Respect

Now, it is YOUR turn

High Schools, Marching Band, Personal experience, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Band EncouragementAlmost every year that I taught, I had variations of the same conversation, usually during a spring semester, when a normal realization from some talented, top quality, mature bandsters are sadly realizing that some of their friends and the ensemble’s leaders are (or will be) gone…. During their band lives, they had tended to ‘hang out’ with those in upper grades.

This is a call for NEW leaders to step up. 

If this note is speaking to you it is a compliment. As you think back during your earlier years, there were upper-level students who accepted you into their friend circles, right? Those became strong and meaningful relationships and you gained from their experience and insight – and from their friends.

Some of those friends have graduated or will before you do, and that saddens you. They are moving on and you’ll miss them. You look at those in younger classes who maybe don’t (yet) show the qualities you admired in your older friends.

Now it is YOUR TURN to be the mature mentor for those younger, including incoming newbies. You know what it takes, better than they. So my question for you is, what are you going to do about it?

Perhaps you feel a little inadequate like you’re not as ‘good’ as your mentors. You know what I think? I think you ARE. As you step into the leadership role, you know what I think? I think you CAN.

If this note seems like I’m writing it specifically to you, then you probably have already been a “step it up” kinda person. That’s one of the reasons you’ve been comfortable around those older. Now it is YOUR TURN to step into major leadership; to replace those who are leaving and to set the tone for those coming in and for those who are already looking up to you. NOW IT IS YOUR TURN! YOU’RE READY. BE A LEADER. BE A MENTOR. BE A FRIEND….and we’ll all be the better for it, including YOU!

Band encouragementLove, Admiration & Respect,

Signature

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Hillbilly Elegy and How We Did It

College Prep, Communication, Family, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Respect /
all quoted from a collegiate presentation called, “How We Did It” that I made to parents several times when I was teaching. All text is from “Hillbilly Elegy”.

Years ago, my son gifted me a book, “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. His was a more extensive experience of poverty than mine. I grew up in northern Kentucky while his Appalachian upbringing was a little over 100 miles away….from an area with a genuine Kentucky hillbilly life. I’m glad I didn’t have a foul-mouthed grandmother or drug-user family members in my family … but there were aspects of his young life that had recognizable similarities to mine.

How you can go from that to graduating Ohio State in 2 yrs and Yale is an impressive success story.
I’ve seen attack media describe his book as mediocre and that he maligned poor people — WRONG… he was describing his reality. And the book was made into a movie. (I liked the book better)
I used quotes from one page of his book in my “How We Did It” Collegiate presentation I gave to students/parents while I was teaching, because I totally agree with, and experienced via my younger son, the fact that you don’t have to be rich to get into a top-tier university.
With our younger son getting into a top-tier undergrad school and then an Ivy League grad school, our experience was in the same universe as Vance’s, hence my use of this quote from his book.

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Secret Service Encounters

News and Happenings, Personal experience, Respect /

With all the attention on the Secret Service at the Trump rally in Butler, I thought I’d organize some recollections and experiences the few times I’ve been around the Secret Service, including when VP Bush came to announce his running mate, when VP Quayle came to our local parade….and more. I am writing this shortly after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

When VP Bush came to announce/introduce his running mate

When Vice President George H.W. Bush chose Dan Quayle to be his running mate, they made the announcement in Huntington. The Secret Service started showing up several days in advance. They were noticed walking around the Courthouse and in/out of the businesses close by.

I was in the small Christian bookstore just across the street from the courthouse a day or so before the visit and commented to the shop owner that she would have a great view. No. The SS had told her to be closed and away from the window several hours prior.

Joan and I joined the huge crowd at the courthouse, including on the railroad tracks (trains all stopped, of course). We could see people on top of buildings with binoculars. Noticing a couple sitting in their apartment building window across the tracks from the courthouse, shortly after I commented about them – they were gone. There must have been SS agents on or in that building.

There were pairs of agents at every corner of the Courthouse roof with their extra large binoculars.

