Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2012
6
Greetings from your TBA office! I hope that your
fall semester has been very productive and that your
groups have achieved and even surpassed the goals
you set back in August. Whether your main focus
is running a marching band, teaching university,
high school, or middle school bands, or teaching
beginning students, we all share the incredible joy of
music making with our students. Never
underestimate the influence you have
on each and every one of your students.
Congratulations to all the outstanding
bands that were selected to perform at
the 2012 UIL State Marching Contest!
We are pleased to recognize these
groups on page 32. Each year it seems
as if the bands continue to get better
and better. Congratulations also to the
many other outstanding bands that
performed at the Area and Region UIL Contests. Your
hard work is definitely reflected in these performances.
Recently, Robert Floyd and I were invited to visit
the Conn-Selmer plant in Elkhart, Indiana. We were
guests of John Stoner, CEO and President and Dr. Tim
Lautzenheiser, Vice President-Division of Education.
In addition to touring their woodwind and brass
factories, we had the opportunity to spend time
visiting with their staff. My takeaway from this visit
is that Conn-Selmer is very committed to serving and
supporting music education. Obviously, the market
for selling their fine instruments increases as the
number of outstanding band programs in the world
grows. Therefore, Conn-Selmer’s investment of time
and money into music education support is a win-win
for them and us. They were very interested in hearing
about current challenges and trends in Texas band
programs. Over and over they made it clear that Texas
is where it is happening for band. As a lifelong Texas
band director and cheerleader for Texas bands, this
message is one I was glad to hear.
One of the questions asked by the Conn-Selmer
staff was: “Why are there so many great band programs
in Texas? How do you do it? Other states have
outstanding bands, but no other state has so many fine
programs.” I was happy to share some of my thoughts
and have spent more time since then reflecting on why
I believe Texas band programs have experienced great
growth and success. I hope my thoughts will cause
you to consider how much we have to be thankful for
and will challenge all of us to be diligent to protect our
programs and to continue the success story.
• School band programs started developing in
communities across Texas after World
War II primarily to provide entertain-
ment at football games. A community’s
pride in “their” band was very important
and bands developed in small farming
communities and towns as well as in
larger cities. (Music advocacy at the
local level is still extremely important.
Strong community support is a major
reason Texas bands have survived huge
cuts. Take care of your football crowd,
school board, and community!)
• During the past 50 years, education and training
for band directors has greatly improved. Universities
across the state developed music education programs
and graduated more and better trained band directors.
Dedicated college band directors and music education
faculty, past and present, have had a major impact on
the quality of band directors and Texas band programs.
Universities have also offered summer band camps for
years with thousands of high school and middle school
students attending and learning from some of the most
outstanding band directors of the time.
• During the 50’s and 60’s, band programs began
to flourish even with meager staffing. Many programs
had “a” director and were fortunate if there was also
a junior high director. Beginners were all taught in
one class. A high school band of 100+ members was
large. These great pioneers of our profession laid a
solid foundation for the future growth of Texas bands.
Fast forward to today’s staffing standards where many
programs have like-instrument classes for beginners,
at least two directors at middle schools, and a high
school staff of several directors with percussion and
guard specialists available to many larger programs.
Outstanding private lessons are available for many
students and several programs take advantage of
Proud Of Texas Bands!
Michael Brashear, TBA Execut ive Director