Klarinet Archive - Posting 000920.txt from 1999/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] school music programs(kinda defending corps too)
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 01:08:04 -0400

At 07:29 PM 7/24/1999 -0500, Roger Garrett wrote:
>On Sat, 24 Jul 1999, Bill Hausmann wrote:
>> If the director
>> has the time and resources to do only ONE band in the fall, facing the
>> above listed pressures, he can either do marching band or they will find
>> someone else who will.
>
>Really? You mean if the teacher believes that marching should entertain
>and not compete, he has no choice but to run the band through Christmas -
>even when the games are done in early November?
>
Excuse me, but I do not recall stating any time limits. Once the football
season is over, the need for doing half-time shows obviously diminishes.
Of course, Christmas parades, etc., are still a possibility. When actual
marching practice is no longer needed, there is nothing I can think of to
stop the band from doing concert music with the same group of people until
the semester ends.

>Which pressures do you mean......and I am asking for specific pressures
>that were listed on the original post. They are necessary to back up your
>statment above.

If you had quoted the whole passage, you would have seen the pressures I
referred to. The whole paragraph went as follows:

>And just how else would you do it, when you are the sole band director in a
small school in charge of both high school and junior high bands, and the
administration, school board, athletic department, etc., insist that you
have a marching band? I'm sure there are large, rich schools out there
with multiple directors who can field marching and concert bands at the
same time, and I envy them. But I have never seen one. If the director
has the time and resources to do only ONE band in the fall, facing the
above listed pressures, he can either do marching band or they will find
someone else who will...

>> I'm not much of a fan of ANY band competition, marching or otherwise. I
>> think bands should, instead of preparing endlessly for one single
>> competition performance, rehearse and perform completely different
>> concerts/shows as often as the availability of a stage/football field will
>> allow! One local school district, a fairly affluent one with two high
>> schools, does not participate in competitions, but fields fine marching
>> bands anyway. The hold an invitational exhibition each fall where bands
>> perform for stands full of people (not a football in sight!) and receive
>> critiques from judges, but no grades.
>
>Should they, in your opinion compete? Should the teacher, once tenured
>continue to teach music in this way.....even if administrative pressure
>says that's what they want? Do educators have the job of educating
>administrators also (perhaps in lieu of teaching home values to kids)?
>
Was I not clear? I said I personally do not favor the concept of band
competition. What does that have to do with tenure? In the school
district I cited, the administration wholeheartedly supports the
non-competition policy. I believe they DICTATE it. They obviously realize
that the number of band trophies is not necessarily proportional to the
quality of education.
As for your question about educating administators vs. educating kids,
don't be silly. It's not an either/or situation.

>> Marching band is not the world's greatest good; neither is it, except in
>> the wrong hands, an evil in and of itself.
>
>You have used the word evil twice - but I don't recognize the word in any
>other posts. It sounds like you may have had a bad experience with
>someone who feels that way and you might be concluding some things
>regarding my posts that aren't accurate?
>
Twice? Whatever. No, my use of the word is not directed specifically
toward you, but several posts by you and others have made it very clear
that marching band is considered to be, at best, a waste of time and at
worst, an embouchure destroyer and practice time eliminator. For
convenience, I reduced that to the word "evil."

>> Many of us have had very
>> positive marching band experiences, recognize marching band for what it is,
>> appreciate that, and would like to respectfully suggest, to those who
>> insist that only the development of more symphony-calibre clarinetists to
>> compete for the few potential openings is important, that they back off!
>
>Gee.....and I thought I enjoyed my college marching experience a lot. I
>know my high school bands enjoyed their marching experiences. I'm trying
>to read through the sarcasm and see exactly your point. Please restate in
>a less ambiguous way?
>
OK. Marching band is probably not be the best way to develop a first-rate
symphony clarinetist (I believe we are in agreement on this point). But
out of your typical high school band of, keeping things in round numbers,
100 members, how many professional symphony players do you expect to
produce? Two? Even that strikes me as extremely optimistic. And will
that number significantly change if your school suddenly drops marching
band and has concert band all year instead? I submit that the benefits of
marching band that can be obtained by the other 98 exceed anything which
might theoretically be lost by the two. (This assumes, of course, that the
program is not being run by a jackass, as some surely are, which ruins it
for all 100.)

>> Even though the musical value of marching band can be questioned, the
>> overall value is frequently great. Let's just leave it at that.
>
>Maybe for you and your own private experience. Please tell me what you
>think of it in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, South
>Dakota.........non-Texas/southern states? Is its overall vaule frequently
>great there?
>
What does geography have to do with it? There have been posts of positive
experiences from all around. Negatives also come from multiple areas. I
stand by my statement: The OVERALL value of marching band to students'
personal (and even musical) development is FREQUENTLY (not always, not
never) great.

>> Besides,
>> how many of those people in the stands at halftime have ever even HEARD
>> "Carmina Burana" much less SPELLED it? The exposure to even an arranged
>> and choreographed version is better than no exposure at all!
>
>I'm afraid I disagree with you on this last item. Most people won't
>remember any titles from a Marching show.....let alone sing a melody. We
>don't educate the masses by watering down the work, leaving out the
>important issues in the piece and asking people to walk around on a field
>and present this......and then say, by the way, this is Orff's Carmina
>Burana.
>
>There are other things that maybe they should hear first.....and then
>maybe they can decide to go listen to some really good Orff somewhere?
>Frankly, most people aren't ready for it anyway.
>
If you lead a horse to water... Yes, they SHOULD hear other things first.
But they DON'T! You did, I did, many people we hang around with did, but
many do not. Maybe the marching band's performance will inspire them to go
and seek out the real thing. If it does, great. If they do not remember
it, well...you haven't hurt them any. I suppose you could seat the local
symphony orchestra and chorus on the field at half-time and play the
complete original score, but somehow I don't think that is a better idea.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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