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Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Just wondering on 10/3/2024, 10:34 am

I have been a director in Texas for 27 years. I have had different band levels constantly but try to steer them toward a common ground with constant improvement. I had the opportunity to take over a small program that was in need of a ton of work. Every year should get better right??? Well we have been doing good until this year. We adopted this Temperature bulb thingy and my class is in the afternoon. If it says we can't go out, we can't. So ever since we have started not going out but maybe two days a week, these kids winning attitude had all gone away. They just wander from set to set and no matter how or what I say does not improve their drive. Five of my best players and students came to me and said winning was too much pressure. I was the only one who cared about getting ones. I was shocked. They just want to show up, play music, move around a little and not be pressured. Mind you....I am more relaxed now than I have ever been. So its not a lot of pressure I assure you. But am I the only one out here dealing with this. Kids have definitely changed and retirement is looking like the only change that might be a fit for me now. Rant over.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by BigGuyBD on 10/4/2024, 10:25 am, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

Just by reading all of this, it is good to know I am not the only one who is thinking like this. I am in year 25 and last year was not my best year and I almost resigned after a football game. This year the students are way better attitude wise, but they are a younger band, and I am going through the growing pains of hearing wrong notes more, not staying in step and getting to their spots late, and my trumpets, (God bless them, they are great kids) are only playing about 20 measures of the entire show, because they really didn't start until when school started which was 8/27. Tomorrow, we go to our first contest, and I am hoping that the judges don't do anything to discourage them, because they are working so hard to get things done.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Lol on 10/7/2024, 10:35 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

You just described my whole band too hah. Hope everything went well.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by BDSO on 10/3/2024, 4:24 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

This is year 27 for me also, and while I teach middle school, I know exactly what you are talking about. On paper, I should have a killer varsity and non-varsity group. Instrumentation is balanced and there were no weak players returning from last year. But, we are struggling to prepare our fall concert music. They don't show up for region band sectionals, and complain even when we work on the fun pep rally music they picked out. I don't think this is an off year. I think this is the beginning of many off years. My beginners are like the upper bands. They don't want to put in any effort either. The coaches have complained about it as well. This generation of kid (gen-z and gen-alpha) lacks drive. They lack effort. They lack direction and purpose. They want things done for them and don't see future as previous generations. as a typical gen-xer it drives me crazy. But, I find comfort in the thought that I will reach "80" next October and have the option to let someone else deal with it.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Region sectionals on 10/15/2024, 10:26 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

Why do you have region sectionals? Are they after school? Are they required for every student? Why would you force kids to do region (an individual activity) if they have no interest in the process? Learning the music is one thing to teach them the skills but that should be done DURING class and not after school. After school should be for enrichment activities, not just extra work you couldn't fit into class.

Remember a couple of things. They don't get paid to stay late after school, (you have a stipend to cover it) and you are creating the next generation of band parents and school board members...

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Um on 10/15/2024, 10:21 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

That's why they play the game.... I can remember on paper all the years that Texas had the best recruiting class in the country, loaded up with 4 and 5 star recruits, and would lose 3 or 4 games a season. On paper they should have been the national champs but couldn't even win their conference. Sometimes it comes down to being able to coach all that talent. In your case to get a very talented group of musicians to achieve the goals YOU set even though they have different ones. Maybe it comes down to mutual goal setting.

I'm almost 50 and I grow weary of all the "this generation" junk. I know all the stupid stuff I did as a kid. I look back and think of all the things I could have done differently, (sports and music), if I'd have just listened to my coaches/directors but I didn't. Because I was a kid. I could have made state but I didn't. I could have had a couple of career options but I didn't. Yet I ended up in the career of my dreams and changed lives for decades. I didn't end up in the career my parents wanted for me. But I ended up in the career I wanted. Looking back I can think of other careers that might have been equally as fun but that's what retirement is for.
Kids are kids. Not all kids are the 1%ers. Not all kids are lazy and unmotivated.

