Work Continues...Hard Work!

We are continuing in our quest for perfection. We had a good rehearsal yesterday even with the wind. Today it is a lot cooler so maybe we can get even more accomplished. We added a few small things yesterday and that is nice that we can do such things this early. We will push ourselves even further today. It is only when we are pushed beyond our comfort level that we can grow and become better.

The Competition that Wasn't

We were canceled last night if you didn't know or weren't there. I am very disappointed but this one was out of our control. The day started yesterday with a parade. A parade for the slimy, itchy, sticky treat of okra. That was ok. We all did fine. Now for the competition. We have been preparing for rain for several days now. As a band director, I follow the weather closely not just for comfort but for safety too. Every thing was packed up and every body looked great. I have never seen the DF band so focused before we left. We got to the competition and unloaded right on schedule. We did have a few issues with some equipment but those will be fixed by next weekend for certain. We then went to our warm up area and there they were, the other bands that we had all been seeking for 2 months now. You see it is one thing to rehearse hard and perform at games and we even did a community show Friday night. All those things are great, but there is nothing like being around the other bands to make it real. It was especially exciting to be around the caliber of bands in which we held company. It was loud and great but we were more focused than ever. A light rain began to fall with about 20 minutes left in our warm up. We were tuned and gave out some rain gear to keep the instruments dry. We were the only band left in warm up. It was great. Then somebody came up to me and told me the competition had been cancelled. I asked why. I was told because of lightning. OK! lightning is a bad thing for band. We are in an open area with large metal things but I knew there was no lightning in the area at all! As I stated before, we had a constant watch in the weather. We would not have been in warm up if there was lightning in the area. So what did we do. We played our show for ourselves. If you missed it, you missed an outstanding performance. I then told the kids that the show had been cancelled. I saw tears from some. That is the worse part of band directing. We then lined up and marched back to the buses and returned home. The band room looks like a bazaar of sorts as there is stuff all over drying out. Flags, feathers, instruments all kinds of stuff. It was a very sad feeling to leave last night knowing we had not gotten to do what we love so much but now for the positive...

We are a great band. I have never seen them so focused and intense as I have last night. Every student was on task and trying as hard as they could. We sounded great too. Even with all the disappointment, we still handled ourselves with poise and dignity. I was very proud to be their director. My staff was great and the chaperons and pit crew were too. We had a few kinks but they will fixed for next weekend. Wait what was that about next weekend? Yep, you better believe we will be even more ready, more focused, and more determined than ever. We are good now but that is not enough. This week had proved to me that DF is ready to take things to the next level and we shall. Just wait. Students should be ready to work harder than ever this coming week. You will pushed beyond your comfort level. You will be asked to do things you don't think you can. You will be so ready to compete on Saturday night that you...Well just wait because disappointments just make want to work more and become more determined. "Dutch Fork are you ready to take the field for competition?" If you thought you were ready last night, just wait for what's coming. I can hardly wait.

A Great Night for Band

We pulled it off tonight. Everything in the DF band world went well. Our dress rehearsal did just what I wanted it to do, we got it together. Everything was beautiful. All the colors worked well but especially Cindy was beautiful. She had not seen the show yet which is odd but things have been busy and DF is a hard job so she has not been around a whole lot this year. I wanted her real opinion of everything...She approves. If she only knew how it comforts me to know she is there. That makes it feel so right. Tomorrow we will perform for the judges for the first time but I know we have already accomplished so much. I will hope for good weather tomorrow but that doesn't look promising. Perhaps "In a Gentle Rain" won't just be the opener. Great job DF. The kids make me feel more and more like things are going to happen. It is just a matter of when and who. Why not tomorrow?

The Way I Feel About It

I really feel quite good about this weekends competition for a few reasons. For the first time in a long time I am not so consumed with winning. I feel as though we have already won on a few levels. The show is on the field and it is good. It is not perfect or even clean. If it was, I would worry about Nov. 7th. I feel good because I made a statement 2 weeks ago that we would change somethings for the better and we have. We have really learned a lot in the past two weeks. I have learn that DF can work hard...really hard. I have also learned that challenging the students beyond their comfort level is OK at DF. They seem to like it. Tomorrow and Saturday night will be a time to show off but it will also be a time to be together and find out why we work so hard. I can hardly wait to see them all in full uniform and see the show in all its glory. I think all will be impressed with our product.

A Few Quotes...

My best friend sent me a few quotes today. Some are below:

"You carry on no matter what the obstacles. You simply refuse to give up - and , when the going get tough, you get tougher. And you win." - Vince Lombardi

"You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time." - Vince Lombardi

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi

I think these quotes apply to everything we are trying to accomplish with the band. Don't you? I am lucky to have a best friend that has supported me for so many years now. She is the best.

