The Box

What is the box? Just ask any of my current or former students and you will find out quickly. The Box is just a cardboard box that has every student's field number in it and once a week we pull a few numbers out. If your number is picked, you have to play, by memory, a specified part of the marching band show...IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE BAND! If you can't or won't do it, you don't march that weekend. I know that is harsh, but music is meant be performed in front of people. The Box has done a few things. It has drastically increased the amount of time in which the students memorize their music and has improved the music's performance overall. Secondly, it has caused more parent phone calls to me than just about anything! I always hear "I can play my music with the rest of the band but not by myself". Yeah right! The problem is all the wrong notes and rhythms are still there, you just can't hear them as well. Today's victims did just fine. They all played and performed very well. It was not by chance that the entire opener sounded much better today. Some pressure is good for you. Today five signatures went on the box to prove that those students had conquered it (for this week at least).

Tomorrow night is our first performance on the field this year. We go to Pelion and will perform the opener. Show time is about 8:15 p.m.