Klarinet Archive - Posting 001174.txt from 1998/09

From: Bloomlika@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Marching band
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 07:40:23 -0400

All this fuss over marching band? My son goes to the same high school that
his father & I both graduated from and even his grandfather, a small rural
community in Pennsylvania- aka the boonies. I played in the marching band when
I was in school there and we were ok, nothing spectaular but it was fun and an
experience I wouldn't ever trade for gold. My son has also marched in the band
there for 2 years now but under a different music director. Their band is
spectular. For a school with and entire student population of around 550 kids
in grades 7-12, the band has over 125 members. That is over one fourth of the
students involved in the band. Our high school is the smallest in the district
but we have the largest and the best marching. They win nearly every
competition they participate in. Why you might ask? I give credit to the
director. He loves the kids and they love him. He is strict but fair. His
attitude makes all the difference in the world. Watching him work with the
kids makes me wish I was back in high school marching in his band. (I'd rather
be 36 though and not 16 LOL). Marching band has it's place, perhaps not as a
tool for teaching the finer points of becoming a concert musician but in all
the other aspects involved with it.

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