Student transferred from another school. One of my band missions was to check the mechanics of clarinets to ensure the best chance at getting the right notes. Note that some students come into hs playing the same horn they’ve had for 3-4yrs…. Sometimes they are fighting the horn.
Of course, most parentals would never drive a car four years without ever checking the tire pressure or changing the oil. But maintaining a clarinet? I actually had a parent ask me once, “Isn’t this the one you told us to buy?”
Anyway, this clarinet was especially intriguing. Why colored tape? The explanation was the director taught “color-coding”. Guess what I did.
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.
According to the 4-digit serial number, my Selmer/Paris Series 10 clarinet was manufactured in 1967. In 1968, my hs band director told my mother I had to get one. Not optional. He might as well have told her I needed a Mercedes for my first car. Dad made me a 50/50 deal, and after selling lemonade to golfers and hanging ad papers on doors … I got it.
I used it all through hs. It got me Solo/Ensemble medals, traveled with me and Holmes Band to KMEA and MENC, to Murfreesboro, TN and Virginia Beach, VA…. to All-State Orchestra, to band clinic and select bands, to summer music camps at Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State Universities, and followed me to Europe/U.S.S.R. with the United States Collegiate Wind Band in the summer between hs and college. I had to replace it at UK bc the clarinet prof kept saying things like,
“That was awful. I can’t tell if it was you or that crappy clarinet.”
Anyway, I just opened packages of cleaning supplies, including swabs, key and bore oil, silver polish, swabs, disinfectant and more….. I want to see if it still has all the notes and speed it once did. Students have heard me talk about instruments with “speed buttons”.
Oh, working on my 1973-ish Buffet R-13 also. Both are considered “vintage” at this point.
The director had been out for a few days, so I ran the rehearsals….and organized this prank. I wish I had zeroed on facial expressions. NOTE: No harm was done. Students exited one door, walked around and came back in another. We lost about 2-3 minutes of rehearsal. I wonder what it looked like on the CCTV monitors in the admin offices.
On Thanksgiving Day, 2023, I received the following note from a student I had over 40 yrs ago. We are both now retired teachers. I print his note, unedited, and with permission. Name withheld. This husband/wife team were both in my band at that time.
Hi John, (Mr. Gardner, it’s hard to address a former teacher by his first name.)
I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now, and today is the day. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate the years we had as teacher and student. I can remember the many times a couple of students would stay after school and you would get out your instrument and play with us for a few minutes. I could never get enough of making music! Also, I wasn’t in a hurry to get home.
My parents started divorce proceedings during the spring of my Senior year, and the stability of band class helped me through that. You felt more like an older brother or friend than a teacher. I appreciate you putting up with my immaturity and craziness. I’m still crazy, but your former trumpet player has to deal with it now. Of course, I have to deal with the ego of a 1st trumpet player.
I truly believe that for me, music is one of the greatest gifts God gave us. You did so much to help me love music even more. Thanks again for everything you have done for me and thousands of other students. God bless you and Joan. Happy Thanksgiving.
Ok. Ok. It is NOT what you’re thinking. C’mon, you know me better than that.
My problem was that I was having trouble hearing conversations, especially at school, which can be problematic. This intensified after a severe ear infection that never completely healed. My ears felt stopped up similar to what can happen when descending from a high altitude in a plane. There was a graduation ceremony, mid-infection, where I could not hear anyone. The other band director realized something was going on. Fortunately, school was out.
When a student, more often a girl, would come to me in a rehearsal, we would have to move into the office so I could hear without all the band noise.
One student explained it to another this way…..
He might ask you to repeat things a lot, and he doesn’t always get it right…..but you can be in another room and miss a note and he is on you immediately.
Voices were a problem. Wrong notes were not.
I was fitted for and received a moderately high-level pair of hearing aids.
They were supposed to be able to pull the voices out of the background noise, but that didn’t really work in a rehearsal setting. The band volume would often be painful. In church, I could hear the pastor better, but the congregational singing became too loud — so I stopped wearing them.
Fast forward two years past retirement, it was a large, noisy hotel meeting room with hundreds of people at tables of ten having conversations, which was the catalyst for unpacking the hearing aids and giving them another shot. There were several college friends at my table and I really wasn’t hearing any of them.
I got them out and tried to put them in….but something has died and the out-of-warranty repair cost would be several hundred dollars.
But there is good news.
Now that I am retired, part of my insurance covers an audiology exam AND a healthy allowance toward new hearing aids.
This is my garage the day before it was being re-sided. I called it the “GGG” (Gardner, Garage Graffiti) event. They came to my house on a Saturday morning. Do you think they will remember this day? What if they had not come?
