Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...It's All Small Stuff!

The statement above is from some motivational book about business. A few years ago these kind of books were all the rage, and the writers of them would go out and do seminars and make lots of money. Now I am no motivational speaker or even an inspirational figure. I am just a band director. Just look at the name of the blog! See, a band director! But lately myself and the band have been working on small stuff. Today we worked on about 16 measures for about an hour. I don't think the poor percussion section got to play a note. There day will come though. We worked on sensitive entrances and tuning minor chords. Some of the students may think this is a bad sign. We didn't even get though the first section of the piece. This is not a bad sign. It means they are finally getting some of the big stuff like tone, rhythmic accuracy, and technique. If we are working on the little stuff, something good is happening. When all the small stuff comes together, then we can truly make music. And making music is the true end goal is all of this.