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.