Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-06-07 19:23
Good points, Brandon, but let me tell a little personal story from a different perspective: My first two years in high school were terrific, as far as I was concerned -- we had a band director who was opposed to marching bands and instead concentrated his efforts on the concert bands and associated smaller groups (clarinet choir and other chamber groups, solo and ensemble festivals, etc.) We had one of the top concert bands in the state, we had probably the top high school orchestra in the state, we had lots of players in all kinds of honors bands, etc. etc. And no marching band. Yet we had plenty of community support for our efforts. Then the hammer fell. My senior year, the state of Maryland began forced school busing for racial integration, and among other things, the school principal demanded that the band director start a marching band. He refused and quit (retired from teaching music altogether, in fact). We got a new band director who was thoroughly incompetent in every respect, but by God, we now had a marching band! We overnight went from one of the best concert band programs to one of the worst in the state. Many of our best players quit music altogether. I had planned to study music in college, but that senior year gave me a rude awakening and I ended up studying engineering instead. What should have been one of the best years of my life, become a nightmare, and probably more than anything caused me to forego what I really love, music, for another field.
Is it fair for me to blame this on marching bands? No, but I think you can see from this why I'm not a fan of them. The problem, as I see it, is that too many times marching and concert bands are treated as mutually exclusive --- either/or --- rather than co-existing. Most schools don't have enough resources to support strong 'classical' and marching programs together; and as was pointed out by one of the other posters, many students don't have enough time in their schedules (or home lives) for both. So when the dollar crunch comes, who generally gets eliminated? Guess.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
