I promised multiple stories. Here is Story #2. The first story is HERE.
I was a music teacher in the system from 2005-2020 (retired). This happened during that time…not sure the year.
$ $ $ $ $
Word came to the instrumental dept that one of our two contracted summer sessions would be cut from the budget and band parents could take over funding to keep both sessions functioning.
I was tasked with making our case before the board. The “conversation” went something like this…..
Me: Our FIRST summer session starts before the end of the Spring semester when we start integrating incoming students and preparing for the local June parade. Do you want the band to represent the school in the HD parade?
Board: Of course, the band MUST march in the parade.
Me: Our SECOND summer session starts a few weeks before the Fall semester and is when the band learns music, marching fundamentals, and the performance show for football games and band competitions. Do you want the band at the football games?
Board: Absolutely, the band MUST be at the football games.
Result: Funding continued for both summer sessions.
We had a Marching Band Drill Writer/Visual Tech who would use this instruction when talking about “horns up”. He wasn’t from Boston, but used that type of accent. Here is what he was talking about:
“Wait LONGA” means don’t rush it. Don’t move early. Wait until the last possible moment.
“Move FASA”. Once you move, move fast….like two film windows….. one you’re down, the next you’re up…. with very fast movement.
“Hit HARDA”. Without losing any teeth, stop the movement as if it hit something.
This graphic illustrates a scenario we all face, individually, in business, in school as well as in music ensembles. Most of us, at least once, have been to the edge, looked down, looked across and pondered the possibilities. It is easy to say you want to get better, but how do you make that leap to the other side?
Realize that not everyone WANTS to get to the other side.
Many are satisfied with the way things are, represented by this marching band member attitude:
I am okay where I am. I am not last chair, I can play my part reasonably well, I can pass the playing test. I see those people on the other side…..so much pressure, so much work, and for what? Band is a good social group. It is a good place to find a date, to make friends, to feel connected. I enjoy the bus rides, the longer the better. The band parent provided food at competitions is good and I like the freedom during the down time to hang with my friends and watch some other bands.
You are, after all, standing on solid ground. It is safe where you are. You KNOW where you are and are in your comfort zone. You look over the edge and see danger. You could fall, you could fail. You could get hurt.
WANT it….with everything that is within you.
You hear the musician who plays the more difficult solo or watch the marching band put on a crowd cheering performance. You see the elation at the award ceremony and YOU WANT THAT.
In “The Return of the Jedi”, as Luke Skywalker finally stands before his ultimate enemy, the Emperor says to the young Jedi who is viewing and considering his weapon,
You want this, don’t you?
Know that small, safe, baby steps won’t make it.
If you stand on the edge, look down and take a step, you will fall. The gap is wider than that and will require a running start LEAP.
Practice and Prepare to Perform!
Olympians don’t just show up at the games. Basketball players spend hours behind the scenes practicing boring free throws and doing exhausting repetitive fundamentals up and down the floor. The ice skater doesn’t decide at the start of the performance that a quad would be a good idea.
There is no short cut to success. You must be willing to pay the price.
The ice skater going for the quad is literally a “leap of faith”. There is never a guarantee of success, but repetitive practice, falling down, getting hurt, figuring out what went wrong and working harder to get better…..are necessary ingredients to establish confidence and competence to make the jump. A phrase I have used in rehearsals,
Like the ice skater who misses the quad, missing notes (steps, sets) in performance can hurt.
A good cartoon by Tone Deaf Comics illustrates part of this idea.
Commit to go….and then GO!
No more standing at the edge. No more looking down. No more considering the consequences of failure. Back up, focus on the other side, set your mind and then RUN hard at the edge. When the Israelites were crossing the river Jordan, the waters did not part until the priests feet touched the water, the point at which they demonstrated both faith and commitment (Joshua 3:14).
Once you commit to go, you have to “go all out”. Know where you’re going, practice and prepare, commit and go.
I posted the picture below and got feedback asking how we did that…. so below the pic are some steps and suggestion.
Are your rehearsals always serious? This band, during band camp week, was complaining about the heat and wanted a water break. Not sure this is what they expected. Fire Departments need to have training exercises. We were happy to help.
