education

Band Director Responsibilities

Leave a Comment / Assistant Directing, Personal experience, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

A few years ago, I was tasked with putting together a list of responsibilities of the head director at my school. This is a generic approximation of the band director position in a moderately large high school.

Band Director Hours
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Note: 150+ extra trips to the school for over 700 hours, equivalent to 18 – 40hr weeks.

Although there is some overlap, the above chart does NOT include the 180 school days of time/teaching.

Major decisions

Show Theme / Colors / Logo

Show Shirts; including color, design, vendor.

Basketball Shirts; including color, design, vendor.

Summer Parade Shirts; including color, engraving, design, vendor.

Color Guard Outfit(s), Flag design + performance props

Marching band uniforms; color, style, material, accessories, company, when + financing.

Competitions

How many

Which ones

What class / Contest Classifications, i.e. Scholastic, Festival, Open, BOA, MidStates

Hosting

Overseeing all contest logistics

Marching Band, Winter Guard, Indoor Percussion

Photographer for Band Pictures

Major Trip. 3 Hotel nights. Last trip cost @$83,000. Includes decisions about who could go/not go based on payment levels. Refunds? After trip collections? Also 22hr bus travel and night-time hotel supervision during stay.

Show Props. Organizing, overseeing design, construction, implementation.

Assembly of carts for front ensemble.

Music and design adjustments and rehearse and clean a Class A competitive marching show.

Recruiting, hiring, funding drill designer, music arranger, Color Guard choreographer, specialty coaches and field instructor.

Communicate/coordinate with the middle school directors.

Overseeing Instrument Purchase Plan and Repair Contract for the Corporation

Seating Charts / Part Assignments

Parade Block

Marching Band inside

Pre-Game Marching Assignments / Select Music / Write Drill

Marching Drill Assignments

Multiple Fall and Spring Concert Bands

Basketball Bands (2 bands x @6 games ea)

Music Selection

Multiple Fall and Spring Concert Bands

Fall Marching Band for Holiday Concert

Jazz Band for 4-6 performances

Spring Concert Band Tour

ADDITIONAL TASKS

Band office work

Retrieve/file music.

Take care of reeds, oils, sticks, and other supplies students purchase.

Make minor instrument repairs. Coordinate more significant repairs with the music store rep, including pickup, return — and keeping students/parents informed of status.

Reserve buses for all band trips; parades, contests (see above).

Complete Facility Use paperwork for each time during the year that you need the gym or auditorium for rehearsals and performances.

Collaborate instrumental purchase plan with other directors and the corporation’s financial person

Register and arrange payment for all competitions, plus acquire field trip approval and buses.

Maintain grade book.

Write weekly schedules / TWIBs. (This Week In Band), plus daily Band Camp or rehearsal schedule.

Write and publish band handbook.Register for all contests, parades and festivals.

Keep attendance records for school plus rehearsals, performances.

Make Accompaniment and practice mp3’s for individuals and for playing test practice

Write, transcribe, transpose music to fill in special parts for marching, concert, jazz music

Grant writing School Policies Compliance

Oversee school budget, complete paperwork for both deposits and withdrawals and pay vendors

Design and print programs for concerts and banquets.

Determine and create awards, plaques and other recognitions for end of year awards banquet.

Maintain “needs” list for when someone asks, for grant-writing, or when opportunities arise

Publicity: Newspapers, school announcements, website, email blasts, etc.

Maintain online calendar for rehearsals, performances

Scan, post all pep band music for download to student iPads

Maintain social media sites: web/blog, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, instagram, google+, etc.

Maintain band data base with home and cell phones and email addresses for multiple parent/guardian families plus students with separate contact info.

Design reports/seating charts (marching band, 5 concert bands, combined bands, graduation band) / parade block assignments/drill chart assignments/pre-game assignments/squads/basketball band assignments…or labels for music folders, shirts, mailings.

Organize a pre-solo/ensemble contest practice recital

Organize free piano accompanists for students unable to pay

Classroom Activities

Schedule, conduct and analyze playing tests or challenges. Assign seating for ensemble balance.

Update daily classroom announcements: Include standards, birthdays, calendar updates and enough jokes to keep students watching. Music accompaniment a plus.

