The Ever Shrinking Bands of South Carolina

Band programs in South Carolina continue to shrink accounting to a lot data from around the state. Facts are facts and here are a few. The amount of students participating in band programs is shrinking at a steady rate each year. Marching band participation is down. All you need to do is go to a marching band competition to see this. Even large schools are fielding smaller bands. This is a fact shown on the registration form of bands at state competition. Even events such as region band auditions are showing lower numbers. Here is the big question...WHY?

Well there may be a few different reasons. One is the large amount of academic pressure put on high school students today. Many students take advanced placements courses in high school to earn college credit. It seems like a great idea to get a few credits before you leave home and go to college. The problem is that many of the AP courses are double blocked which means a student must give up a slot of time for another class. This class could be band. Even if the student has space in their schedule to take band, they may not have the actual time to participate due to the large amount of time they spend studying for these classes. They are under a great deal of pressure to succeed in these classes and band is just too much for them.

Another reason for shrinking bands is the fact that graduation requirements are more advanced than ever. The students are just simply required to take more class to graduate. Today students need 4 maths, 4 Englishes, and 3 sciences and a collage of other classes, and this is just to graduate high school. Many colleges have their own requirements for admission.

Another reason could be that band is hard. In today's teenage world there are many, many things available for them to do. Gone are the days of just being a football player, cheerleader, or band member. There are large amounts of clubs and sports that are available for them. To be accomplished in band, a student must spend a lot of time and extend a large amount of effort. It is just quite simply easier to do other things. Video games certainly don't take nearly as much effort.

Finances can certainly play a role in this shrinking of numbers as well. Band is an expensive activity on all levels from the actual families of participants to the schools themselves. The current economic tide is not doing us any favors.

Now for my thoughts. I am certainly not saying that students should not work for high academic progress. On the contrary those are exactly the types of students I strive to get in band and keep. I am going to state that students need more in their life than just high level classes and scores. As for the ever rising graduation requirements, perhaps a way could be developed to allow students to gain certain required credits through band participation but then again maybe this is just some we will have to deal with. On a block schedule, there are 32 chances to obtain 24 credits. Sometimes choices just need to be made. My fear is that band will get left out. We offer so much more than just music too. We offer a challenge to the individual student. We the chance to work as a team but perhaps what we offer most of all is something can't be seen or measured. We offer the student a chance to be unique and artful. We offer the student a chance to not only recognize art and beauty but to create it. Isn't that worth something? I think so. In one capacity or another, my life's work is to make sure that as many people as I can reach will know this too.