When our practice did not bring everyone to the proficient level, occasionally I had to tell someone (or some people) to simplify or not play a particularly tough passage.
I only recall one time that I actually, after exhaustive (I thought) time devoted to one piece with outrageous runs, that I actually gave the woodwinds a “cheat” run. It worked, as the judges either didn’t catch it, or chose not to ‘ding’ us for it, but I always regretted resorting to that.
Joan suggested I respond to a post with a similar story… (shortened for this post). MY experience follows.
From David Bloss, Level 3 contributor in “Band” group.
“My small town HS in northern Oklahoma had a combined middle & high school band. I estimate the student population was around 300. We had 84 in the band (drum major and 2 twirlers for marching … ”
MY EXPERIENCE
Four days before graduation from the University of Kentucky, I was hired for my first teaching job. I went from a community of nearly 100K (Covington, KY) and an inner-city jr/sr high school (Holmes) of 2000+ — to a community of about 1000 (Pekin, IN) and a jr/sr high school (Eastern) population of under 400….. and no football team.
I somehow survived the culture shock and am grateful to have learned so much from that community. When I got stuck in the snow, no one drove past without getting out to help. When I drove a bandster home from rehearsal, I was expected to accept eggs from their chicken house. But, I also learned those teens were hard-working, talented, committed, and thrived at an opportunity to prove themselves to other communities….to me…..and to themselves.
I was befriended and mentored by an amazing artist (Richard Trueblood) who was my only outside staffer, although I don’t think we ever paid him — my ignorance. He did amazing things with our guard and together we created and taught winning choreography.
I was only there four years. Band grew from 39 (with 8th graders) to 93 with only grades 9-12, including 18 flags and 6 rifles….
In KY, we competed in “Band Size” competitions, which put us against large schools. When we could compete in “School Size” competitions, our band was normally 2-3x the size of our competitors.
We had a good run, receiving lots of guard, other caption and top placement awards. At the State Level, we were in Class C (there was no Class D at the time) and ranked 4th twice. Last year, that same school won 1st place in the small division in Scholastic Class, which also did not exist during my tenure.
I’m not saying a thing about POLITICS. I’m just talking about some local observations and ending with a quote from the CEO of Kroger. Some say it is greed. Others claim politics. I don’t care so long as someone can make it stop.
Recently, I was criticised for posting price changes that were higher than the “averages”….. Some I included, from local findings and things that affected me personally, included:
$1 Sausage Muffin is now $1.89. $1 drinks are now $1.39.
Local car wash increased price from $7.50 to $10 for cars — and more for SUV’s and trucks.
My favorite meal at Casa has increased from @$12 to @$20.
Local specialty steak in restaurant is up $4.
$5-7 combo meals are now $11-12
My homeowner’s insurance is up $100’s and the insurance on my aging car just (yesterday) increased another $30…. up $64 in last two years. I thought insuring aging cars always DEcreased.
Private Selection bread at local Kroger has DOUBLED. Items where price has remained close are now in SMALLER packages….so same thing.
Oil change on my car has gone up +$30
And streaming services; Netflix, Prime, Paramount, PBS…. yeah, you know.
Amazon Prime — wow…..what is it now?
Treats like DQ shakes & Blizzards, Wendy’s Frosty…. up $2-3
In the time that most things I spend money on have increased +40%, my Social Security has gone up about 3%.
Feel free to add your examples.
Below is a quote from the Kroger CEO. We’ve always been in the “budget conscious” group, but he mentions “other customer segments”. Are you in any of those?
“The reduction of excess savings built up during the pandemic, higher interest rates and the effect of inflation are pressuring customers’ ability to spend,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen stated on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “This is especially true for our most budget conscious customers, as we’ve been seeing for a while now, but we’re now seeing other customer segments beginning to make changes as well. Customers are purchasing lower-price cuts of meat, buying less, and focusing on essentials.”
My mother remembered Pearl Harbor. In the sixties, I remembered the Kennedy assassination. Since September 11, 2001, the “where were you when” question has been about 9/11.
Since I’m writing this on 9/11/24, I’ll focus on that experience.
It was a regular work day for Joan and I at our QDP Corporation office. Prior to leaving the house, we saw the news clip about a “small plane” that had flown into one of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers. A terrible accident, but it wasn’t going to stop our day.
After travelling the six miles to our office and settling in, Joan turned on the small radio she had on her desk. We did not have a TV in the office and this was in the pre-streaming era.
Shortly after the news was on, Joan called out (my office joined hers, but I couldn’t clearly hear and didn’t listen to her radio) that a plane had flown into the second tower — and the small plane we heard about was now a passenger plane….so we understood there was a more major event.
The she cried out,
One of the buildings just collapsed.
