Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2013
5
Happy Holidays from the
TBA office! Congratulations on
completion of your fall semester.
I hope that you were able to reach
and even surpass your goals for
this semester. After all the concerts,
contests, football games, pep
rallies and other performances are
complete, the one overall question
we all want to answer is: Was this
semester a success?
Much of your answer will depend
upon your definition of “success”.
I think it is very important for
you as a band director to spend
time deciding on YOUR definition
of success. In many ways, this
will determine how you steer your
program and will enable you to
maintain a healthy perspective
throughout your career.
As the years progressed, I found
myself altering my “success”
definition. Early on, success was
measured in “First Divisions”,
winning contests, numbers of
students placed in All-Region, etc.
Even though the excitement of
competition and winning trophies
remained, later on I found myself
much more concerned with
individual student perceptions
and attitudes. Taking time at the
end of each semester to assess
your students’ progress is very
important, even crucial, to building
an outstanding program. Are the
students playing individually
better now than when the semester
began? Is your band playing
better? What specific progress was
made on individual and ensemble
basics? How much
great
literature
did you expose
to your students?
Can your students
sight-read better?
Did your students
further their overall
appreciation for
music? Did they
further their music
theory skills? Did they have fun
playing their instruments? Did
they enjoy making music with
you? Did you enjoy making music
with THEM? Are they better
MUSICIANS? Are you??
Being able to answer these
questions and reflecting on the
progress of your program at the
end of each semester will help you
decide how successful you and
your students have really been.
Even though this success does not
always translate into trophies or
awards, this evaluation process
is more important than all the
contests combined. At the end of
the day, who you need to please
most is yourself, your students
and their parents. If you are truly
pleased with their progress, and
they are playing well and enjoying
it, you have been successful!
Be sure you communicate this
success to your students at the
end of the semester or year. It is
very important for them to know
how you feel. They
must be able to see
the pay-back for their
hard work. They
must come to the
conclusion that band
was WORTH IT!
Then they will leave
the semester feeling
good about their
progress and feeling
successful. This will enable you to
have great retention and continue
to build your program. For more
thoughts on defining “Success” see
Randy Gilmore’s article on page 25.
TBA is pleased to recognize the
marching bands which advanced
to the Texas UIL State Marching
Contest this year and performed
on November 3 and 4 at the
Alamodome. What a thrill it was
to sit in the press box and observe
so many great performances. All
of those who qualified for state
were “Winners” and we are happy
to recognize everyone starting on
page 28. Congratulations to all the
students, directors, parents, schools
and communities represented. The
quality of bands and the standard
of excellence seem to increase each
year!
(continued)
TBA News
Michael Brashear, TBA Execut ive Director