Posted by J Harris on September 30, 2009 at 9:39pm
were GREAT at one point. Now they are just bands. Sorry if the truth helps ........but I found this reply and had to post it. This guy's word also holds true to many other marching bands....here goes!http://www.nola.com/forums/hsbands/index.ssf?artid=346768954. Out of the Mouths of Children . . .by woodwind70, 2/9/08 3:06 ETFirst of all, you showed your "true colors", and your "true ignorance" by adopting the name "rudeboi" as your post-name. One of the first rules of life is "To respect your elders". You have violated a cardinal rule that had a high level of respect in the black community when I was growing up. When I was a child, had you said to me what you said, the way you said it, your butt would have been taken to the woodshed, and beaten to a pulp.I don't have to "get on the streets' with anybody. I paid my dues as a band director and retired after 35 years. I have never identified and never will where I taught are what former students I taught.I hold a Bachelor's of Arts Degree, and a Master's Degree in Music, and had some good years as an educator; however, I always listened, and worked hard to improve myself.Your posting a statement like that is none other than blasphemous beyond the realm of blasphemy!A band is judged on intonation, phrasing, good tones and embouchures, articulations, dynamics, accuracy of fingerings, pitch and rhythm. Very, very few bands today have all of those qualities; and very few of them ever will anytime soon. We have lost too much ground talking trash on this board, and blowing at each other on the streets instead of TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS !!!!!!!!!!! All of our directors need to form a strong unified , dedicated coalition to get back to fundamentals and basics, and tone down the volume. Notice, many white directors and band members are coming on this forum now and many young brothers think they're "playin' the black bands". Wake up and heed the truth, they are speaking some harsh criticisms that need to be said, just like Bill Cosby did, Oh, you probably turn a deaf ear to him, Al Sharpton, and Jessie Jackson as well, and only recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. as a day off so you can watch some band march and blast on the street!The cause, and the struggle and the dream of black people as a race is far beyond that. Take heed, a brother, Sen. Barack Obama is knocking on the front door of the White House! Are you even registered to vote, and informed about what is going on in this world? There is more to life than high school band in New Orleans !The rebuilding of this city is widely faceted and multi-tasked ! There are many things that need to improve, not just our music educational system, but our whole educational system; and the overall preservation of our true culture in this society both on the local and national level. Should Sen. Obama win, we as a race will undergo a major rescrutinization of "who we are"; "where we're going" and "how we're going to get there"!!!! Let me tell all of you something on their worst days, Edwin Hampton, Ernest Chachere, Yvonne Bush, Lloyd Harris, Walter Harris, Solomon Spencer, Frank Merrick, Mercedes Stamps, Mrs. Barthe', Wellington McKissick, Arthur Hardy, Bob Morgan, Earl Fox, Kenrick Foy, Michael Torregano, Herman Jones, Joseph Torregano, Adrian Watkins, Mary McGowan, Jerry McGowan, Marlene and Matthew Huntley, Michael Dupard, Elijah Brimmer, Darryl Dickerson, Donald Richardson, Alvin Thomas, Gus Walker, Guy Lear, Clyde Kerr Sr. & Jr., Richard Payne, Carey Lavigne, Arthur Knight, Peter Dombourian, Joe Lewis, Lorraine Wilson, Francis Gonzales, Chris Kontos, Clement Toca and many, many others produced much better bands, with far less resources than most band directors now will ever produce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It ain't all their fault, its kids like you that have no self-discipline, no dedication, no true loyalty, and above all NO RESPECT FOR THEIR HISTORY, AND NO PRIDE THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THINGS TO GET RIGHT.Our music educators and administrators need to take this euphoria of resources with new instruments and uniforms that we never had, and mold kids in the right way. Bring back boys who play clarinet and flutes, and get the girls off the flag teams, and majorettes, build up our woodwind sections, provide some tonal color and contrast to wake up our arrangements, and challenge our kids to become fundamentally sound musicians, not fundamentally weak horn holders. How many drummers out there can read and play at least 13 of the 26 Rudiments of the National Drummers Association with 95% accuracy. Can anybody play the "Connecticut Halftime" ; Will a band ever play "Crown Imperial" or "First Suite in Eb" or "Amparita Roca" again? How many Sousa or Fillmore marches can we play from start to finish ?????For all of the progress we've made, we have a very long, hard road to go. I want to see bands come back, some maybe coming back too fast; but some of these guys seem to have a "game plan" in their mind.Our directors need to take advantage of the wisdom of their elders, bring in clinicians whether they are professional performers or professional educators get mentored by these people before they die and take it all with them.
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I haven't read good words like this in a very very long time.
Whatever school you march for in New Orleans... Do me a favor by passing this on to your band directors. Tell em "J Harris" told ya too, Also pass it on to other members of the band or alumni. Print it out if you need too. JUST DO IT.
Its time to cut all the bull$#!+ out and get back to focusing completely on good tone and high quality sound. Not just blowing loud (which has been the case for the last 10 years or so.) None of the bands will getting any better until all of them change at the same time. This requires the band directors and students to all be on the same page.
dddddude they need to print this on the front page of the Time P. Whoever this dude Woodwind70 is, I need to meet him and shake his hand. I was beginning to think no one like that existed anymore.
Thanks a mill for posting this J. Harris. Man, this has to be the realest post I have ever read--concerning the present state of New Orleans marching bands, of course. Let's keep this post alive so that it'll be a constant reminder of what we are trying to achieve--Greatness. I don't want the bands of today to be just as good as the bands of the past, but I feel we should be striving to be better than those bands.
