Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • September 2014
5
Thank you Texas Bandmasters
Association members and business
partners for a great 2014Convention/
Clinic. It never ceases to amaze
me how many wonderful band
directors and musi-
cians generously and
freely share their time,
talent, knowledge, and
resources to strengthen
our profession. I sin-
cerely thank every one
of our clinicians,
exhibitors, and student
performers who partici-
pated at the convention.
I am also grateful to the Board
of Directors: Bruce, Steven, Jeff,
Chico, John, and Fred, for their help
and support during my tenure as
President. It was a great pleasure to
work with Executive Director Mike
Brashear and TBA staff Robin Tovar
and Justin Young as well as our
convention partners Chuck Kuentz,
Kimberly Young, and Charlie
Munsell. Special thanks to Priscilla
Brashear, Spouses Liaison, for her
insight and advice to the Spouses’
Board. All are true professionals
who go above and beyond for the
band directors of Texas. Be sure to
drop them a note of thanks for their
service to TBA.
Under the leadership of Brian
Merrill, the TBA Academy has
continued to grow and flourish. We
had a record number of attendees
at our convention. Thanks to
Frank Troyka, Student Day 2014
was a resounding success with
wonderful leadership sessions and
performances by state of the art
musicians. Both of these gentlemen
have tirelessly supported TBA for
many years. I thank my wife Lucinda
and the Spouses’
division for their
hard work as well.
Lucinda not only
worked diligently
asPresident for the
Spouses’ Board,
but still managed
to be a great
mom, wife, and
a hard working
Northside ISD employee as
librarian at Valley Hi Elementary.
There are numerous people who
are responsible for the enormous
undertaking in creating, operating
and facilitating our convention.
Words cannot express my eternal
appreciation to all of them.
As successful and record setting
as the 2014 convention was, I was
saddened to hear about the number
of directors that did not attend
in order stay home to get a head
start on summer band prior to UIL
start date of August 1
st
. Even more
disturbing to me was that although
the head director may have attended
the convention, they left their much
younger, inexperienced assistant
directors back home to rehearse
the band. The fact of the matter
is that those are the very directors
who would have gained much more
knowledge of rehearsal techniques
and teaching skills on how to work
a band more efficiently had they
attended. A director can attend over
60 clinics by the most qualified
teachers in our profession and learn
how to get the most out of the time
they have with their students.
Another issue for not attending
mayhavebeenfinancial. Iunderstand
that school administration may not
budget for the director to attend.
You must help your administration
understand that the TBA convention
is the same as sending coaches to
coachingschool.Mostadministrators
understand “coaching school” and
its importance, so be sure to sell the
equivalent “band director school”
to your administrators. Regardless
whether the school district pays
for it or not, band directors
should find a way to make it to
the TBA convention. You owe it to
yourself, your profession, and most
importantly, your students.
It’s imperative that we directors
learn to work smarter and not
harder. How does one actually do
that? Well first, it’s not the amount
of time you spend with your kids,
but the quality of work when you
have them. To keep every student
engaged in rehearsal, one must
keep all the students busy especially
when you find yourself working
with just a few. The other students
should be working silently on
fundamentals that pertain to their
instrument or, since a lot of us are
in season, marching. For example, if
you are working the trumpet section
in a full band rehearsal, the other
From the Board
Richard Herrera, 2014 - 15 TBA Past President