by Dr. Michael Pratt
The normal public high school bands in this country have a typical yearly cycle which is adhered to rather closely by most schools. It usually begins with a pre-school marching band camp, either on the school’s premises or at an actual camp somewhere. This camp is usually one week in duration and is used to prepare for the band’s appearances at the school’s football games once school actually begins (or sometimes before school actually begins, as in the State of Michigan where varsity football games begin the third week in August and school cannot, by law, start until after Labor Day). This is followed in the fall by a succession of performances at local football games, various marching band festivals and competitions (adjudicated or not), university band days, fall parades, and pep rallies. By its very nature this activity requires a great deal of time, energy, and expense by all involved and contributes (argumentatively) very little to the music education of the students involved. This will continue in many schools until Thanksgiving (extending into the football playoff season).
Following football, bands will usually be a switch to concert band format and perform some sort of a holiday concert in December. January brings not only the New Year, and second semester, but also the festival season. Many schools will have students involved in solo and ensemble festival (although typically only about one-quarter to one-third of a band’s enrollment).
Most bands participate in some sort of an adjudicated festival whereby they will play a group of selections (usually a march, a number from a required list, and a selected number) for a panel of adjudicators who will give them a rating (this is usually referred to by the bands as going to “contest”). As part of this festival they will also sight-read several numbers for yet another adjudicator (for a rating, of course). Some bands may choose to go to this festival for “comments only” and eschew the rating, but this is usually only done by those bands who want to avoid the embarrassment of a very low rating. The truth is that the bands want to win at festival just as they want their football and basketball teams to win. The directors say that the reason for going to festivals is for the experience of going to festival, hearing other groups perform, etc. The reality is that society expects everyone to be winners and that is what the bands want to do. Some schools even go so far as to work on no other literature and perform no other concerts (except for football) than the literature they will perform at festival.
This is usually followed in the spring by some sort of light, pops concert because the students are “worn out” by playing “serious music” for festival for so long. Most school conclude their year with a Memorial Day parade and graduation ceremony. In the summer the endless cycle starts over with band camp.
The high school band program will typically have from one to three bands and encompass 25 to 250 (or more) students. Annual budgets will run from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars (!). Some schools will take occasional trips to various locations around the country and world for educational purposes (for instance, Washington DC) and for performance purposes (for example, Rose Bowl Parade) and will raise from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars for these trips (a high school orchestra in Ann Arbor, Michigan recently toured China for which they raised over five hundred thousand dollars).
This endless cycle is repeated year after year and is what is considered to be normal instrumental music education for the majority of music students in this country. The emphasis in recent years on the Nine National Standards for Music Education and the Federal Government mandate for No Child Left Behind have had negligible impact on this endless cycle that bands go through.
A number of things would need to occur to break free from this endless and somewhat meaningless cycle. Schools should change from varsity athletics to intramural sports. This would achieve a number of things in one sweeping change. First, it would eliminate the millions of dollars (!) being spent in this country (sometimes in a single school district) to simply transport athletes, cheerleaders, bands, and fans to various varsity athletic events (intramural sports take place only at the local level). Second, it would involve countless more students in these athletic events than the elitist varsity sports currently do. Third, it would relieve the win at all costs mentality that rules this country (true, there would still be the desire for a team to win, but it would not be our town against your town, or our state against your state). This relief from the “win at all costs” attitude would filter down to all aspects of our society and bands would not feel the pressure to have to participate in festivals to “win” and could explore other much more worthwhile musical activities (such as Fine Arts Festivals which are celebrations of the arts not competitions of the arts).
Anthony Palmer states “schooling across this country shows a broad spectrum of both high success and dismal failure, along with much mediocrity, depending on the specific location and dynamics, such as funds available, support from parents, and the mind-set of the local population.”[1] The change away from varsity athletics would accomplish much to affect the dynamics, mind-set, and available funds Dr. Palmer refers to.
Another needed change is for a higher quality of band director. Band directors are coming out of college today with many deficiencies. They cannot adequately play all of the instruments they will teach. They are inadequately prepared in the skills required of a band director such as instrument repair, class and student behavior management, piano playing ability, arranging and composing, administration department ability for a music library, uniform library, booster organization, and fundraising. Dr. Palmer points out “if we had a Robert Shaw teaching chorus and a Frederick Fennell teaching wind ensemble, would we be concerned about standards?” (ibid.) The reality is we are not going to see a Robert Shaw or a Frederick Fennell in all of the public schools in this country. However, a great deal needs to be done to improve on the quality of the music education graduate these days.
A third change in the general thrust of the average high school band program needs to be less focus on music for its entertainment value and more focus on music for its cultural value. Our society today is beset by problems caused by differences in culture around the world. Music can go an extremely long way in helping to bridge the gap caused by these problems. Again, Dr. Palmer states “we must make comparisons among cultures to understand why human groups approach life differently because of unique experiences in time and place.” (ibid.)
School bands should place a greater emphasis on world music in their programs. For example, if a band is performing one of the classics of the band literature, Variations on a Korean Folk Song by John Barnes Chance, they could simply play the piece, or expand on that experience and explore the folk song basis of the work by bringing a vocalist into the band concert to sing the original Arirang (in Korean if possible). This singer could be a local Korean who could show some examples of traditional Korean costumes and cuisine (maybe give a Korean dinner along with the concert). Such an approach to a concert not only would be very educational for the band and audience but very enjoyable as well. There are many more concert works for band which could be used in a similar manner to not only simply perform music of an ethnic nature but to delve into the history and culture as well. Teresa M. Volk observes:
The greatest potential for multicultural music education remains the teacher. Regardless of methods or materials, the teacher is the factor that makes a difference in the classroom. Multicultural music education cannot happen unless the individual music educators in classrooms all around the country make it happen. It is a challenge to make the change from a Western-exclusive to a world-inclusive perspective. It requires a new mind-set, an openness to the new and different, in essence, a personal transformation.[2]
Our high school bands, stuck in a quagmire of stagnant activity and stagnant music need to lift themselves up, transform themselves in what they do and what they perform, and in doing so will not only raise the quality of music education in the country’s high schools, they will aid society as a whole in their relations with the rest of the world. If this could be achieved hand in hand with an upgrade in the quality of instrument music educators being graduated from music schools and a change from varsity to intramural sports in our schools, a transformation would occur which would be far-reaching not only in music education but in society as a whole.
Copyright 2010 by Pratt Music Co.
NOTES
[1] Anthony J. Palmer, “Consciousness Studies and a Philosophy of Music Education,” Philosophy of Music Education Review 8, no. 2 (Fall 2000): .
[2] Teresa M. Volk, Music, Education, and Multiculturalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
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