powerpoint/.pdf file/letters for upcoming 9th grade families
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How does high school band work?
CONCERT BAND is a class that meets daily. Students receive a grade for participation/performance.
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Concert band classes have 2 concerts during Fall semester. They have 3–4 concerts during Spring semester. During Spring semester, they also have approximately 6 after school rehearsals for their state evaluation and 4 rehearsals in April/May for our final performance.
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MARCHING BAND is an extracurricular activity (like a sport or club).
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Marching Band has two possible activity levels:
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If a student misses a school day for a band trip (which is rare), it is handled exactly the same as when students miss for sports events, field trips with other classes, etc. Students are allowed to make up all work.
The band program has many high achieving students. They take honors classes and AP courses and make high grades. Our band students have been accepted to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, GA Tech, Emory, and a host of other major universities.
The only time that students have struggled is when they overload their ninth grade year with honors/AP courses and are not prepared for the rigor of the high school curriculum. Time is rarely the issue, rather, the lack of ability to deal with the more in-depth study in multiple subjects seems to affect the students from a stress and frustration level. For many students, band participation is a more relaxed experience, allowing them a bit of stress relief from the rest of the academic pressures of their day.
The band program has many high achieving students. They take honors classes and AP courses and make high grades. Our band students have been accepted to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, GA Tech, Emory, and a host of other major universities.
The only time that students have struggled is when they overload their ninth grade year with honors/AP courses and are not prepared for the rigor of the high school curriculum. Time is rarely the issue, rather, the lack of ability to deal with the more in-depth study in multiple subjects seems to affect the students from a stress and frustration level. For many students, band participation is a more relaxed experience, allowing them a bit of stress relief from the rest of the academic pressures of their day.
Get the Most from Your High School Band Experience
- Be as involved as possible. Those who do a variety of activities develop stronger friendships and bonds, have more fun, and develop their skills faster than those who have limited participation.
- What you give is what you get. If you want to experience great performances, you must take the time to prepare. Learning your parts quickly allows more focus during ensemble rehearsals to be on style and matching qualities. Waiting until the last minute to prepare for a performance or for an audition typically ends in frustration. Excessive absences also take away from the finished product. Be a productive member in order to gain the greatest benefit.
- COMMUNICATE. We can work through almost any conflict, but not if we are unaware of the problem until the last few days or hours prior to the event(s). Check calendars early and frequently. Talk with ALL parties involved if there is an issue. Please don’t try to manipulate the situation by playing the coaches, sponsors, or teachers against each other. We have a dedicated and very cooperative faculty and are flexible with all situations. There is no chance of “over-communicating”. As soon as you know about conflicts, fill out an absence request form from the website, e-mail the directors, and follow up as the event nears.
- Parents: Volunteer! You can gain a lot by being around the process. You will get to know the students, see the progress, and make friends among the other parents in our activity. We can always use assistance with everything from chaperoning to equipment crew, fundraising to event coordination. There’s a place for everyone. Find the thing you enjoy doing and help out in that aspect of the band program.
- Students: Ask for help when you need it. We have a wonderful staff and many talented instructors available. They are always willing to go the extra mile to help students improve! Private lessons are the key to rapid improvement of skills. Nearly every musician in the All State Bands and Orchestras study with a private teacher. One-on-one advice and assistance is the fastest way to improve!
- Don’t believe rumors and don’t create them! All of the “I heard from someone else….” statements are typically embellished to the point of being laughable. Ask the people in charge of the activity, go to the source, and please avoid speculation stated as fact. We have had near disasters based on false information passed along by someone who had no clue!
- Be flexible. In a large, multi-faceted program, things do not always go exactly as planned. An event gets rained out…a bus is late….a football game goes into overtime. Many times, we have no control over these situations. We will communicate as quickly and clearly as we have accurate information. When we get a last minute change of plans, we will let you know the moment we get things sorted out.
- Be a “receiver” of communication. Just as a star quarterback needs talented receivers, we need for folks to get the information that we make available. We use every means available to communicate (Facebook, Twitter, Website, Newsletter, E-mail blast, printed handouts, Google Calendar, Remind101, etc). All we can do is get the information out there. You have to be our “receiver” in order for us to complete the pass.
- Parents: Band is not a discipline tool for bad grades or behavior problems at home. We need all members fulfilling their performance obligations. If your student allows their grades to fall, then take away computers, TV, Facebook, cell phones, Instagram, etc. Take away car privileges, cancel prom attendance, sell their tickets to the concert or play that they are planning to attend, WHATEVER…but please don’t mess up the remaining student’s efforts and performance by creating a gap in the music or routines by pulling your kid out of band. Yes, we know that they enjoy band and taking away something they enjoy can manipulate them into doing better, but when it affects the rest of the group, we need to search for better solutions.
