Klarinet Archive - Posting 000408.txt from 2001/03

From: "Jim Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] re: Band Rivals
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 17:46:06 -0500

Weekly challenges can be very productive, if handled correctly. Paranoia?
Perpetual anxiety? Psychobabble. We have turned into a Prozac society.
God forbid that anything should cause a little stress.

I lived through five years of challenges with the high school band. (I was
brought up from the middle school to play bass clarinet in concert festival
due to the girl playing the bcl having "an accident" and having to move to
her aunt's for a few months in Ohio.) After festival, I moved into the last
clarinet chair part (still doubling bass). I challenged my way up to first
part. Took a couple of years. There were rules: Different music for every
challenge. All challenges suspended 30 days before concert or festival.
You had to challenge the next chair. Challenges were not a part of the
grades. Etc. The only stress we had was what we put on ourselves, and the
extra practice that we elected to do to either defend or challenge. Anyone
who didn't want the stress could refuse the challenge and swap chairs,
although few ever did it. My senior year, my best friend and I had our
weekly challenges, and swapped seats back and forth. (This didn't damage
the sound of the band, since we shared first stand, so it was the same part,
whoever won. And it never damaged our friendship.)

I used the same principal when I taught band, and never had a player even
reduced to tears, much less wind up in a state of perpetual anxiety. A
challenge system encourages a desire for excellence, and the extra practice
that goes into it helps step up that ladder. I realize that a lot of
schools today teach that it doesn't matter whether you win or lose -- or if
you're right or wrong -- as long as you "feel good" about yourself. That's
not my way. Of course, A fundamental goal of art is pleasure. What can be
more pleasurable than being the best at what you do?

Jim Hobby

>Weekly challenges are not very productive - I agree. It says there is a
>problem with teacher motivation. It also brings into question how the
>teacher grades........

>What do you do if there aren't enough teachers or instruments? But this
>particular young lady's situation seemed unacceptable to me --- the sort
>of thing that breeds paranoia and perpetual anxiety and a need to
>retaliate and cliques and isolation and anger and that reinforces
>undesireable personality traits. As I said above, the fundamental goal
>of art is pleasure (IMO).

>Whatever the fundamental goal is, it shouldn't result in paranoia and
>perpetual anxiety - I agree.

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