Students know which teacher(s)….
are more interested in being popular than in providing and expecting academic excellence . Students will “like” this teacher, but will not “respect” him/her.
are there only for the paycheck. These are the people who deserve the quote, “those who can – do, those who can’t – teach”.
stopped working hard when they got tenure and are now just putting in time.
are incompetent. Students recognize those who read only the questions in the teacher’s edition, use publisher-provided Powerpoint presentations and read them word for word, who have artificial conversations or Q&A sessions.
are invested in the totality of the student, beyond what is required by the contract and mandated by administration.
are the go to adults for help, support and understanding with life’s struggles
“When students feel that teachers and school administrators genuinely care about them and help them to feel welcome, they are more motivated to cooperate and to succeed.” -Robert Brooks, PhD
A former student remembering her band experience wrote that,
“It is more than just about music.”
She attributed the life-skills she learned in band (time management, team building, respect for authority, commitment, self-discipline….) to have been major factors in her success in college, medical school and life.
In a Facebook message from a Music Education major;
“I just wanted to take a moment to thank you again and again for steering me in the right path, …! There is no way I will ever be able to give you the thanks that you really deserve, for the potential you saw in me, for the care you gave me, for the trust you put in me, and for the time and energy you invested in me! You changed a life…MINE.”
Responding to a blog post called, “I Want To Trust You”, another former student wrote;
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!”
Four days before Christmas, I received a text message from a senior,
“G, I just got kicked out of my house. Please help me!”
How can teachers get past the compliance expectation and earn respect….and TRUST?
Be real. You can’t fake it with teens, they will see right through you. If you can’t be real, you should not be there. Please leave education.
Be available. How easy is it for a teen to say to YOU, “Can I talk to you?”? What if it is not during class or immediately after school? In how many different ways are you available and do students know and understand that? Do they know if it is ok to email, call, text or instant message you? When a teen says they need to talk, somebody needs to be available. Be that person. Consider your use of texting and social media.
Be there. Yes, you’re “on duty” at school. What about when a student is in the hospital, at the funeral home, pitching in the softball/baseball game, getting baptized, being awarded Eagle Scout status, or when their garage-type band is playing at the coffee shop? Take your spouse or your kids and just be where you can when you can. They will notice.
Trust them. If you want trust, you need to give some. I have a periodic discussion about trust, abusing it, losing it and the difficulty in earning it a second time. Read: “I WANT To Trust You“. Teens make mistakes and the trust area is one of those places where they can mess up. But help them learn. Take a reasonable chance. Yes, you’ll get burned some….but you will also empower leaders to rise up.
Respect them. There is a good chance they will recognize and return it.
Advocate for them. Of course you have students who are financially challenged and could benefit from music lessons, a better instrument, participation in a select ensemble or some other training. You won’t always succeed, but try to find funding to help. Call the employer to help him get that job. Write a letter to help her get that scholarship. Help them with college applications their parents can’t (or won’t).
Listen, really listen. Teens typically think that people don’t listen. They think adults are quick to lecture, criticize and correct, but are slow to listen. You don’t always have to have the answer. Sometimes there isn’t an obvious answer. Sometimes listening is the answer, because in allowing them to share, you enable them to find their own answer. Unless they are sharing something illegal, dangerous, hear them out. Don’t argue. Don’t interrupt. Don’t pre-judge. And when you can, share your wisdom, experience, expertise and advice.
Expect and Encourage Excellence. Students will complain when the load is heavy and the challenge is significant, but they know, even when they won’t admit, that achieving excellence requires work. They want to achieve and succeed. Being there for them doesn’t mean lowering your standards. Make them stretch. They’ll appreciate you eventually, even if not today.
Don’t assume. A question I ask often is, “You okay?” Simple question….and sometimes they shrug it off, but there have been many times for me that this gives them the opening to ask for help.
Don’t give up. It can be difficult, disappointing and even deflating when teens mess up. Don’t give up on them. That’s what the rest of society wants to do sometimes…. They will be disappointed that they disappointed you, but your unconditional support (not approving what they do) is vitally important to them.
——————————–
Sometimes I complain about my job; about the part-time-ness, the pay, the union, my bosses, the financial realities, and more…. but I will ALWAYS love the teens I get to work with. They can be challenging; sometimes immature, making decisions without thinking through to the consequences of those decisions, they can love you today, hate you tomorrow and love you again the day after……, but if you’re in it for them, you’re positively impacting lives and as the commercial implies, you cannot put a price on that.
UPDATE: I retired from teaching in July of 2020. I still love teens.
Student transferred from another school. One of my band missions was to check the mechanics of clarinets to ensure the best chance at getting the right notes. Note that some students come into hs playing the same horn they’ve had for 3-4yrs…. Sometimes they are fighting the horn.
I was a music teacher in the system from 2005-2020 (retired). This happened during that time…not sure the year.
According to the 4-digit serial number, my Selmer/Paris Series 10 clarinet was manufactured in 1967. In 1968, my hs band director told my mother I had to get one. Not optional. He might as well have told her I needed a Mercedes for my first car. Dad made me a 50/50 deal, and after selling lemonade to golfers and hanging ad papers on doors … I got it.
Anyway, I just opened packages of cleaning supplies, including swabs, key and bore oil, silver polish, swabs, disinfectant and more….. I want to see if it still has all the notes and speed it once did. Students have heard me talk about instruments with “speed buttons”.