Before they came to the courthouse, the band students and their instruments were searched. A helicopter started flying and hovering as it was announced the VP was about 30 minutes out.

When VP Quayle was in the local parade

They won the election and Quayle announced he would participate in the local parade. Joan and I were on the curb, video camera in hand. About 2-3 times, a pair of Secret Service agents would walk down the edge of the street. A block ahead of the VP was a flatbed truck of photographers followed by the armored car with guys holding the doors open. In between was the VP and his wife.

In front of that, where there had been a single SS agent on each side of the street, there were about a half a dozen, walking in single file along the edge of the street. The SS agent was repeating, “Do NOT step into the street.” A local policeman behind him would then echo with,

“And he means it.”

When VP Quayle visited his parents

These visits were not announced and were not public events. A friend of mine, who lives a moderately short distance from the Quayle home, was on his roof using a nail gun to affix shingles when a SS helicopter hovered over him while agents with binoculars checked out what he was doing.

When VP Biden spoke at our son’s commencement

Our son was receiving his PhD in a commencement ceremony that included over 5,000 undergrads. VP Biden was the keynote speaker. The instructions we received included that we should arrive about three hours early and be in our seats two hours prior. It was in a football stadium, with numerous entrances, all with electronic machines and several SS agents checking purses, bags, and bodies. Since we were in our hot, sunny seats two hours early, there was plenty of time to check out some of the SS preparations, such as:

  • In the Press Box. We were directly across from the press box and could see periodic movement through several windows.
  • On top of the Press Box.
  • At the scoreboard.
  • Several places around the field perimeter and locations throughout the stands.
  • On the platform, in front and behind it. What impressed me most was that all the time we were there, a solitary agent stood watch at the podium on the platform.
  • On buildings adjacent to the stadium.
  • …and probably several places we couldn’t see.

When the procession entered the stadium (University officials, VP Biden, Professors, etc) the SS agents were but a few paces away…enough to escape the pictures, but close enough if needed.

I may add these to my “Stories Through My Ages” memoir…

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You wanted a water break?

Leave a Comment / Assistant Directing, High Schools, Marching Band, Personal experience, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Someone tweeted a prompt, “that one time at band camp”. This was my response. Did this several times. Official practice for the fire fighters. Great fun for hot teens during band camp.

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Anniversary

I attribute our 47yr marriage success to three main things

Personal experience, Respect /

45 Roses

Today is the 45th Anniversary for wife Joan and me. Tomorrow is Father’s Day, which was mentioned in today’s podcast from Morning Wire. They mentioned the difficulty of those growing up without a father in the house, especially when it comes to later maintaining a marriage and family. I come from a broken home. So does Joan. We talked about that during college as we had heard the statistics of what sounded like our marriage would be doomed. And yet, here we are. I attribute our 45yr marriage success to three main things.

We were committed Christians and stayed active in the church, raising our family in the church.

Because we both experienced parents divorcing and the devastating effects that has on the children, we were committed to never letting that happen to our children. We were both at nearly every swim meet, baseball game, theater performance and concerts. There were a few times where we had to split because both boys would have something going on at the same time and sometimes in different cities. But we never just sent them off. We were there.

That we spent so much time working together in small office environments, the types of temptations that seem to creep into a lot of marriages were never present in ours. Neither of us ever considered anyone else. In our first three years of marriage, we taught at the same school and shared an office. Later, after John left education, we shared a business office for over two decades at QDP Corporation.

And we never let anyone tell us how to raise our children. We left education to start our family. Joan wanted to be a stay at home mom. My freedom of schedule allowed me to be at almost every t-ball, baseball, swim meet, and concert that either of our sons was in. I’ll never say we did everything right, but our sons are both successful in what they are doing. They have always, as have we, self-sufficient.

Are we experts? No. But ours has been a successful family for 45 years.

Here’s to 50 years and beyond.

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Bullying, Band and Best Practices

4 Comments / Classroom Teacher, College Prep, High Schools, Music Department, Parenting, Respect, School Security, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

Bullying In Band

UPDATE: Be sure to read the parent comments at the end of this article.

