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How much time is spent...

Posted by Curious Assistant on 10/31/2025, 10:49 am

How much of your rehearsal do you devote to Region Band practice? In other words, how much time do you spend listening to etude #1, #2, or #3 if HS... scales, etc. during your class time?

Re: How much time is spent...

Posted by DesertJazz on 11/2/2025, 9:28 am, in reply to "How much time is spent..."

So this is very different depending on which element of our program the answer is for. The Varsity JH group spends about 40-70% of its time depending on the day working on it together because it's designed to be taught in three groups for our region.

With HS students, in our full band/marching band class we don't do any of it in class. If students sign up for our Applied Music class, they spend about 80-90% of the time in the fall on it. (We also have them start working on solos/ensembles and something other things in that class)

I didn't want to skew your survey by answering with a button since none of them really fit our situation.

Re: How much time is spent...

Posted by 1A on 11/1/2025, 12:00 am, in reply to "How much time is spent..."

IDK how small school people even do this, especially if you are the only director. I also don't know if it is normal for the all-region music to be the hardest music that a kid can play. MS all-region is at least unison, but high school is just crazy to me. I feel like there should be a level lower than this, but I am from a different state and feel biased. The music for the "Region Band" in my state consists of two etudes, each 12-16 measures in length. One is a "fast" etude and the other a "slow" etude. I get how that is unfathomable regarding scheduling and other things here. The all-state band requires all-state tryouts, and the region band requires only regional tryouts. It's not an advancing thing.

Re: How much time is spent...

Posted by DFW on 10/31/2025, 5:12 pm, in reply to "How much time is spent..."

I hate to admit it, but I've basically given up on all region.

I teach in a fairly low income school in a high income region. The all-region auditions are dominated by a few schools where nearly everyone takes private lessons. From talking with those band directors, they spend hardly any time on all region prep, private lesson teachers handle that. Even if I spent a significant class time on all region, I would be spread so thin that I might hear each student for a couple of minutes once a week. It wouldn't be nearly enough to make a difference.

We spend most of our fall class time on marching band and start concert music a few days a week by the end of September. The kids who are interested in all region practice on their own and we find time outside of class to coach them. I usually have a handful of kids make the band.

I see the potential value in all region and I wish I had more kids participate, I simply don't have time.

Re: How much time is spent...

Posted by Buck on 11/3/2025, 9:24 am, in reply to "Re: How much time is spent..."

To DFW:
Your current method is how many programs that do not have a ton of money or resources handle the All-Region process. This is reality for many band programs.

If you really wanted to, you could require all of your students to have a 15-20 minute lesson with a director once a week on the all-region music. It definitely makes a difference on the end results. But it is incredibly time consuming and you have to be prepared for the very real burnout factor.

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