Additional pictures below.
My father was a 32-yr fire fighter and I spent much of my childhood around the firehouse. Some things you may not realize:
Firefighters are community minded people — many are coaches for summer league sports, but genuinely interested in helping students.
The 1000 gallons of water carried in a pumper truck needs to be flushed/recycled periodically.
Firefighting professionals need practice – training in controlling and directing high pressure water flow. What better target than a bunch of teenagers.
Most have a cool sense of humor.
There is a hierarchy of command and approval in a fire department.
You can’t just park or hide a heavy fire truck just anywhere.
Consideration has to be made as to where that 1000 gallons of water is going to go.
Instruments, electronics, wallets, some eyeglasses, etc…. won’t deal well with that much water.
Without a legitimate way of opting out, which can’t really be announced in advance, you are taking some risk with parents….
Consider the effect on thin, white t-shirts.
Solicit help from a couple highly-trusted parents. (towels, etc)
We’re talking about a huge amount of water and a significant amount of wet.
What happens next?
Don’t just call 9-1-1.
Planning
Plan it for the end of a day. You’re not going to get anything done afterward. But also, consider that your students are going to be incredibly wet….. and putting them immediately in their parents cars might not be the best idea either. Consider having some fun and games …. or snacks after.
Have a backup day — obviously you can’t do it on a rainy day.
Coordinate with the Fire Department. Ensure you’re talking to the right people. It will take at least the person in charge of a particular fire house to oversee the specific event and he may need to get approval from higher-ups. This is not a normal request they get. Allow time for some inter-departmental communication and approval.
Where? My original intent was to hide the fire truck and have it shoot water over the corner of our high school onto a totally unsuspecting group of teens. That didn’t work. The FD informed me that the truck would tear up any grass and also that there would need to be consideration of where the water would go, aka a drain. Unfortunately for us, that meant parking the truck in the middle of the school parking lot with no way that the students wouldn’t at least see it before something happened. So how do you get 100 students to get close enough to a fire truck?Keep reading.
Get school approval. At least inform your principal what you are doing so that if he/she receives phone calls, there will at least be knowledge of the event.
Protect the electronics, wallets, etc.
You must convince students to remove cell phones, iPods, mp3 players, etc from their pockets. Also wallets and anything else that a lot of water could damage. How do you do that without telling them why?Keep reading.
You must keep all that stuff safe. Have a way to guard it.
The Prank
The day before.
Some of you are starting to get red (burned) out here….including through some really thin t-shirts. It is supposed to be hot and sunny tomorrow and I’d like to ask that you consider wearing something other than a thin, white t-shirt.
Call a couple trusted band parents and ask if they can bring a collection of old towels. In case they are going to borrow from someone, ensure them that nothing will happen to damage the towels. If you must, and you can, tell them what is going on.
The day of.
Make sure everything is okay with the FD.
If you happen to be outside, be sure to have a reason to come inside for a few minutes prior to the arrival of the fire department.
The music isn’t going well and you want an impromptu inside rehearsal or sectional.
The marching isn’t going well and you are going to take them inside and give them the what for.
You’ve noticed a problem with electronics and want to deal with it.
Find a place to line the band up in a parade-block type setting where they cannot see the truck. We planned behind a corner of the building.
Put on your mean face…..and throw a temper tantrum that goes something like this:
Ok band, it is time for some fundamental marching. Set you instruments down in the grass over there. And while you’re at it, put all cell phones, watches and electronics with your instrument. I want none of that on the field. Don’t worry, these parents will watch your stuff until you have marched this block all the way around the building. How many times around depends on YOU!
There will be a lot of questioning and maybe even some complaining. Remember, you must get all the electronics out of their clothing.
Now line up. Shrink the interval to 2-steps. Two steps across, two steps front to back. You’re going to be so tight that a mis-step is going to be problematic….so you need to focus, listen to commands and get everything else out of your mind, GOT IT?
As you march around the corner, they will see the truck, but if you are sufficiently convincing, they will be concentrating more on calming you down with absolute compliance. Consider starting and stopping them a couple times.
