Klarinet Archive - Posting 000341.txt from 1998/03
From: Rich & Tani Miller <musicians@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Music in schools, was Marching Band
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 14:43:24 -0500
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Roger Garrett wrote:
> It would be MUCH harder to rationalize and defend a
> requirement in which there was a symphonic band separate from the marching
> band.
>
Actually you can justify marching band as an extracurricular activity and
concert band as a curricular subject very easily.
Marching band performs and practices mostly afterschool and on weekends. How
many English classes meet that often off the regular school day. Now concert
band concerts do happen, most of the time, off the regular school day but not
with nearly the frequency as marching band. There are many many pros and
cons to this argument. The best way to do this in my opinion (yes I'm
allowed to have an opinion!!!!), is to treat your concert band as an academic
subject. Set goals, make assignments, make students accountable for
assignments, and most importantly, assess their progress regularly. Have
grading requirements for each report card period. For you music teachers,
rubrics work well in both assignments and assessments. Learning occurs, is
assessed--voila, isn't that what happens in art, English, math, et. Of
course you need to keep marching band off the regular school day and that
isn't as easy as it sounds if you are accustomed to rehearsing on the school
day. In addition, I live in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania--Amish country.
Traditions die hard here, I know change can be difficult when it affects a
large number of people!!!!!!
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<HTML>
Roger Garrett wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE> It would be MUCH harder to rationalize and defend a
requirement in which there was a symphonic band separate from the marching
band.</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>Actually you can justify marching band as an extracurricular activity
and concert band as a curricular subject very easily.
<P>Marching band performs and practices mostly afterschool and on weekends.
How many English classes meet that often off the regular school day.
Now concert band concerts do happen, most of the time, off the regular
school day but not with nearly the frequency as marching band. There
are many many pros and cons to this argument. The best way to do
this in my opinion (yes I'm allowed to have an opinion!!!!), is to treat
your concert band as an academic subject. Set goals, make assignments,
make students accountable for assignments, and most importantly, assess
their progress regularly. Have grading requirements for each report
card period. For you music teachers, rubrics work well in both assignments
and assessments. Learning occurs, is assessed--voila, isn't that
what happens in art, English, math, et. Of course you need to keep
marching band off the regular school day and that isn't as easy as it sounds
if you are accustomed to rehearsing on the school day. In addition,
I live in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania--Amish country. Traditions
die hard here, I know change can be difficult when it affects a large number
of people!!!!!!</HTML>
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