My own kid could have done some things differently as well but as it turns out, they are right where they are supposed to be and doing amazing things even though they made choices in high school that I might have preferred to go a different direction, (losing interest in certain activities, finding interest in others). Turns out that 3.9 gpa in HS turned into a 4.0 in college and admission to a doctoral program and the activities they chose to do and not do were the right choices. I don't think you can blanket say kids aren't motivated. I can think of a few teachers that would have said that about my kid. And they would have been right and wrong all at the same time. Their subject didn't motivate. Doesn't mean the kid lacked motivation.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by futurist on 10/4/2024, 8:18 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

Think ahead to when this generation is the HDs. Everyone will get a one for participating. We are just in a tough phase the programs are going through. Wish I was joking.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by BDSO on 10/4/2024, 8:34 pm, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

Honestly, that is what it will probably in order to keep kids in band. I stopped doing chair tests a few years ago because too many kids were getting upset they weren't first chair. We actually had kids quit because of it. Seriously, this is what they and their parents stated (one was the student of a band director in a different district and one was a coaches kid). We've created a generation of wimpy kids who want everything for no work.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Ehhh on 10/8/2024, 7:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

I've been hearing this for 20 years. Every generation has kids who don't want to work.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Snerk on 10/9/2024, 7:50 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

Each generation does, true.

Twenty years ago, it was one in eight.

Ten years ago, it was one in five.

Now, it's three in five, if not more.

Part of that is we're trying to teach like it was twenty years ago, and we aren't meeting the kids where they are.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by True... on 10/9/2024, 6:54 am, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

...but not at the numbers that we are seeing now. If our 8th Grade FB team put in as much effort in their practices as they do sitting on their butts picking their noses...they might be able to get a first down. Going back to last year, these boys are currently 0-15, and have scored a grand total of 2 whole points in those 15 games (yep, scored a safety on one of the weirdest kickoffs I've ever seen).

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Same boat on 10/3/2024, 3:16 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

I feel ya' brother! This is year 31. I still love the kids and they are having their best season since COVID, but every day I have at least 3 or 4 moments that make think it's time to ride off into the sunset. It's not fun going home every day wondering how I'm going to make it until the end of this May.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Happy Retired on 10/3/2024, 3:12 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

I retired a few years ago. Felt a huge burden lift off me. Was having crazy issues in the latter years. On the last day I walked out singing ‘Take this job and shove it . . .’

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Curious on 10/3/2024, 2:00 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

Standards don't change, but our approach may need to change. We have experienced the same issue. Since 2020, our students really just want to show up and have fun without putting much work into anything. That's what happens when you turn them into online learners for a year...they only want to do what needs to be done to be considered good enough. The challenge we have to accept is finding a way to motivate them to want to actually excel at something.

This may sound strange in our band director community, but go talk to the coaches on your campus. Sit in on some of their practices. Of course kids are drawn to sports like magnets, but what are the coaches doing that keeps the kids there? The kids may want to be there, but when they find out that playing a sport takes work, most of those kids don't shut down or quit.

I wish you the best.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by well.... on 10/4/2024, 12:18 pm, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

What I see in sports is you got your "A List", that gets pushed. The rest really do just show up and kind of "have fun". At least here anyway.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Rethink on 10/3/2024, 1:38 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

Rethink the way you are thinking about your program. It's all about the music so it SHOULD be that they want to show up and play music rather than trying to get a one. If they enjoy the music, and that's where the focus is, then they wouldn't they WANT it to sound good? There shouldn't be pressure. Just pure enjoyment. Within the last few years I've stopped requiring things like pass-offs and have seen nothing but increased productivity. Last year we had the highest number of all-state students than the band has had in over 20 years.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Not Alone on 10/3/2024, 12:43 pm, in reply to "Entire band and director on different levels"

You're not alone on this, I'm dealing with something similar. It feels like this year in general is off, but I can't put my finger on it.

Re: Entire band and director on different levels

Posted by Big Shot Bob on 10/3/2024, 4:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Entire band and director on different levels"

Remember it is not your band, it is the students’ band. Strong Student Leadership is the only thing that can save the band right now! Have a genuine conversation with your leadership team. A strong leader in the band can and should be anyone with a common goal. Think like an athletic coach who can speak to the team at halftime to win the game. Teach your students about passion, commitment, work ethic, family, etc.

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