 band. The band has an outstanding musical foundation, typically playing pieces that are challenging and complex. Students from this band regularly attend All State, and superior ratings are expected at festivals. The students do not get along well as a whole, to the point where there have been fights between band members. The director spends as much time dealing with the SRO as with the concert band literature.
Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to attend the
Josten’s Renaissance National Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. For five blisteringly hot days, I was able to talk philosophy with principals and educators from across the nation, sharing ideas and information. Through it all, I learned a lot - most of which can be boiled down into the following:
• Some people spend too much time looking at the scoreboard and forget there’s a game going on! - Phil Boyte (former principal and current educational consultant)
• We are what we believe” - Richard Parkhouse (author) These two quotes have the potential to shape our upcoming
school year. How much time do we, as professionals, spend looking at our own scoreboard? Do we get caught up in matters of importance (the game) or things that reflect the important stuff (the scoreboard)?
As a young educator, I spent a great deal of time pouring
over my festival results - looking for trends, areas of weakness, potential aberrations in the judges’ scores, etc. I felt that good scores meant that I was a good teacher, and if I am a good teacher, I’ll have a strong program. While my chain of events made sense, looking back, I had things in the wrong order. My festival results did not dictate my teaching ability - it was (and is) the other way around. If I am a good teacher, I can create and maintain a strong program, which will be reflected in “good scores”.
While this is not earth shattering material for (hopefully) most
of you, I’d like to point out the wide number of scoreboard things that we seem to fall into the trap of using to justify and evaluate ourselves. How often do you evaluate or spend vast amounts of time focusing on the following:
• State marching band scores • Number of kids in District Clinic/All State/All Northwest/ All National
• District festival/jazz festival scores • Number of kids enrolled in your program • Number of kids enrolled in the program “down the road” • Budget/Equipment/Facilities
These things are all important tools to help us gauge the health
and effectiveness of the work that we do. Ultimately, however, these cannot be the final indicator of the “perfect program.” If “we are what we believe,” can a II at district festival be a good score? Can a superior be a bad thing? Can Band #1 be a “good band”?
Looking at the two bands from the beginning, the “scoreboard”
is pretty clear - Band #2 should be the “better” band. Band #2 lights up the scoreboard, but is Band #2 preparing the students for success in life? Is Band #2 instilling a sense of accomplishment
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Wyoming Windsong
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