Reaching Your Limits

The funny thing about reaching your limits is that they are no longer your limits when you reach them. The staff and myself have been asking the students to reach beyond their comfort level. They are reaching new personal limits each rehearsal. The strange thing is that they don't even know it. The students are now performing at a level that just wasn't obtainable even two weeks ago. We have a long way to go and may lose some members during our journey. I certainly hope not but it does happen. Mr. Apple and I worked together to clean some drill today and it worked. We may not win this weekend but our ultimate goal is to be included among the best in the end on November 7th. Today I did see that the band did want to go to competition this weekend though. They need to show how much they care about things. It will spread to others for sure.

A Monday it Was...

The neat thing about right now is that it is the furthest possible amount of time until next Monday. I got to teach music theory today so that was fun and my other classes were good too. Then came rehearsal. I know you might think it is crazy but I look forward to after school rehearsal. I like it. Today just was flat that whole rehearsal. The kids worked hard but not real smart. They just seemed to do the same things over and over. Blame it on the heat and humidity. Blame it on Monday or what ever you like but it was not a very productive rehearsal. We really needed to figure out how to get on and off the field but that was not accomplished. There a chance of rain and storms every day this week. We missed them today but just when you start taking rehearsal time for granted, things have a way of happening. We will just start cleaning tomorrow from the beginning I suppose. I feel like we have wasted a lot of time on the closer as it does not seem like it is being retained from one rehearsal to the next.

Fresh Thoughts

I haven't posted after a Friday night game in a while. Maybe not for a few years I think but I am pretty excited for my band. They did really well tonight. It felt right for the first time at Dutch Fork. I don't know what it was but it was right. My principal complimented us as soon we made our appearance in the stadium and I looked up at my band and he was right...we looked good. We also sounded good. Things were coming together. We even had another band with us tonight. That is becoming a rarity lately and I am so glad they came. They really did well with their performance. We played a lot tonight as the game lasted for over three hours. Hey that's ok too. It is football after all but then came what I had waited for...a real run of the show, on grass, with an audience. I have not seen or heard my show before tonight except at practice. I ran up the stairs and sat down to watch. I was very happy with what I saw and heard and it wasn't just my band either. About 3 or 4 hundred people stayed to watch. It let me know that things are changing. Band is becoming more important at DF. Even after our great performance, I saw my boss still with us. I know my kids love to be acknowledged for a job well done, but I do too. Things were good tonight and things were mine too. I have been doing it the Brady way for the past few weeks and I couldn't be happier. The kids seem happy too. I was also fortunate enough to see a former student of mine that is now at Blythewood. That is cool too. I don't know many teachers that get hugs from former students like that. The truth is that I miss and remember all my students in some way. Have a great weekend!

Friday - Oh Boy!

Fridays are perhaps the biggest days of adjustments we as band directors face. Tonight we have a home game. That is good because it is just easier. I don't have worry about buses or the logistics of travel. We do have another band scheduled to come over to us and that is always fun because so few groups travel these days due to budget concerns. It is also Elementary Night at the game so there will be about 100,004 small children running on the field at half time. This will cause the bands to perform post game. This is a good thing in that everybody will have plenty of time to set up and perform. The X factor in very Friday night is always the weather. We really don't know what to expect at this point. Only time and nature will tell.

It is also our last weekend off for quite a while as we begin competing next Saturday. Our season is half way over. The rest of it will fly once we start competing. We have one more week to get ready.

On a lighter note, I got a call from the local police department yesterday to inquire if we were the band the cut through the McDonalds parking lot last year in the Okra parade. I said "It must have somebody else" and was reminded that there were only two bands in the parade and the other one was not the culprit. Busted I guess. They said they were worried that somebody might get hurt. Those rowdy band kids and their antics. You have to watch out for that. I suppose this year we will follow the required route as to avoid incarceration. It must have been a slow day for the police indeed.

Recap of Yesterday

The staff continues to push the band but things don't really seem to be advancing as well as I would like. The percussion section seems to have it together the most. They are all in the same class together and that is a large advantage for them. I feel that not seeing the winds everyday is really putting us further behind. I certainly don't think anybody does not want to well, I just don't think we have enough time together and that the music is just too difficult for some. All have made progress as some of our younger students could hardly play anything at band camp. They are continuing to get better but again it is hard when I only see everybody together 3 days a week. We will press forward though. I did notice yesterday that some of students that had been struggling visually are getting better. On a personal note, I do feel I am giving everything I can to the band. It is starting to wear on me though.

