[Dixielandjazz] Re: School Band Directors

[Russ Guarino]

I beg to differ.

Not all folks want to play jazz by ear.  Not all music students have a passion
for jazz.  Many want to play written music of one kind or another.

Nothing wrong with that.

Junior high & senior high school music teachers are miracle makers.  They take a
bunch of kids, 40% of whom  may be in the band just because it's a place meet
girls  [or guys] and create fairly credible music.  It is a big, tough,
sometimes thankless job. They have my respect, big time. They work like dogs,
day and night.  They deal with parents, school administrations, problem kids,
etc. & etc.  It's like putting on a broadway show every day for a full school
year.

They are a combination of musician, conductor,  teacher, composer, arranger,
librarian, administrator, counsellor, father confessor, policeman, etc. They
must know all the instrumental groups, strings, percussion, brass, reeds and
mallet, in addition to the  technology of music, scales, chords, modes, etc.
Most now also have classes in guitar.

Most band directors are real pros and if they do have a student or students that
show an interest in jazz, they will be the first to guide them to the right
people for help.

Bottom line, I tried it for a couple of years and finally defaulted to math. I'd
rather teach trig and calculus all day than run a high  school music program.

Any time you think kids age age 12 -18 are a cakewalk, volunteer as a substitute
teacher and take over a band for a couple of days. You will help you clear  your
mind about how little these teachers know or can teach.

God Bless 'em

Russ Guarino, CLU, ChFC

PS:  Remember you, as an adult, work with experience musicians. You, as a
drummer, don't have to teach anybody how to play  trombone. If they don't work
out, you just let them go.  A band director has to accept all to his program is
expected to get results, no matter what the hurdles.

Rag


Patrick Cooke wrote:

>       The school band director teacher teaches the way he was taught, and
> has the same pressures that his teachers had.  He has to take a bunch of
> kids and put together a "band that can play something" in time for the local
> parade for the potato festival in a few months. So instead of working on
> scales, he is teaching a few simple easy things by rote.  The kid is working
> on his lip, but not much else.
>      Plus he has to have marching practice which does nothing for the
> student's musical advancement.
>     I know a few dance band leaders who were high school and college band
> directors.  They can read anything, but not much as jazz players.    I see
> high school "jazz" bands who get into local festivals.  They are always big
> bands (to get as many kids involved as possible) reading arrangements.  And
> they sound fairly good....till somebody gets up to take a "jazz" chorus.
> They have been rehearsing the written arrangements for the gig, but they
> don't know what to practice to learn to improvise. They cannot play more
> than 2 or 3 major scales, have had no ear training, and their teacher
> probably had none as well, nor the teacher's teacher before him.
>         Part of the blame can be placed on school management, and parents to
> some degree who are expecting rapid results....which to them is the student
> playing a melody they recognize.
>         The miracle is that enough of the students actually go on to be good
> players.
>          I should point out that there are indeed exceptions.....Johnny
> Wiggs was a fine New Orleans jazz cornetist....played great OKOM.  He was
> also a school band director.  His real name was John Wigginton Hyman, and
> used the name Johnny Wiggs because playing in French Quarter honky tonks was
> not considered a proper environment for a teacher of the town's school kids.
>          BTW.....Johnny Wiggs gave me my very first music lesson in 1937.  I
> got 10 free lessons from the music store when my mother bought me a
> second-hand $10 trumpet.
>          Pat Cooke
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <BillSargentDrums at aol.com>
> To: <TCASHWIGG at aol.com>
> Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 9:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz]Professional jazz musicians
>
> > Tom,
> >
> > Thanks man. One of the best posts I've ever read on this list.
> >
> > It always irks me when I see someone call a music teacher who's
> credentials
> > are nothing more than being able to remember stuff to pass tests and get a
> > piece of paper so they can go out and teach others to do the same . . .
> being
> > called professional musicians.
> >
> > Now, to be certain, some of them CAN blow with the best of them . . . but
> > they are few and far between . . . a definite minority.
> >
> > I appreciate your wisdom and contributions on the list and can relate to
> > everything you write.
> >
> > Do you have a website?
> >
> > Keep Swingin'!
> > Bill Sargent, MD
> > 414-777-0100
> > BillSargentBands.com
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> > http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
> >
>
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