Pedal C

Lara (and Mr. and Mrs. Silverstar too)...

Not to jump on the bandwagon and say "Yeah, same here!," but your band director has been a jerk. Hopefully he's a good guy overall, but in this case he's not doing so well. From my own experiance in high school band, it sounds like he doesn't have a great relationship with the choir teacher. Sometimes teachers get into a sort of tug-o-war over talented students who want to be involved in more than one thing. I've seen it and it sucks. In my opinion, it's unprofessional to put a student in the middle of that, but sometimes it happens.

The idea of withholding a recommendation is...lets just say...lame. High school honor bands are not the be all and end all of musical existance. Yes, they're fun and valuable learning enviroments (hopefully), but don't give college application problems a second thought. If you can play a convincing, expressive musical phrase with a great sound, you can get accepted into college music programs. I happen to be a teaching assistant at a university with a very strong trumpet studio and of the eight students I've taught this year, I don't have the slightest idea what bands any of them were in during high school. True, I wasn't the one to make any recomendations about entry into the school of music (obviously the professor does that), but I would bet money that the application review is something like this..."All State Band...University of Wherever Honor Band...etc...Hmm, ok great, now how does he/she play?" Remember, anyone can audition for a music school. You don't have to pass a "resume audition" to to get to play for someone. If you go in and play better than someone who was first chair in every single honor band in the state, guess who'll be higher on the list! Any trumpet teacher worth studying with wants the best players they can get. No one shells out scholarship money for someone with a great pedigree who can't play. Incidentally, having choir experiance is great. Make sure to put that on those froms!

Have fun on the choir trip!

Jason.

(One thing that many band directors have in common is the "Huge Over-reaction/Short Memory Syndrome." I bet in two weeks he'll hardly remember this stupid mess. You'll still remember your trip with the choir, though. Look who comes out ahead!)

__________________
"The oboe's A is to make sure we still play it 1 and 2" - Bud Herseth

"One way or another, every patient stops bleeding." - Scrubs

trickg

I agree with Pedal C's assesment of honor bands. It's all fine and dandy to be able to say that you went to this honor band, or that honor band, but when it comes right down to it, those things will eventually be in the past and you have to rely on your current chops and musical abilities.

When I was in high school I attended the Nebraska All-State band, the Hastings College honor band, and I played in the honor band at the CSU Summer music camp honor band two years in a row....and I almost didn't pass my screening audition to get into the Army band program because I was playing pretty poorly that day. Those honor bands didn't mean much when I was under the gun at an audition. It was all about what I could do at that moment.

__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

Heavens2kadonka

Yes, it is all about the auditions.

Gosh, I guess I'll get this story off of my chest. Get ready, guys.

You guys should know I had NO aspirations for going into music after high school, let alone anything else. My band directors had almost effectively quashed my desire to get better, after some events like Lara's gone through (Bleh, so stupid and pointless now I wont even repeat them). To tell you all the truth, between 8th grade and the end of junior year, I did not practice a day.

For some reason, I did not get a job during my summer before senior year, so I decided to start practicing. No real method, I just attempted to get better at stuff I thought I needed improving at.

My senior year was not to be a great year. We were the smallest graduating band class, last year had a big falling out, because of the directors deciding to stomp out people they thought were on drugs (Which included me, but thats a story for another post). Over 50% of the band were Freshman, blah blah. Im just setting background.

I remember, the final band competition. State. Scholarships were being awarded. My directors guaranteed me I would get a 500.00 scholarship from Tech if I applied. So I did. However, I could apply to a second school if I wanted. I was advised not to even apply to another, since there were so many applying. BS. I applied for the "big one," a $20,000 band scholarship from Carson-Newman college.

So, the night of the competition. I remember standing there, listening to the players who won the 5,000 scholarship for UT Martin. 6000 from here. 3500 from there. On and on, until finally:

The winner of the 500.00 scholarship from TN Tech: Van Bryant II.

Woo woo. I walked up, and shook the people's hand. Thinking I was the last person, I asked: "well, do we all go somewhere now?"

He replied: "Just stand here for a minute."

Confused, I walked back. Why the hell do I wanna stand there like a doofus?

I get back on the 50 yard line with my senior class. Everyone's all "Congratulations, Van. Cool."

The announcer comes on after a few minutes:

And the winner, of the Carson-Newman band award, totalling... Twenty thousand dollars (GASP FROM THE AUDIENCE).

Van Bryant II!

WTF?! WTF!?!?!? WTF!?!?

Haha, you should see the pic of me getting that one. You could write "WTF?!?" all over my face!

When you finally realize that these people you've never met, never even thought of meeting before, decide to give you TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS based merely on your playing, it really hits you.

Yeah, I cried. I've never had more than fifty dollars on me in my life, yet here I am holding a big sheet of paper, with 20,000 dollars, and my name under it.

As I said, I never gave two craps about practicing, or playing in high school. Never made all-regional. Never really cared. That event changed my life. I remember that later that year, at the big Festival, I made 5th chair honor band, knocking out a considerable number of all-regional players, even a trumpeter who had won one of those 3000 dollar awards at the Competition.

I was awarded the big performance scholarship that year from TN Tech. Even got a "congratulations" from Dr. Decker.

No, I'm not trying to blow my own horn (God knows, I have no reason to). I am just trying to illustrate to you guys that I went from going nowhere with my life to having to choose between WHICH COLLEGE TO GO ON FULL-RIDE!!!

I almost didnt end up this way, because I let some band director's personality destroy my aspirations. Thats why I am so vehement now about Lara and anyone else not letting a band director control your emotions.

Lara, you sound like you have amazing potential with music. Never, EVER, EVEREVEREVEREVEREVER let someone else get you down to the point you want to stop the course you are taking in life. I guarantee if you stay the course, and you will come out of the journey happy, not wondering "what if?"

There, now I'm done. Time for some pizza with friends!

Van

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trickg

Wow. Just wow!

__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

Pedal C

I agree...Wow! I don't know what state that was in, but I wish I had lived there. Nothing like that happens here!

That's what high school music is really about. Not turning everone into the next Bud Herseth or Wynton Marsalis, but giving them something that enriches their lives and can provide some great opportunities, whether you make you living at it or not. Nice work Kadonka...

__________________
"The oboe's A is to make sure we still play it 1 and 2" - Bud Herseth

"One way or another, every patient stops bleeding." - Scrubs