- Parents: You are our best audience. Nothing is more disappointing to a teenager than spending weeks getting ready for a performance, then looking out and seeing mostly empty seats. Come to the performances; applaud loudly the efforts of the performers. Sit together at marching band events. Promote your band program. Invite relatives, friends, and potential future band members to the concerts and performances. We need big crowds!
Tips for making your freshman year in band more “user-friendly”
- Communicate (a lot). We send information out through multiple sources. Visit the band website often (weekly). Sign up for any and all band social media outlets (Pope Band Facebook wall, Remind101, Band App, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) Put our events on your calendars. E-mail the band directors with questions/conflicting dates. Open and read emails from PBPA. Attend PBPA meetings. “We didn’t know…” is a difficult statement given the myriad of communications outlets that we utilize.
- Understand the dynamics of a large group with both curricular and extracurricular components.
When we have a rehearsal scheduled after school (for any activity), we will rehearse until the time indicated on the schedule. For example, if we have marching practice until 9:00 p.m., we will wrap up rehearsal and announcements at 9:00. It will take several minutes for your student to walk from the field to the band room, put away their instrument, gather their belongings, probably chat with friends, and get back out to the car. Best estimate would be that they get in the car by 9:20 – 9:25. This does not mean that practice ran overtime. If you have difficulty coping with the time needed to get them back to you after practice, simply alter your calendar to show rehearsal ending at 9:30. Then, when they get to you at 9:25, they appear to be 5 minutes early. (I say this partially in jest, but some folks REALLY get upset when little Pookie isn’t exiting campus at the scheduled ending time of practice!) - Understand that there are expenses to participating in this type of activity beyond the obvious costs of instruction and travel. If your student plays a reed instrument, they have to purchase reeds. If they play drums, they will need to buy sticks and mallets. If they damage their instrument, it costs to have it repaired. They will need things like black socks to wear while in uniform. We wish that there was a magic fund to cover all costs, but that just doesn’t exist.
- We schedule the minimum amount of time that we feel is necessary to prepare for performances. This means that EVERY practice and performance is “mandatory”. Unfortunately, the word “mandatory” has come to mean the same thing to many people as the word “convenient”. We expect all students at all scheduled band activities.
- Grades are not based on attendance. Grades are based on achievement.
- Yes, you can do all of our activities and get good grades, take honors classes, etc. Students across the country do it every day. Some of them continue music in college. All it takes is careful planning and flexibility in scheduling.
- While there are many “good reasons” to miss scheduled activities, all of them cannot be excused when it comes to attendance awards, varsity letter requirements, or continued participation in our extra activities. If it falls under the parameters of a school district recognized reason for excused absence, then we will honor it…no questions asked. We try to be as flexible as possible with other situations, but it is difficult to excuse family parties, all types of church youth activities, scouting events, etc. We have gone for 3 years without ever having the entire band at a practice or performance. Sometimes, our activity needs to take precedence for a particular performance. Absences from a band performance hurt ALL the other kids. They can’t perform at their best with parts missing.
- We need parent involvement. There are hundreds of little activities that can be done with a minimum time and effort investment. Uniforms need to be inventoried, handed out, collected, and stored. There are many events to chaperone. There is equipment to be moved for performances. You could help with hospitality for an event. Helping display our awards, plaques, trophies, and memorabilia from events is a constant need. Helping assemble packets for registration, trips, etc. might be your thing. Making some phone calls to prospective members can be done in your spare time. Perhaps you can help decorate for the banquet. Like working with media? How about band yearbook, website, or newsletters? Maybe you could be a driver to take kids to speak at the middle schools during recruiting visits. Are you handy with tools? Help out with building props for marching band or helping maintain equipment used all year long. No task too small…all help appreciated!
- Be careful with social media! This applies to parents as well as students. You can present yourself in a positive manner or in a very negative context. Those who use social media to vent often misrepresent facts and can damage our activity by spreading false information in a public forum. Ironically, the same activity that one individual portrays on Facebook as a negative experience is actually a positive experience for other members…and it is the SAME ACTIVITY!!!
- Once calendars are published, every effort is made to stick to those schedules. We do not “hold back” events. As soon as things are confirmed, they go on the calendar. Unfortunately, emergencies arise, events get cancelled (or new events get added at the last minute) and these are totally out of our control. For example, the East Cobber Parade is scheduled for a particular Saturday and the weather is horrible. We have to cancel the event. We didn’t know that the weather would be bad when we scheduled the event 5 months earlier. Another scenario: the phone rings in the band office. A representative of a TV production company requests 50 band kids to be in a TV commercial shoot and offers the band $5000 for 4 hours of our time. Of course we want to participate…but we didn’t know about it until two weeks ahead of the event. Do we decline because it wasn’t on the calendar months ago? As you can see, we are in a fluid situation and must sometimes adjust plans accordingly. We are not trying to mess up your schedule.