Galaxy may be full of 'Earths,' alien life

Now that would change stuff. What if that became known all of a sudden. How many things that are important would suddenly become less important? It is something to think about. What if they really liked band?

A Bit of Hope

"Don't give up on us yet. I can see things are changing slowly. It's getting better"

That is what a student said to me today. I means a lot to me. More than the student will know. It does give me hope to keep going. I won't give up on you... if you don't give up on me. I know there is a championship band at Dutch Fork. We just got to find a way to chip away the stone to reveal the masterpiece.

Rainy Days

Sometimes they just fit.

My thoughts on the race tomorrow

If you know me at all, you know I am huge NASCAR fan. It is different than it was 15 years ago when I really started going to a bunch of races but I still love it. I still miss Dale every race too. I think NASCAR has missed the boat on a few things but it still gets my attention every Sunday. What have they missed? It's not really the new Car of Tomorrow as the safety issues certainly needed to be addressed but it is the set up that they require the teams to use. They ran the twin races Thursday and, as predicted, they were filled with wrecks. I also watched the shootout last Saturday and it too was filled with cautions. Why is the question? Well it is not because they are bumping into each other and doing it themselves like they use too. It is because they simply can not keep the back end of the car on the track. Once they get up to about 190 mph the back end skips and bounces all over the place. The solution? Softer shock packages. The required suspensions are just too tight. Any way my predictions for tomorrow's race?

1. Lot's of multiple car wrecks early in the race. Remember we have seen three races so far and they have all be filled with cautions but there were only 28 cars on the track too. Tomorrow 43 will start. Watch out.

2. The race will be good all day. The drivers just simply will not lift as was NASCAR's hope with the required set up. They will push the pedal to the floor all day. The problem with that? The back ends will bounce and they will wreck.

3. Expect lots of equipment failure late in the race. The bouncing won't help this and neither will the 8400 rpm's they will be running. With the cautions, the engines will be going up and down in rpm's all day. Not good for them at all.

4. The winner? Who knows. I would bet Jeff Gordon has a good chance. He will be my pick even though I don't pull for him. I would love to see Junior in the winners circle but don't bet on it.

Have a great weekend!

We will do it...together.

"Which way is success?" the man asks. The stoic sage points down the path to his left. The man, thrilled at the prospect of easy success, rushes off in the appropriate direction. From the distance comes a loud SPLAT! The man reappears. He is bruised and tattered. Again he asks the guru, "Which way is success?" Once again the wise man says nothing. He simply points down the path to his left. The man quickly races down the path a second time. From the distance comes a much louder SPLAT! The man returns crawling on his hands and knees. He is bloody and beaten. He yells at the guru, "Twice I have asked you about the path to success. Both times I followed your directions and both times all I have gotten is splatted!" He screams at the top of his lungs, "No more pointing, talk to me!" The wise man calmly replies, "Success is that way. It is just a little past SPLAT.

Concert Festival Times

Our grade III group will perform at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25th. Our grade V wind ensemble will perform at about 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 26th. Both performance will be at the new Lexington High School fine arts center and are free to attend. We also have a pre-festival concert scheduled for March 19th at 7:00 p.m. in our auditorium.

Lady's Island

Have any of you ever been to Lady's Island? It is a beautiful place to be. Cindy's and my first house was on Lady's Island. We loved it. It is the first barrier island after you cross the intercoastal waterway. Just wondering if anybody that reads and comments on this blog has been there. It is a long way from here for sure.

Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints.

There will be no more anonymous comments on this board. As a matter of information, of course people know who writes this blog, I have permission to do it. It is a shame some people seem to want everything to be about them. Also, there is a little thing in the constitution called "Freedom of Speech".

READ THIS!

If you found this website you found it on your own. This is my blog. Not the bands or the schools or anybody else's. It is my blog. You didn't go through a publicly paid website to find it. You came to it yourself. All the links on websites like that have been removed. I though about removing the blog all together but that would not be fair, especially to me. I enjoy it! and after hearing from many people, they enjoy it too.

So what if I write what I think? I have a serious problem with HONESTY! If that is a bad trait, then I am all about being bad. I tell it like it is. So if you don't like what you are reading, see that little red X at the top right hand corner...click it now!

As Johnny Storm would say "FLAME ON!" If you must. The comment section is still open for business. Flame me, blame me, shame me but be aware, I will fight back.

Now some real news, a few 8th grade band parents did come to our booster club meeting last night and I was sure glad to have an audience to listen to me talk about one of my favorite subjects...BAND. I could have gone on for hours. It was fun for me. Do I wish more parents would have come? Yet bet! Was it a good start? Yep, that too. I was glad to explain the scheduling of band to them and I was also glad to answer their questions.

We also had Jazz band again this morning, and we are getting better. It was fun. It is suppose to be fun...Isn't it?