Over a decade after high school graduation, he told his parents he was bullied as a high school freshman, not telling them at the time because he feared they’d make a big deal of it.

He DID go to a teacher who ignored or brushed aside his emotional plea. In his valedictorian speech at graduation three years later, when he listed the “Top 10 Things I Learned in High School”, one of them was…..

“….that my head really does fit in a gym locker.”

Still no response. This was before all the more recent publicity of the terribly negative lifetime impact that bullying can have….but

…there is no excuse for inaction. EVER!

Fortunately, this story doesn’t end tragically…. but that doesn’t make it right.

Bullying in Band…..surely not, right? …

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Never block a fire truck

High Schools, Personal experience, Respect, Social Media /
Fire trucks getting through
Parking on both sides makes the middle narrow.

I was coming down the one-way street where we live. There is parking on both sides, but that doesn’t leave much room. Years ago, when I had a conversion van, I managed to take off someone’s mirror with mine. (Yes, I dealt with it.)

On this particular trip, in addition to normal cars parked, I encountered a lawn service truck, an Amazon van, a City Truck and one collecting trash…and I barely made it through with my car. I commented in a post that a fire truck wouldn’t make it and was reminded of a couple of Dad’s firetruck stories and events, one courtesy of my sister.

What happens when you block a fire truck?

Fire trucks
Backdraft, a realistic presentation of real fire fighting

The movie, ‘Backdraft’ fascinated me. Dad was a 32-yr veteran firefighter in a full-time city department that had about ten “houses” around town. He was one of three “Chiefs”. He said “Backdraft” was pretty accurately done. I asked about the scene where there is a car parked in front of the hydrant and they break the windows and take the hose through the car.

“We would probably just use the truck to push the car out of the way. The car would be a wreck, but don’t put your car between my truck and our getting to a fire.”

Fire trucks
Dad’s “Company 1” Fire House, @ 1975
Long driveway attracts speeding drivers during the school day
Problematic long driveway at Holmes High School.
Entrance Gate Holmes High School
Entrance gate to Holmes High School. What you can’t see are the iron-works gates that matched the fencing to the right.

What happened when they blocked my Dad’s fire trucks?

Close to that in real life that involved Dad and his trucks happened at my high school around 1980 when my sister was a sophomore. There is a long driveway through the school and at times they would have problems with people speeding through there during school. On one particular day, someone chained shut the large ironworks gate. They weren’t supposed to do that, I’m sure, but those drivers and that long driveway could be disturbing and a safety concern.

There was a fire alarm and Dad was on duty.

When the trucks arrived at the school, they encountered the locked main gate. Guess what they did?

Dad never talked about that story, but sister tells me she remembers faculty talking about the Fire Department “busting the gates down”.

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Riley Gaines podcast with Middle School Athletes

News and Happenings, Respect /

GainesJust listened to a podcast interview https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gaines-for-girls-with-riley-gaines/id1696360492?i=1000657133794 with four of the five middle school (M.I.D.D.L.E. S.C.H.O.O.L.) girls who stepped out rather than compete against a boy in their track meet’s shot put. The girls were punished and not allowed to compete at (at least) their next meet. The parents have taken the school board to court (in progress). The girls have subsequently been permitted to compete.

The boy has since been accused of sexual harassment. I’m not even going to quote the accusation of what he was going to do to a girl with his non girl body part. If you want to see, here is a link and article… https://x.com/ReduxxMag/status/1789013744812515708

Girls should not have to compete against boys in sports where sex matters. (Compete in band. That is ok.) They should not have to worry about boys in their restrooms and locker rooms. They should not have to endure what these girls described and to be scared in what should be safe spaces.

Why do middle school girls have to be the adults to try to protect themselves and their sport?

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National Band Directors Day

Assistant Directing, College Prep, Music Performance, Personal experience, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /
I learned late today that May 20th is National Band Director’s Day. I’ve had several directors who have impacted me different ways.

