The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: The Swansea Tiger Marching band has established itself as a contender in AAA. No doubt about that. Also I believe now knows the AAA is indeed a step up from AA. There are not very many push over bands in this division. The band did win its first overall grand championship this year for the first time in many, many years. The band also competed, quite successfully in AAAA, most of the season. The colorguard program continues to grow in size and skill as does the percussion program. 5th place in AAA the first year is not without merit. The band had a bad run and with competition as close as it was and finish of 5th was good. There was no lack of physical effort from the band this year. For the most part attendance was not a problem and the band worked through some incredible heat this year.

The Bad: We did not meet our goal of winning lower state and then state. This is a fact. The show was probably too difficult for the band to get clean. So was the music. We just never seemed to really progress after BOA. These are things that I will take the blame for (among others). I really thought the BOA trip would help the band to see what level was really obtainable for bands in other parts of the country. I knew this was not the case when I heard "Do we have to go back for finals?" I knew then this trip was a mistake. There are bigger and better things for bands outside of small local contests.

The Ugly: We gave away many days of rehearsal mentally. Perhaps even as much as an average of one day a week. Championship bands do have have bad rehearsals once a week. You can't just get things together on Thursday and then expect to do your best on Saturday. Band just does not work that way. Band is a very controlled activity when performed at it highest levels. You must work to win each day to be successful at competitions. Many of the students seemed to give up after coming in 3rd at lower state. The best organizations look at stumbles like this as an opportunity to get motivated. This was not case this year. Many students seemed to have the attitude that if we did not do it this year that it just wasn't possible. This could not be further from the truth. I have certainly learned more from my failures than I ever learned from my successes. This is the case most of the time in the real world. You can either give up and just accept what comes you way or you can work to get better and then truly relish in the accomplishment of overcoming obstacles that once seemed impossible barriers. Time to grow up and mature for this band in the fact that if you are competing in the top arena, YOU WILL NOT WIN THEM ALL! Nobody does at the highest levels of any competition. Just look at the past results from state competitions.

Some Other Thoughts: State is not won in the last weekend in October. It is won by working all year. Yes all year, not just August, September, and October. Most of our problems can be fixed by working really hard in concert season to become better musicians. Music is not a competitive sport. It is an Art. Music is the basis of all marching band. If there are people that can not accept the fact the best way to become more competitive in marching band is to become a better individual musician then those people will continue to hold the band program back. Participation in band must be year around for the band program to grow. Last year the Symphonic Band did something that most people told me would never happen in Swansea. They received a Superior Rating in Class V at concert festival. This WILL be the case again this year but here is the problem. Every year some students do not participate in the Spring semester of band. These student lose the skills they have developed during the Fall semester. Most of these students do not return to band the next marching season because they are so far behind the rest of the students that were in Spring semester. Those of them that do return find that the students around them are now at a higher level. I must reiterate that the reason to be in band is simple. YOU ENJOY DOING THE ACTIVITY! You enjoy practicing at home alone. You enjoy going to rehearsal. You enjoy getting better individually. You enjoy concert band. If you do not enjoy doing the bulk of the activity (ie. individual practice, hot rehearsals, hard concert band music) I would suggest finding something that you do enjoy doing.

Special Thanks: I would like to thank all of the students for choosing to be in marching band this year. I would encourage them to take the obstacles we have encounter this year as challenges not failures and work to over come them. I would also like to thank the entire staff. Mr. Boiteau has proven himself to be a highly motivated and knowledgeable addition to our program. Mrs. Graybill has been a great help this year especially with the behind the scenes work she had done. Of course, with out Mr. Apple and Mr. Coleman, we would not be anything even close to what we are. I would also like to thank all the booster club members for their amazing hard work. They make things seem simple for the rest of us. They have been present at every event and their work is truly incredible and is something we can not do with out. Most of all for me personally, I would like thank Cindy for being there for me and holding the house together while I am gone until from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for about 100 days a year. She keeps me together and through her help I have become a better band director every year. An finally, band is not over. It continues all year long and the high expectations will continue as well.