The Penalty of Leadership

In every field of human endeavor, he that is
first must perpetually live in the white light of
publicity.
Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in
a manufactured product, emulation and envy are
ever at work.
In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the
reward and the punishment are always the same.
The reward is widespread recognition; the
punishment, fierce denial and detraction.
When a man’s work becomes a standard for the
whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts
of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre,
he will be left severely alone—if he achieve a
masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging.
Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at
the artist who produces a commonplace painting.
Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing,
or build, no one will strive to surpass, or to slander
you, unless your work be stamped with the seal of
genius.
Long, long after a great work or a good work
has been done, those who are disappointed or
envious continue to cry out that it cannot be done.
Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were
raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank,
long after the big world had acclaimed him its
greatest artistic genius.
Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the
musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of
those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued
angrily that he was no musician at all.
The little world continued to protest that
Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big
world flocked to the river banks to see his boat
steam by.
The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and
the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that
leadership.
Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks
to depreciate and to destroy—but only confirms
once more the superiority of that which he strives to
supplant.
There is nothing new in this.
It is as old as the world and as old as the human
passions—envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire
to surpass.
And it all avails nothing.
If the leader truly leads, he remains the leader.
Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman,
each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his
laurels through the ages.
That which is good or great makes itself
known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial.
That which deserves to live—lives.

—from an advertisement in the Saturday Evening
Post, January 2, 1915; from the Cadillac Motor Car

It's Been a Good Ride

The blog will be going away for a while...Maybe for good. In this world of "political correctness" there just doesn't seem to be a place for my thoughts any more. I was told at my hiring at DF that everybody wanted more information. I guess I give too much. So long for now. See you around.

This is my choice alone. Nobody asked me to stop it. Maybe in the future there will be a place for it.

Scheduling/Booster Club meeting

There is a scheduling/booster club meeting tomorrow in the band room at 7:00 p.m. I will be avaliable to answer any questions you may have about what band class you should schedule. Please make plans to attend.

Convention Review

I'M BACK! I am back at home and it is sure is nice to be home. I actually came home yesterday. It was fun. The actual convention could have had a bit more to it but it is what it is. The best part was listening to Dr. Tim. He is great. Here is a link to his website: http://www.attitudeconcepts.com/. I have seen, met, spoken to, rode in a truck with and all that before but he always makes me feel good about being a band director. Cindy came with me this year and it was great to have her. I have fun at band stuff but with her it is always so much more. The show is coming together. We all met on Thursday and it will be great! And great is an understatement. Just wait! All will soon know Dutch Fork is about to come on the scene in a big way.

Here is what I took from Dr. Tim the most. Think about your favorite teacher. Close your eyes and see that teacher now. Now think back. Do you remember what that teacher taught you or the way they taught it to you? If any of you were in band, I bet that favorite teacher was your band director. (or at least a close second if it was me.) I am proud to be a band director. I make a difference and what I teach makes a bigger difference. I don't just teach facts. I teach life. Band is life and life is band.

Goodbye Cruel World

Well, it's not really that bad...I am going to convention in Charleston. It will be fun and yes some work will get done too. I am going to meet with our show consultant (bet you didn't know we had one of those did you?) and a bunch of other people. With us being accepted to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving parade...let the games begin. There will be plenty of glad handing but the best is seeing old friends and catching up with everything. I am proud (and do really mean PROUD) to be going as the band director at Dutch Fork High School. There will be plenty of clinics too but again there is real work to do.

P.S. Kids...be good...for goodness sake be good while Mr. Brady is gone because you know...I SHALL RETURN! Have fun too though and practice hard!

More on Course Selection

I definitely think that every student should have the opportunity to take band, chorus, orchestra or even a few of them. Do I think that every or even a majority of students should choose music as a career? Absolutely not. It is an extremely competitive career. Even as a band director I work in one of the largest school districts in the state. There are only 3 high school band directors in our district. That is pretty limited if you think about it. Ok what about performing. There are about 58 full time orchestras in the country at this point (that was the last count I saw anyway.) That means there are 58 full time orchestral tuba jobs in the country. That is worse. Do I think there is more to life than being so limited on one choice of class type though. I myself have many interest and, believe it or not, I could choose to do another type of job. I have been told to go into administration many, many times. I could even be a pretty good attorney. Hey I do fish really well too. But music will always be with me. I see people that have worked in the same career all their lives get laid off or down sized or what ever you want to call it only to struggle when things change in their jobs. The people that make it are the ones that are able to adapt. So when a student tells me they want to do music as a career I tell them to think very carefully about it. I just think that there is more to life than reading, writing, and arithmetic. The arts give us a reason to work so hard.

Some believe that the band will just go on forever no matter what. This is not correct. They need help and support.

Scheduling Band

I loath this time of year. It is the time when the kids start picking their classes for next year. It use to be that you lost band kids due to them quitting or something like that. Now the most common reason to get out of band is scheduling concerns. This is getting worse too. I have certainly mentioned this before in my blog but it warrants more discussion. I am hearing more and more students saying they just don't have room in their schedule. How can this be? They have 32 chances to get 24 credits of which 7 must be electives...like BAND!!! Well I looked a few of the students schedules today that said they can't take band. They can take it. They just chose to take other stuff that requires a lot of time. Many of the upper level classes are double blocked too which means they take the class all year for 90 each day. Fun, fun. I know I would have loved that in high school. I have always considered band as an academic class. It is hard. They take tests and get grades but lately I have seen a shift from this mind set.

I really think we are in trouble as a society if we don't start valuing the arts more. I agree that high standards in math and science are necessary but at what costs? Creativity seems to be leaving us at an alarming rate. I can only hope that within my lifetime we see a resurgence of the value of the arts. I am very afraid though I have to admit.