Keep classroom presentable and clutter free for use by a variety of classes, ensembles and outside groups

Find ways to meet state and/or national standards without sacrificing the performance expectation overload

Create, distribute, collect health forms and ensure 100% compliance and that forms travel with the band.

Specialty Ensembles

Supervise some of the auxiliary ensembles; drumline, sideline ensemble, winter percussion, color guard, winter guard

Approve creative recommendations for specialty uniforms, flags, props, etc and oversee construction.

Collaboration with other Staff

Coordinate with choir director for rehearsals involving students in both groups

Sharing instrumentalists with show choir backup ensemble, school musicals

Share room and equipment (i.e. keyboards, megaphones, uniforms, instruments) with other teachers, classes and groups

Guidance Counselors for student scheduling and to encourage promotion of the band program

Attend meetings

School required faculty meetings, including mandatory training, department collaboration

IEP and other school meetings on behalf of individual students

Band Parent Organization, including Executive Board, Officers Only and General meetings.

Fundraising projects

“Director Reports”

Collaborating with individual fee collection

Dealing with personality clashes and chaperone issues

Overseeing special committees; i.e contest, uniform, major fundraising

Design teams (drill/choreographer, music, uniform/equipment design) for marching band, winter guard and indoor percussion shows

School mandated parent/teacher conferences

Meetings requested by students or parents

School Board meetings involving related budgets and programs

Make emergency judgment call decisions / calls when a student is injured or having medical issues in rehearsal or away at competitions.

Select Drum Major(s): Includes training, practicing, recruiting judges and providing selection criteria

Organize conducting, college prep or leadership classes/seminars

Organize overnight trips (i.e. Disney). Select travel consultant, solicit board approval, promote/oversee payments.

Solo and Ensemble

Promote/Recruit Participants

Attend Solo/Ensemble festivals at District or State.

Encourage and organize solo and ensemble participants, recruit pianists, ensure adequate practice and provide most participants free individual coaching sessions

Assist in individual (participation fees, pay-to-play, fair share) collections.

Write letters of recommendation for scholarships, college/job applications

Assist with auditions for area honor bands and specialty groups

I’m confident this list is NOT exhaustive, and would love to add to this list with other activities/responsibilities you experience or know about in your school.

Thanks for reading.

John

Need help with your social media….?

Social Media Word Cloud

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10 Anti-Excellence HS Peer Pressure Standards

Leave a Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

When I asked my high school Valedictorian son why he had chosen a particular top-tier university and why he was tired of being the geek.

I’m tired of being the geek. I’m tired of ruining the curve. I’m tired of people getting mad at me because I do the extra credit anyway. I want to go somewhere I can be normal; where it is okay to be an achiever.

Pressure surrounds teens.

Parents push them to do better. Teachers need performance data in the ever-increasing “prove-you’re-teaching-and-they-are-learning” world of government schools.  The strongest pressure, however, can come from peers.

In handing out a “pre-test”, a beginning of a semester assessment to find out where students are on a subject, a teacher was explaining to the class.

“This is NOT for a grade. This is to help me find out where to start. If you already know most of what is on this pre-test, I’ll be able to give you higher-level work.”

A student in the class spoke up,

“Fail it!”

The message was clear.

“If we look like we know stuff, they will give us more. If we all fail the pre-test, we’ll get easy stuff to do. LET’S GO!”

Anybody can be mediocre

Here is some of the unwritten peer-pressure-code of many high schools:

  • Go easy on the pre-test. Save your effort for the one that counts.
  • Don’t ruin the curve.
  • If you turn it in early, you make the rest of us look bad.
  • If the instruction says 500 words, don’t do 501.
  • Just do what you have to do to get the grade your parents won’t yell about.
  • Don’t study at home, practice at home or do extra research at home because they’ll start expecting MORE.
  • The teacher will adjust the level of work to the level of the class. We vote for easy. Don’t mess it up for us.
  • Share your work with us…. we’ll change a few words and get away with it.
  • Teachers are the enemy. Don’t be a “teacher’s favorite”. The only time you should be “friendly” to a teacher is when you need something – or when you’re asking for more time, etc.
  • Snitches get stitches. C’mon! Who’s side are you ON?
  • If they give us the entire class period to take a test – take the entire time. If we get done too early, they will start on something else.
  • Tell your teachers what they want to hear, even if you have to make it up.
  • Use up the entire limit: number of times you can be tardy, number of times you can be called out before discipline, number of assignments you can miss, number of low grades that will be dropped…..and then use your puppy dog eyes and maybe even a few tears to plead for mercy, forgiveness and another chance — after the limit is hit.