I distinctly recall commenting,
That is impossible. You realize how big those towers are. You must have heard that wrong.
Then the second building….and we decided to close for the day and go home to watch about it on TV….. and pretty must stayed glued to the news for the next several days.
Note: what follows is a side-note addition, but I hope you will find it interesting.
Our younger son, David, had just started classes at Duke University, with its significant international student body that included numbers from both Jewish and Muslim communities.
I called, out of some concern, but mostly just to calm my slight anxiety about the potential (I thought) for student unrest. His response caught me off guard.
We are very safe in my dorm, Dad.
I should note that dorms on the Freshman Campus at Duke (yes, a separate campus about a mile away from the campus you see online) were not the huge complexes of many larger universities….. His particular dorm, for example, had four floors and no more than a couple hundred students.
As a professionally trained information-gathering salesperson, I pressed him on that answer. He hesitated, but eventually added more context:
Dad, are you familiar with the King of Jordan?
I know who he is.
Well, his son is in my dorm …. and we are very safe.
I learned about some in his dorm who were not students. Also, about how the Prince of Jordan liked to evade his protection detail and would (on one such occasion) recruit fellow students who sneak him out of the dorm to get pizza. The challenge was to see how far they could get before caught. We had a discussion about the potential downfall of such games.
When David’s brother, John, traveled from Tennessee Tech University to visit and check in on his brother, John learned that the campus really had been buttoned up as they wouldn’t allow him entry until David vouched for him.
Similarly, in the way my mother recalled going to her high school classes the day after Pearl Harbor, and I remembered walking home for lunch from Tenth District Elementary School shortly after hearing about President Kennedy, I will never forget what I was doing on 9/11/01…and neither should you.
I want to be careful and mindful posting this. As far as I know, no one was hurt. I’ve heard people say marching band is easy. If you say that, you should try it. I mean….out there on the field. For a few years, at the end of Band Camp, we would invite parents to learn a portion of drill with their student. Of course, we didn’t really give them time to learn it because that was not the point. It DID give those parents a new perspective on what their student was doing.
Most of these types of fails would not have happened (often) when I was marching…..but today’s complex drills, fast paces, close intervals and backward marching…. well….
Watch for a laugh……but it is marching season, and KUDOS to the way those in this video responded through their fail.
Go ahead. You can laugh out loud. Then go cheer on a marching band.
She was a new student who transferred in. I needed to listen to her so I could place her. I had never seen color-coded keys and it gave a good reason to have a nice get-to-know-you conversation. She said her band teacher labeled all their clarinetists’ keys like this. It was a nice horn.
Wow! I’ve spent my whole teaching career explaining the fingerings and expecting students to get it.
I HAVE had students label all their music notes. I didn’t allow it if I knew about it…..explaining that they were going to encounter more notes than they were going to be able to label.
btw I wonder if that teacher labeled trumpets or trombones.
Definitely learned a lesson today. I was changing the battery in my car’s key fob and, apparently, damaged something inside the casing because now a battery won’t snap in. Yes, it is the right battery.
A replacement requires cutting the key and programming to the car. There are online options under $50, but that does not include cutting the key nor the programming. One hardware store in town sells, cuts, and programs a replacement — for @$200.
I called the Toyota dealer. Whoah! Over $400 there.
So, after I become the owner of a new fob, I’ll commit to taking it somewhere to get future batteries changed.
The Accord batteries are easy to change. But I like my 14-year-old Camry with its under 88K miles. Rant over. Lesson learned.
btw….if you know someone locally who can REPAIR a damaged battery compartment on a car key fob, please message me quickly as I intend to replace it today. Thanks.
Joan and I are going to a place that sells both music instrument stuff and Apple tech. While she gets her bassoon reeds, should take this disk tray in and ask for recommendations on computer to utilize these. WhatDaYaThink? Would they even know what these are?
Note: This was from our business’ first computer software installation (early 80’s). I remember liking Word Perfect better than Word. Software was on 20+ disks, plus …. well you can see the 4th disk for printer installation. #floppydisks
In April 2003, while serving in the Hawaii State Legislature, Gabbard ENLISTED in the Hawaii Army National Guard. In July 2004, she was deployed for a 12-month tour in Iraq, serving as a specialist with the Medical Company, 29th Support Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
She served in the US Congress from 2013-21 and believes her criticism of VP Harris caused her placement on a TSA’s watchlist. She is NOT a conservative and NOT (yet) a republican. She has endorsed President Trump.