Man I read this post when he first posted it, and it always struck home...
I was taught how to teach a flute player by Llyod Harris, he gave me the method books we use at my school today,
I talked to Phillip Paulin for about an hour on monday just getting tips how to teach trumpet players and he was stressing to me to cut down my numbers don't worry about that, it'll come and concentrate on fundamentals and stressing that I need to get some marches in the book.(I am a big fan of marches but I haven't found the one that I [keyword: I ] would enjoy playing.
I always try to look to the older band directors to try and get pointers and techniques on how to teach, conduct,score, and organize, hell even with discipline...
I have my work cut out for me for real but I have some of these people above on speed dial...
I will never forget the talk Mr. Hampton and I had about the historical significance of marching on Mardi Gras Day as a black band director and as a black school.
From talking to some of these dudes and some that aren't listed I learned the importance or 3rd trumpet parts-something that's not really obvious to a beginner band director and since i have implemented it my trumpet section has gotten better...
but the real question is what is important to you as a band director?
is having a fundamentally sound group important to you~or is this football game important to you?
are you able to do things at your pace~or do you have to meet a deadline imposed by someone else?
A real question is What does it matter that a kid know who to play a Sousa march?-if they aren't going to next level?
Does it really matter if a kid knows how to read music if they won't play in college?
to me it matters to both questions but that doesn't mean it matters to next band director,
and if it doesn't matter that it gets used accordingly
Ya.. folks are also stuck on numbers but some don't understand the pros and cons of a larger band. The big factors are money/costs and more attitudes.
I'm still amazed at the number of people that think my style of arranging music is for large bands. NOT TRUE!.
I arrange for multiples of:
four-Tbones (1st, 2nd, & two 3rds), two-Btones (1st, 2nd ), two-Tubas
two-Fhorns (1st, 2nd ), eight-Trumpets (two 1st, three 2nds, three 3rds)
four-Clarinets (1st, 2nd, & two 3rds), two-Flutes (1st, 2nd ), two-Sax (1st, 2nd )
example... if you want 12 Tbones you should also have 24 trumpets. etc etc.
I just wish every band director, band student, band head, and band alumni in New Orleans could read that reply.
Hell when I write i don't write for a big band at all and all my music is written off of the ability and progression of the ensemble.
Most of my marching band music is written to corespond with the lesson-of the week-which i use as a motivator to show the kids that you can do when you do.
I think the first time i heard about ratio's in marching band it was Larry Birden saying something like for every snare drummer he wanted 4 trumpets.
but watch and observe this year I think that the bands and band directors are getting better and will start to eventually make a name for themselves, and bands will be considered good again.
Replies
Whatever school you march for in New Orleans... Do me a favor by passing this on to your band directors. Tell em "J Harris" told ya too, Also pass it on to other members of the band or alumni. Print it out if you need too. JUST DO IT.
Its time to cut all the bull$#!+ out and get back to focusing completely on good tone and high quality sound. Not just blowing loud (which has been the case for the last 10 years or so.) None of the bands will getting any better until all of them change at the same time. This requires the band directors and students to all be on the same page.
Thanks!!!!! (seriously)
I was taught how to teach a flute player by Llyod Harris, he gave me the method books we use at my school today,
I talked to Phillip Paulin for about an hour on monday just getting tips how to teach trumpet players and he was stressing to me to cut down my numbers don't worry about that, it'll come and concentrate on fundamentals and stressing that I need to get some marches in the book.(I am a big fan of marches but I haven't found the one that I [keyword: I ] would enjoy playing.
I always try to look to the older band directors to try and get pointers and techniques on how to teach, conduct,score, and organize, hell even with discipline...
I have my work cut out for me for real but I have some of these people above on speed dial...
I will never forget the talk Mr. Hampton and I had about the historical significance of marching on Mardi Gras Day as a black band director and as a black school.
From talking to some of these dudes and some that aren't listed I learned the importance or 3rd trumpet parts-something that's not really obvious to a beginner band director and since i have implemented it my trumpet section has gotten better...
but the real question is what is important to you as a band director?
is having a fundamentally sound group important to you~or is this football game important to you?
are you able to do things at your pace~or do you have to meet a deadline imposed by someone else?
A real question is What does it matter that a kid know who to play a Sousa march?-if they aren't going to next level?
Does it really matter if a kid knows how to read music if they won't play in college?
to me it matters to both questions but that doesn't mean it matters to next band director,
and if it doesn't matter that it gets used accordingly
I'm still amazed at the number of people that think my style of arranging music is for large bands. NOT TRUE!.
I arrange for multiples of:
four-Tbones (1st, 2nd, & two 3rds), two-Btones (1st, 2nd ), two-Tubas
two-Fhorns (1st, 2nd ), eight-Trumpets (two 1st, three 2nds, three 3rds)
four-Clarinets (1st, 2nd, & two 3rds), two-Flutes (1st, 2nd ), two-Sax (1st, 2nd )
example... if you want 12 Tbones you should also have 24 trumpets. etc etc.
I just wish every band director, band student, band head, and band alumni in New Orleans could read that reply.
Most of my marching band music is written to corespond with the lesson-of the week-which i use as a motivator to show the kids that you can do when you do.
I think the first time i heard about ratio's in marching band it was Larry Birden saying something like for every snare drummer he wanted 4 trumpets.
but watch and observe this year I think that the bands and band directors are getting better and will start to eventually make a name for themselves, and bands will be considered good again.