Below are a few of the pics/graphics I try to use to encourage a different path…..

If you want to do
This pic is from the goal line of Lucas Oil in Indianapolis. Indiana bands have state finals here. Drum Corps International and Bands of America have national finals here. And…. many of my students call me ‘G’…

Excellence

Get Things Done

If the notes are on the paper

You should seldom have to tellSlide29Slide30

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Band Freshman vs General Population Freshman

Leave a Comment / High Schools, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

Large school floor plan
Large school floor plan

8th-grade students going into a large high school should consider the advantages of being in (staying in) marching band vs entering as a General Population Freshman. If you’re already signed up, yay for YOU. If you were in 8th grade band, but have not signed up for high school marching band…..read on — and know that it is not too late to change your mind. And if you have never been in band….the good news is that you CAN be. Join the Color Guard — or ask for a spot in the front ensemble. We can teach you auxiliary percussion parts. Play piano. You’re hired!

The local high school has a population near 1500 with about 40 outside doors and multiple main north/south and east/west hallways. Lockers are somewhat segregated by class….so most freshmen lockers are far away from seniors’. It is a safe school with only rare hallway confrontations. Great students, BUT…. a freshman walking down the “senior” hallway might hear some comments.

What’s that freshman doing in our hallway? Did you see him trying to talk to a senior?

For the most part, seniors ignore freshmen and freshmen steer clear of seniors….

except for BAND freshmen!

…

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Band Freshman vs General Population Freshman Read More »

3 Types of Thriving Teens

Leave a Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Public Schools, Respect, Teaching /

By John Gardner

On three

1. Good Teens thrive BECAUSE of their parents

For one group, I give much credit to good parenting. These are the parents who are active and involved in their teen’s life. They’re on the PTO, in the band/choir/athletic booster groups, they come to watch practices, performances or games, they volunteer to help and they put up the money that most worth while ventures require. Some, are more behind the scenes supporting, enabling  and encouraging. Outside of school activities, the family is together a lot. Maybe there isn’t a lot of money for fancy vacations, but they find ways to do things together anyway. Single parents and those who have remarried can also do fantastic jobs. My heart goes out to those super parents who are experiencing what author James Dobson calls “the strong-willed child”.

Keep the faith and keep doing what you’re doing. The teen will figure it out eventually.

2. Good Teens thrive IN SPITE of their parents

A second group, and one that I especially admire, are those teens who turn out great “in spite of”  their parents. These are the teens who“ have every reason (mostly by example) to crash and burn, and yet, they determine NOT to follow the paths of their parents and instead, commit themselves to a better life.

I’m not faulting single, lower-income, laid off or otherwise challenged parents doing the best they can. My parents divorced when I (oldest of 5) was in 7th grade. My mother was a polio-survivor without a car. We didn’t have it easy but we had love and support — and we all survived.

I DO fault those who could but don’t share or support the child’s enthusiasm for a worthy activity.

Your child knows, is hurt, embarrassed and deflated by your lack of support.

A high school clarinet student once tell me,

“My dad has never heard me play.”

You will only have that child in your care for a short time.

I was outside our band entrance door greeting students arriving for rehearsal. The car stopped and both student and parent got out. The girl ran to me, in tears, frantically exclaiming, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” before running into the building. Behind her came the papa with the band schedule in hand. There was no warm, fuzzy response to my “Hi, how ya doin’?” Instead, he almost slapped me in the face with the schedule as he grunted, “How much of this schedule is mandatory?” After my response, “All of it.”, he mumbled something I wouldn’t print even if I heard it clearly. The daughter was waiting for me in the office, still crying, and apologizing for what she was sure I had endured. My respect and admiration for her attitude and work ethic skyrocketed after that.