For every flight, because her boarding passes have an “SSSS” designation, she is followed by (according to Air Marshalls):
2 explosive detection K9 teams
1 explosives specialist
1 plain clothes TSA officer
3 Federal Air Marshals
Every flight is preceded by a “very in-depth screening” lasting 30-45 minutes
If you have a non-political reason why she was placed on a terror watchlist, please share. This is shameful.
author of “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up”
I periodically listen to interviews conducted by Marissa Streit, a former classroom teacher. The title of this one caught my eye so I listened. As I did, I noted down some near quotes that I hear. These are not polished…. but give you an idea of the discussion. I didn’t agree with everything said, in particular, the parts about allowing children to walk home alone from school (or have I been affected by the hype?)…. But she kinda answers a thought I’ve had….. Why did we not have these problems, at least as pronounced, when we were kids? I don’t ever remember ‘mental health, PTSD and therapy being nearly as prominent as they seem today. I don’t intend to read the book, but parents of young children my gain from hearing this interview.Before you attack one of the comment/notes, listen to that part of the podcast and think critically about why you want to say what you want to say….and thank you for that.
Have America’s Classrooms Become Profit Centers for the Mental Health Industry?
Why does every child talk about having anxiety?
Why are our children swimming in mental health therapy?
1 in 4 young people identifying as trans. (Girls 7th grade).
Everybody needs therapy.
Everyone is broken.
A generation that is in profound distress.
The largest patient pool for mental health therapy are from the public schools. (CA)
Trams-informed care.
Every child has emotional damaged.
Instead of sending kids to the principal, they are now sent to the counselor.
Schools as a mental health ward.
SEL Social Emotional LearningTrojan house.Teachers are not therapists.
How are you feeling? Think of a time when (pain).
Trauma informed care.
Being born black means you’ve been traumatized.
Break the family
Over medicate children
If you wanted to break them down, there would be no better way than what is currently being taught in schools under the heading of mental health.
But… we have to keep them from suicide. How to find the line.
…the child who has never thought about it is forced to think about it.
…the child who HAS thought about it….
Does your child have a serious problem you cannot fix by changing their environment? If you cannot stabilize them that way, then yes. Therapist….but research the therapist the way you would research a surgeon.
Reset the default. Step 1 should not always be therapy and medication.
Some will need it and they should get it, but we are overreacting every childcreating mental disorder.
Hardship can be good for you. Certain kinds of adversity is really good for kids. Tell them the truth…that resilience is the story of the human condition. Most kids will emerge resilient. Tell them their parents went through hard things. Their grandparents went through hard things. Most will recover….a small percentage will really need professional help.
We don’t teach history so much as we’re teaching victim-hood. We don’t even teach them their own history. We need to connect them to their grandparents…what they went through. What their family, their ancestors went through.
You can get through it…because the vast majority will.
Feelings are always front and center. Being crushed under the weight of their own feelings.
PTSD traumatizing.
There are people who need help.
Kids need authority, community, independence. I can walk home from school… or to the store…or cook dinner.
I’m not shy. I have social depravity.
I’m not worried….i have anxiety.
Once you have anxiety, you need an expert to help you and you need a drug.
“You can’t say that. “
Disagreeable personality.
Don’t let someone diagnose them unless they really have a problem.
Terminology
SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Everything is a psychological program and requiresgroup (classroom) therapy.
Memory poker (as in the game). Group setting, kids trying to “1 up” each other. Exaggerating and talking yourself into the idea that you have been traumatized.
And all this is happening instead of academics.
Parentify. Parental abuse. Why do immigrant kids do so much better? Strong parenting. Chores and helping family and community are expected. Immigrant kids running toward adulthood and American kids staying home on mamas couch because they’ve been traumatized. The world is against them.
Trauma. There are traumatized kids, but we apply it to everyone.
There is a reason why we didn’t hear these terms as children.
Trust “Parenting expert”….only if he/she raised good kids to adulthood. Not a book learned only. Books by parenting experts who have never had children. (I remember thinking this way about the college professors in the Education School who had never been away from the college campus telling us how to teach.
I spent much of my teaching career telling students that,
I’m not saying a thing about POLITICS. I’m just talking about some local observations and ending with a quote from the CEO of Kroger. Some say it is greed. Others claim politics. I don’t care so long as someone can make it stop.
She was a new student who transferred in. I needed to listen to her so I could place her. I had never seen color-coded keys and it gave a good reason to have a nice get-to-know-you conversation. She said her band teacher labeled all their clarinetists’ keys like this. It was a nice horn.
Definitely learned a lesson today. I was changing the battery in my car’s key fob and, apparently, damaged something inside the casing because now a battery won’t snap in. Yes, it is the right battery.
Joan and I are going to a place that sells both music instrument stuff and Apple tech. While she gets her bassoon reeds, should take this disk tray in and ask for recommendations on computer to utilize these. WhatDaYaThink? Would they even know what these are?