The Little Stuff That Goes A Long Way

Sometimes it is the little stuff that goes a long way especially in the band world. We are going to be working on some little stuff at rehearsals over the next two weeks. We will stand a little taller and work a lot harder. I am not asking for more time though. We rehearsal enough. We just have to get more out of our rehearsals. We will rehearse a little differently. There may not be much sound other then music on the field. We only have two weeks to clean it up. We have a great shell of a show right now. It is now time to polish it for all to see it shine. It is the the little stuff that will make or break us.

Making it Important

I have discussed this before and probably will again. A major problem I see with my current position is a lack of importance to the general populous of the band program. I hear things like "band isn't very important here" or "nobody really cares about us" and my response is the same. Make it important to you and the others will follow suit. I get the impression that many of our members view band as something that just takes place at school. This has to end if our program is to reach the next level. Band can not just be an activity that takes place at school. It must take on an individual role at home. I have commented before that a lack of ability is a difficult problem to over come. A lack of ability must be fixed at home not on the marching field or in the band room. I can teach you to play your instrument at school, but you will learn to play your instrument at home. Most students will teach themselves to play at home. Mine and the staff's task is to teach strong fundamentals and watch out for mistakes. We can't make it happen alone though.

On the other side of things, I see some of the most dedicated band members I have taught in my band room each day trying as hard as they can and I admire them for that. They are my heroes. They carry their instruments home each day and practice. I don't have to test them to know they practice. I can tell in their playing and confidence each day.

Parents encourage, staff teach, and students practice and play. Nothing more the averageness can happen until all those items are in place.

Some Days are Long...

and some are longer than that. Today was a long one. There were lots of things going on other than teaching band. I told somebody if they want a job in which you never what is going to happen next, be a band director. Today made that statement so true. If you are reading this and think you know why my day was long, you don't know but about half of it. I will say that I am lucky to have great people around on days like this though. They make it better and don't even know it. Tomorrow will be better. As for the actual instruction of students, they continue to make progress. The "old school" basic block is working. More and more seem to be finding their feet. Some should practice their music more before they me do something "mean".

Filling in the Blanks

That is what we need to do at this point. We have a pretty good shell of a show going on right now. We have brilliant moments that are followed by mediocrity. Today showed a bit of light though. We rehearsed in the stadium for the first time today and things went well. The kids paid attention and tried to do their best. Our hard core practices on Monday and Tuesday seemed to carry us through. Today was the first day I really got hear how we sound too. Somethings were very nice will other moments left me wondering what to do. Our sound when we all play is fairly nice and full. It is when we stratify out to the thinner textures that our youth shines through. Everybody is going to have to make a commitment to learning every note and rhythm perfectly before things can come together. That is tough. Again this comes down to the desire to gain ability in a short amount of time. Can it be done? That is not up to me. Individuals will need to cross that line themselves. Only 8 more rehearsals until everything I say is turned over to others.

Ability versus Motivation

I have to analyze things sometimes. I asked the older kids today what we lacked...ability or motivation. Most of them said motivation. I disagree. We seem to be fairly motivated in that the students seem to want to do well. What we lack is ability. Motivation is actually an easier problem to remedy especially in my bands. Now lack of ability, that is an entire different story. I notice many people can point out mistakes and can point out people that are having problems. Yesterday I heard "We should make all the new people play their music in front of everybody else so we can see who can play it or not!" This is interesting and maybe a bit entertaining and we might even be surprised at how good some of them are but is it going to make anybody better? Sadly no. It may embarrass some. It may show off some, but it most certainly won't make anybody play or march better. Would taking a younger student aside and helping them individually do any good? Yet bet! It is best to remember it is music education not music elimination. We may have a few students that have some problems and all of us do from time to time but I just can't imagine that 120 people can't help each other to achieve a goal. There is not much that many people working together can't accomplish.

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” Lou Holtz

Finding the Edge

We only have 9 more rehearsals until our first competition. That is pretty scary stuff when you consider we have a long, long way to go before we are even close to being clean. We work really hard and I push the band a lot but we really need to get it clean. We are just not marching very well. I am surprised that we have not progressed much in the past 2.5 weeks. Things are, of course, getting better but we are a 5A band and we will compete in the top division at competitions so things need to get better. The weather has been amazing though. I am certainly glad we are not still putting drill on the field. We just don't make it stick. I mean we clean and work on a segment of about 5 to 8 sets and then we run it. It stays the same. The intervals don't get fixed and the same people miss the same placements and step offs. I know they aren't doing it on purpose. I just don't know the solution either except work through it. I am not sure if DF has ever been pushed this hard before but I also I am not letting up. Somebody I respect very much told me this one time:

"I am sure there are other ways to become winners. Unfortunately for you, I only know this way."

We will continue to work and I will continue to expect and insist on excellence.