A sophomore asked me for some personal clarinet coaching. Things were going great until she came in one day tearfully explaining she had to quit. She had gotten a job to pay for her lessons, because her parents would not, and when they learned how she was spending her earnings, they started charging her rent.

I continued her lessons anyway.

Another student came in from the parking lot to ask for some help with a flat tire. He called his mother while the other director and I taught him how to change a tire. To get to the spare, he had to unhook the huge woofer in the trunk. The mother and boyfriend arrived and, instead of thanking us for staying or trying to help, boyfriend starts screaming at the teen, “How dare you let somebody else touch my car. This isn’t over, kid.”

These are the students we find walking home after the concert, football game, or competition — because they know their parents will not come pick them up. Some get their own jobs to raise their own money to pay the participation fees, even earning money to go on trips.

3. Good Teens thrive because of who they are

Some teens naturally have what it takes for greatness. Natural greatness combined with good parenting is definitely a winning combination.

Thanks for reading.

John

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I WANT To Trust You

Leave a Comment / Communication, High Schools, Teaching /

Update: This was originally posted a few years ago, prior to my 2020 retirement,  and represents the qualities of trust that I shared with and expected from my students. I’d appreciate your feedback. Consider leaving a comment. Thank you. -John Gardner

Screenshot 2015-07-05 13.01.12
“Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honesty, I lose myself.” –William Shakespear
“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.”–Janis Joplin
“Some things are black and white, right and wrong, good and bad. Honesty is one of those things. You have it or you don’t.
“I can trust you – or I can’t.” -G

On TV, honesty seems to be relative; use it when you can, abandon it when it helps the moment. That is a sad reality that we must avoid in band. Trust requires honesty. Without trust, everything you do or say must be doubted, questioned or verified.

Trust lost is hard to earn back.

In a conversation with band students, I asked for the most common answer from a teacher after a student request. “No.” I asked for the most common response from parents… “No.” Could it be that the tendency to say ‘No’ is at least partially driven by a low trust factor caused by a questionable honesty level? I say yes….in many cases.

So who goes first?

Dear students,

I WANT to trust you. I WANT to believe you. I WANT to say ‘Yes’. I WANT you to be truthful with me and I’m willing to take the first reasonable risk. The danger, for me then, is that some people are so accustomed to saying what is convenient at the moment (situational ethics?) that they do that with ME (automatically or intentionally – doesn’t matter) …..and I get burned, disappointed, even hurt.

Why do I take it so personally? I wish I didn’t, but I do.

I almost lost my job once, as a young District Sales Manager for a national fundraising company, when I went to bat for some reps only to discover they had been feeding me lies. My boss’ response to my frustration and question about how to know who to trust was, “Trust is a treasure that some people haven’t earned, don’t value or can’t handle. You have to learn WHO you can give HOW MUCH to.”

“Trust, but verify.” -Ronald Reagan

“You won’t get away with it.” -my pastor

My mama used to say…

“Burn me once, shame on YOU!
Burn me twice, shame on ME!”

A former student from my first teaching job posted on my facebook:

“I’m remembering a little white lie that Tina and I told you just to get out of class for a minute or two……..Unfortunately, you found out about it. I’ve never felt so guilty as when I was caught tricking YOU! You were the TEACHER to go to when things weren’t going ok. And a trusted teacher…….I was SO sorry!”

So this is not a new problem for me. It isn’t something that JUST happend. IT happens…. Sometimes you can get me …. yes you can. Some of you are very good at trying, because your moral compass is off….or broken. Sometimes, I DO give you the benefit of my doubt.  Burn me once….

Here’s the bottom line, the brutal truth, the real consequence… and it is important that YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE.

If I give you MY TRUST and you respond with YOUR LIES …. it changes EVERYTHING, including my ability to trust and respect YOU….probably for longer than it should. I can still be your teacher. I can still treat you with professionalism and dignity. But, burn me twice….

So what? Maybe nothing…..because then I become like all the other adults in your life who will almost always say no and who will be compelled to question and verify everything you say….and the games go on.