ROBERT CROWDER took over some of the elementary school bands when my initial teacher (more, in a moment) worked out to stay at the high school. Mr. Crowder was the first black teacher I had any extended contact with. He was so nice and soft spoken. He taught me at 10th District in grades 6-7. I was in 8th grade, at the huge, inner-city @2500 student Jr/Sr high when MLK was killed. Racial tensions were sky high for a while, including daily walk-outs 10 minutes before school end by hundreds of black students. I didn’t experience it directly, but apparently Mr. Crowder did a lot to help restore a calmer atmosphere in the school.

SAMUEL SANDERS was my Jr High director in 8th grade. I was 1st chair, but always goofing off in rehearsal. He pulled me aside one day and said something like, “You’ve got a lot of potential, but you’re going to throw it all away if you’re not careful.” That impacted me and I changed.
JAMES COPENHAVER taught me in his and my first years. I was in 5th grade and he just got the job. He didn’t like the way I held my horn. He sat down next to me, quietly explained hand position while patting me on the top of my head with his college ring turned around. I have great hand position still. Freshman year, he pulled me aside to say, “I understand you want to be a band director. That means you will have to go to college and I know your family can’t send you. You have four years to work on that clarinet, so that, by the time you graduate, you’ll be good enough that schools will pay for you to come.” He was right. I have so many stories about him. To say he was a strict taskmaster might be an understatement, but he did so many things to help me along. He got me scholarships to summer camps and connected me to the best clarinet teacher (below) in the area. He left after my sophomore year. He taught me to always strive, not only for excellence but for the top spot. I tried to pay him forward when I taught. It was hard because his tactics would be problematic today….but I get enough notes and feedback from students and parents that I know I impacted some lives.
RICHARD FOUST moved up from the Asst position for my last two years of high school. He was a great jazz musician. Overall, he kept the band strong through my graduation.

ROBERT RODEN was my clarinet teacher throughout high school. He was also a band director. He had the first chair clarinetists from two other area high schools in his studio. (Senior year he gave the three of us the same solo for festival). Mr. Copenhaver convinced him to give me an ‘audition’. After listening from his living room lounge chair, he offered me lessons with a condition. “You’re pretty good. I can help you get better, but you can’t afford me. I have a bad heart and am not supposed to do much hard work, so if you will mow my lawn, shovel my snow and do whatever else I need around the house, I will give you lessons UNTIL the day you show up here unprepared.” I have tried to pass that forward, but it is hard to find that level of commitment in the lives of super-busy teens. Mr. Roden died in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in 1976. There were @160 deaths. My dad was off duty, but at the fire helping fire fighters.

WM HARRY CLARKE was my college band director. The day I walked into the Fine Arts building for a visit, there was a music major at the door waiting for me, calling me by name and escorting me to meet Mr. Clarke. I learned a lot about conducting and rehearsal technique from him. One skill I never mastered was his ability to always remember names. We had a huge band and he knew everyone by name. That is powerful.

PHILLIP MILLER was my college orchestra director and clarinet professor. He was a good teacher, not such a good human. Other than telling me he had wasted four years of his life on me (when he found out I was an education vs performance major), the most memorable takeaway for me was that, just before I would walk on stage for a solo performance, his words to me were, “Make them stand up.”

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Emma Kok and Voila

News and Happenings, Respect, Storytelling /
Voila, the performance that got 50M views and kicked off her career at age 15.

Emma Kok,  a 16-year-old singer from the Netherlands, has a chronic health condition – gastroparesis (paralyzed stomach), receiving nutrition through a feeding tube making  this presentation even more emotionally powerful as she sings about her dream.

The original video got 50Mhits. This one (below) includes the English translation on screen.

 

 

 

btw …. get a box of tissues. Knowing her story and hearing her voice (and seeing audience and orchestra members reactions), well, as one reviewer said, “This broke me.”

 

 

Once you watch the video, you will have several options to hear others react. This reaction is from a professional opera singer:

In this video, she talks about being bullied because of her nutrition bag and because of her delayed growth.

She is currently on a World Tour with Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

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