Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2015
21
b. Planned improvisation
• Preparing in a way that allows for “going off script”
• Trying to determine consequences of inflexibility
• Self-determining when adapting to something is necessary
• Recognizing that all people are sometimes wrong even
though they think they’re right
• Nothing is absolute
Is there anything more essential to success in both band
and more importantly in life than this? Clearly, most of your
students will never study music (band) formally beyond high
school and whether we like it or not, that’s OK. So, what they
get from band has to be something they can use.
Survival or Thrival
What are we preparing students for — band or life?
Dennis Fisher is the Conductor of the Symphonic Band,
Associate Director of Wind Studies at the University of North Texas,
and Professor of Music. Fisher has served throughout the United
States along with international appearances in Thailand, Japan,
Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Greece, Brazil and
Russia. Fisher currently serves as principal guest conductor of the
Volga Band, Professional Wind Band in Saratov, Russia. Fisher has
recorded extensively on the Mark, Klavier, G.I.A. and Eurosound
labels. He is co-author of
Teaching Music Through Performance
in Beginning Band, Volume 2
. He serves as recording and editing
producer of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series
compact disc recordings, and producer of Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the
Master Conductor DVD series.
Fisher holds professional memberships in TMEA, TBA, CBDNA,
and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He has been honored by being elected
to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association
and with invited membership in Phi Beta Mu. He is a member of
the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is Past-
President of the Southwest Division of the College Band Directors
National Association. Fisher was awarded the Gagarin Medal of
Honor from the Society of Cosmonauts of the Russian Federal Space
Agency. He has also been honored by being awarded the Meritorious
Achievement Award from the Texas Bandmasters Association. Other
honors include twice being named “Top Prof” by the Mortarboard
Society at U.N.T., a recipient of the University of North Texas
Community Award, and named to Who’s Who in America in 2010.
There is no other place in school where they can
learn and develop these life skills in the same place.
They get portions of it in some classes, but not
everything all in the same package. If we have a place
in the curriculum that’s irreplaceable, it’s this. If we
want to capitalize on advocacy for what we do and
offer, it’s this. In essence, if we do it right, we teach
them to become their own teachers. Does it get any
better than that?
So, is this it? Absolutely not. This isn’t an article
about HOW to do it – but about WHY. Anyone can
tell you how
they
do it, but ultimately, it’s up to you.
As Tom Magliozzi so eloquently put it, “Education is
a preparation for life, not a preparation for school”.
