Original Message:
from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "Don't blame the music stores for the lack of Kopprasch, how about the lack-luster music programs in our public schools." Please don't paint all programs with the same broad brush. Have you ever taught music as a regular teacher (as opposed to substitute or private lessons) in a modern middle or high school. The number of issues is myriad and I won't go into all of them, but I'll share a few of my own experiences. I will say over the years that I specialized in taking on problem programs and rebuilding them. The last school where I taught, anyone could take band at any time, whether or not they had any previous instruction. Each year, I would have students who have never played thrown into the band with kids who had already been playing at least three years. When was I supposed to take the time to work with them to get them up to speed? After school you say. Ah, but you see that's the time for jazz band, honors band coaching, and detention. Oh, did I forget to tell you that I was only employed half-time, teaching a full day every other day and had 72 students in band and 95 students in chorus plus guitar and piano classes? Oh so I should take a more advanced student and send them to a practice room? Well, you see, we shared a room with the middle school and my rehearsal time was the middle school teacher's time to do her small group lessons (rote coaching of performance tunes) in the one and only practice room. The school prior to that had the same policy of students dropping in with no prior experience and while I had some students who would have been good at coaching, there was no place to send them. The good thing about that school is that I was full-time, but what did full time entail? In my case it involved doing band (concert and marching), chorus, piano I, piano II (concurrently), guitar I and guitar II (concurrently) as a half-day at the high school and then teaching elementary music (not band) at five elemetaries for the balance of the day, keeping in mind that the elementaries ended their day one and a half hours after the high school which killed any after school rehearsals (jazz band was 7-9 p.m. two nights per week). Lunch was in the car on the way to the school where I was supposed to be fifteen minutes before my last class ended at the high school. My point here in all of this is not to rant and complain about how tough I had it, but to paint a realistic picture of what many band directors go through. Not all situations were that ridiculous. Some permitted me to group the band students by ability and I actually had three or more bands-including beginning band, but those were the exceptions. Many school districts place more emphasis on numbers than on quality and teaching and they tie both funding and whether or not someone is to be rehired on those numbers. So before you go slamming on all band directors and lack-lustre, why don't you walk that proverbial mile in their shoes and see what the real story is. Dana Twiss, Litchfield, Maine Retired band director and now museum curator -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://link.mail2web.com/mail2web _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