As they get in range…. STOP and correct alignment or something. And then…
(click any image to enlarge)
“I said LINE IT UP!”
Still in formation.
“I don’t get this wet when I jump in a swimming pool.”
“He said don’t break formation.”
Okay, so now what do we do?
They don’t have to be close. In fact, too close could knock someone down.
Wonder what the “captain” is thinking?
It takes two to hold one of these hoses.
Afterwards, allow them to go back to get their stuff…..have the parents who were guarding it hand out some towels. Consider a few minutes of activity in the sunlight to also help dry out the clothes a little. You may hear comments like:
I don’t get this wet when I jump into a swimming pool.
Super Size Poster Context: Large, only high school in a county that includes students from 20-miles and long-distance phone calls away, some spending over an hour each way on school buses. Marching band is small for the school size and behind some area powerhouse programs in terms of size, staff, equipment, all things financial and cutting edge.
S-Steps To Success
#1 – Super Size
The FIRST thing we need to do is to SUPER SIZE this band. Size doesn’t equal quality, but it can impact the sound. To some extent, numbers translate to sound, crowd appeal and score. That is part of the reason the State Music Association has different qualifying levels for the different class sizes.
We need to Search for Super Sizers. You can help. Be enthusiastic about your band. Enthusiasm is contagious. What YOU say to a middle school band student, or to any prospect, is often much more effective than what a teacher/director says.
Sideline ensemble people don’t have to be band members. Your friends who play piano can play mallet instruments. People who quit band in the past can come back. And then, without taking anything away from what it takes to be a percussionist, we can teach just about anybody how to hit something. And now that we’ve incorporated guitars, we offer an opportunity to some of your friends who are band members of a different type. Know someone with a dramatic voice? Perhaps they can perform the voice-over script.
Sadly, we have seniors graduating. For those who remain, I wrote a note to you,
I’d love to see the school or community have to deal with
a band that can’t fit in the band room
scrambling to get instruments and equipment for the participants
providing 4-5, instead of 1-2 busses
#2 – Sensational Sound
SECOND, you should Strive for Individual Success. If you become the best that YOU can be, then we can work to blend your individual abilities to improve the overall band. A super-sized band can produce more sound, but we need your individual improvement to enable us to play some of the more challenging music you’ve heard.
Study Seriously for Improvement. Consider Individual Study on your instrument. If you can pay, we have access to professional experts on almost every instrument. They absolutely make a difference. For less pay, we can connect you with some college students who are looking for some experience. And if you can’t pay, let us know, because some teachers will make allowances for hard working students. For sufficient interest, we can explore periodic after school Master Classes for instrument-specific instruction in a group setting. And several of you are already taking advantage of some of the musical ensembles at the local university. Instruments need to go home. There are no shortcuts. Proficiency requires practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it certainly helps, and you can’t achieve perfection without it.
Your Individual Level of Musical Success depends on a combination of
your musicianship
your training
your equipment
your commitment
#3 – Sizzling Show
FINALLY, we need a SIZZLING SHOW, and it won’t come cheaply. Sizzling requires specialists in music technology, creativity, art, design and construction, as well as dance, theater and maybe even drum corps.
We need Spectacular Music. That can including paying for licensing and excellent composing and arranging.
We need Stunning Drill Design. Some competitors pay three times what we are able for expert, on-site designers. We have had good drill design by someone in the area, even if he can’t be on site.
We need Superb Special Effects.
When I watch state finals, I notice patterns from the top groups. Effect generators include tarps, ramps, platforms, multi-functional backdrops, and some really interesting custom-designed and built theme-enhancing props.
Most color guards have 2-4 costumes and 4-6 different flags plus rifles, sabers, wheels, sticks, and other theme-specific props.
With the props and the horn and body flashes, we need some theatrical expertise for our show. Marching band is not just about marching and playing any more.
We need Splendid Style, requiring splendid basics. We have to march better, to get it sooner and to push it harder.