That makes me sad.

With respect and trust,
-G

Cracking and crumbling of the word Trust

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My first employee quit a secure job to work straight commission

Leave a Comment / Business strategies, Fundraising, Income Opportunity, Job Search, Personal experience, Sales and Marketing, Selling in the Schoolhouse, Small Business /

i-quitBefore I left my first sales job, I had worked five years for a national manufacturing company. The company spent a lot of time making the case that, even though ours was a “draw-against-commission” job (straight commission with a regular check, in other words), we had the security of management and big business backing us up and that life on the outside competing as a “trunk-slammer” who represented a variety of manufacturers and importers was an extremely high-risk proposition.

Bob, the manager who hired me left the company during my fourth year to go work for an importer that competed with my manufacturing company employer. A few months into his new job he called me…

John, you gotta get outta there. There are too many stupid people out here making too much money trying to do what you have already been trained to do. Make the jump, you’ll be fine.

He sent me information and I started researching the contract I was under. This process went on for several months. I started making plans and connections. Then I got another call from Bob,

John, have you left yet?

No, but I have one foot out the door.

Well, never mind. Don’t go. I’m back!

He had been hired back as upper-level management. I did resign and was one of the very few who did so to start working independently in the same business, who did NOT get challenged on the contract — and my theory as to why — is that Bob, did not want to have to answer in court that he was, in fact, the one who told me to leave and advised me to do exactly what I did. I’m glad they hired him back.

My wife and I ate beans and cornbread for a few months, but we got our business up and running and never looked back.

As I made the rounds to some of my former customers to tell them that I was still in business, but would be operating under another name, George, an Assistant Middle School Principal and Athletic Director started asking me a lot of questions and expressed an interest in coming to work for me in my new business.

But George, you have tenure, a Masters Degree and a Principal’s License. I can’t pay you anything until you sell something. Take a couple weeks to think about it.

A few weeks later I called George,

Just checking in to answer questions and see what I can do to help reduce your stress as you consider your options.

I’m not under stress anymore. I just resigned.

I know it took him a couple years to match the income he walked away from, but I underestimated the thrill of helping get an operation off the ground. George was a faithful and successful sales rep for me for twenty years until his retirement a few years ago.

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Broken Trust and the Damage Bad Teachers Cause

Leave a Comment / Communication, High Schools, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

Cracking and crumbling of the word TrustAnother news story of a teacher caught up in a sexual situation with students. Sad and disturbing on multiple levels because at least two lives are damaged — forever changed. Students become hesitant to open up to and trust teachers. Parents become understandably hyper-sensitive and maybe over-protective.

Most teachers work so hard to build proper, trust-based relationships with students. 

My intent was never to make students obey commands because I was the authority in the classroom. I wanted them to listen and want to follow my guidance because they TRUSTed that what I am saying was best for the ensemble collectively and for him/her individually. I didn’t want to be their ‘best bud’. I wanted to be a life-mentor, someone they will look back at 20 years from now with favorable memories of someone who helped them get through some of their high school hurdles.

Of course, there are several reasons for a student to hesitate to trust: 1) parents have broken trust between themselves and with their children — so the teen, wanting protection from future pain, erects a shield to keep people out, 2) friends break trust — so hurt teens conclude trust is risky and 3) teachers like the one in the news.

So who am I to expect students to trust ME? I get it. It makes me sad sometimes — when I sense that a student really needs to talk through something but is afraid to lower that shield. Or when I see one heading in a potentially negative life-impacting (but not physically dangerous) direction and regrettably conclude that, because it is none of my ‘business’, i.e. outside my teaching subject, that I need to stay in my space and not try to cross over into his/hers.  I do understand.

As I started writing, I realized I’ve said variations of all this before. I used the search function on my blog, entered “trust” and found the following:  …

Broken Trust and the Damage Bad Teachers CauseRead More »

Broken Trust and the Damage Bad Teachers Cause Read More »

My Philosophy of Education and why I interact with students the way I do

Leave a Comment / Classroom Teacher, High Schools, Personal experience, Storytelling, Teaching, Teaching Music /
Click the pic to get to the article.
Click the pic to get to the article.

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