We need State-of-the-Art Equipment. Most of the drumlines had 4-6 snares, 4 quads and 5-6 basses. If we want to do that, not only will we have to super-size the drumline, but we’ll need more drums. The front ensembles tended to have 6-8 mallet instruments and 8-15 people. Many of the sideline instruments were individually microphoned with sound controlled by a remote controller managed by a staff person in the audience. Most had new silver Sousaphones or shoulder Tubas. One had ten such tubas and five bari saxes. One of the largest, if not the largest band there, had 100% silver brass instruments (trumpets, mellos, trombones, baritones, tubas). Another had all silver brass except trombones, which marched in a separate block.
This example built from two modified and stacked storage containers.
If we’re going to get more and bigger stuff, are we ready for our own personalized semi trailer, like just about every other Class A band has?
We need a taller, safer rehearsal observation platform. It could be permanent or portable. Portable would enable us to move between rehearsal areas. A design I especially admire is basically a garage (for front ensemble equipment storage, podiums, etc) with inside access to a platform on the roof. One school has such a building in between a grass practice field and a parking lot…so they can watch rehearsals on either surface from the same place.
Let me sum it up this way:
Let’s SUPER SIZE this band by searching for super sizers and staying in band.
Let’s develop a SENSATIONAL SOUND by striving for individual success and studying seriously.
Let’s field a SIZZLING SHOW with spectacular music, stunning design, superb style and closer to state-of-the-art equipment.
You give us what we need in people, equipment, work ethic and attitude – and we’ll take some major steps toward super-sized, sensational, sizzling success.
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….
We were returning home late at night from a long drive return from an out-of-state visit. In a tired way, I reach down in the dark to open the door. It took us a while to get a flashlight and determine what had happened. I love bandsters. They do fun things without damaging anything.
It is 10/16/21 and the band is heading off to Chesterton Regionals today. Of course, I am not with them as I retired….but the day brings back memories of three times I was involved in the Chesterton Regionals. For us, a Class A Band, Regionals alternated between Lafayette and Chesterton. Here are my three memorable years at Chesterton.
2009 – 1st Gold in a Decade
The show title was “TIME 20:09”. It was Thaine Campbell’s last marching band performance. The band had not received a Regional Gold rating since 2001. I was standing next to Mr. Campbell when they read the result and heard his noticeable sigh of relief. It would be another two months before he announced his retirement. This picture was taken by a parent from another band at the moment the rating was announced and sent to me with a note about how “real” that moment was for these drum majors and guard captains.
2011 – Death of My Mother
It was October 15. For this particular trip, I was driving a white bus, probably transporting some staff and/or parents.
Just prior to the band’s warm-up transit, I got a call from my brother Jeff — telling me that the nursing home called to say they didn’t expect our mother to make it through the night.
I was not only 120 miles on the wrong side of Huntington plus 200 on the other side.The band was about to perform for final competition and would still be in Chesterton for another couple hours waiting for results. What do I do?
One of the parents offered to leave the competition (missing the band’s performance) to drive me back to Huntington, but would then have driven 240 miles to miss the performance.
Mom had not been very conscious for a few months, and was not conscious at this time. I knew, however, that if she had been, her strong words to me would have been to…
“stay with the band”.
It was about 1:30 AM when we arrived back to Huntington. It was about 2:00 AM when brother called again to say, “She’s gone.” I wouldn’t have made it even if I had kept driving — and probably not even if I had immediately left the competition. I am at peace with my decision.
She was buried on my birthday three days later.
2018 – I Couldn’t Go
Between 2011 and this year the band had changed from Class A to Scholastic Class to Open Class B. 2018 would be our first trip back to Chesterton since 2011. I had been stressing about the memories I was sure the trip would invoke, but that became a side note when my doctor started me on a treatment the day before and forbid me to travel.
I was in fairly regular communication and was thrilled that this show; “Look Upon My Works” received a GOLD rating with the highest score since at least 2001.
I was a music teacher in the system from 2005-2020 (retired). This happened during that time…not sure the year.
We had a Marching Band Drill Writer/Visual Tech who would use this instruction when talking about “horns up”. He wasn’t from Boston, but used that type of accent. Here is what he was talking about:
