I do a presentation for university students that is ostensibly about structuring 6-12 percussion curriculum. A lot of the presentation is about that, but a lot is also about how to think as a band director and teacher: how to identify your core priorities as a teacher, which informs (or should) the core priorities of your band program, which informs (or should) everything about your classroom and how your band program is structured. A lot of times we like to use the phrase “begin with the end in mind” - advice you’ve doubtless heard before, and which is one of those phrases that leaves all of us nodding our heads at its wisdom… but then failing to think about what exactly that means. More than just imagining our end-of-the-year concert and then walking backwards down a line of skills, “begin with the end in mind” should equate a process of picturing our students and their skills - ALL their skills - at the end of their time with us. What do they look like? What can they do? What have we, as their teachers, given them, as young people who are heading off into the big bad world of high school and/or adulthood?
Hopefully the answer to those questions are more than just “an understanding of how to construct a major and minor scale” or “an appreciation for Grainger’s contributions to the wind band repertoire” or something similar. While those things are important - and while music should be at the top of our list of priorities as music teachers - hopefully we’re offering our students something that addresses them as whole persons.
Each teacher has to make these choices for themselves. For me, the answer to “what are my core priorities?” was always pretty simple: like most other people, I want them to be good people - kind, empathetic, responsible, able to work with others. I want them to love and appreciate music for their whole lives. And I want them to be functional adults - human beings who can move through life responsibly and successfully. All of that meant: independence.
I wish I could say I arrived at that core priority, “independence,” before I ever started teaching. But I was not gifted by magic foresight about what was going to be most important to me; instead it grew out of desperate need. Like many 6-12 percussion directors, I taught on multiple campuses with bell schedules that didn’t line up and which required long drives that overlapped class times. I literally COULDN’T be everywhere at once. What I really needed was a way to clone myself, and the fastest way to do that was to make sure the kids would make the same choices I would if I were there. So, on day 1 of Beginner Percussion, I would teach the kids how to set up the room for themselves. It sometimes took a whole day - often with reinforcement and practicing on future days - but it paid off in saved time and that added sense of responsibility the kids felt about their classroom. New instrument? Same thing - learn how to move it correctly, learn how to set it up. When we played in a concert band setting for the first time, the kids already knew to ask how the set-up should look - and then to keep it that way. By the time they went into a mixed-instrument ensemble class in 7th grade, they already knew how to set up, how to break down, how to store things, where to look for accessories, how to set up a snare or cymbal with a stand, and how to uncover/re-cover instruments (and that covers NEVER GO ON THE FLOOR!). They could check the board for the class agenda, set up appropriately, and warm up on their own if necessary (if, for example, I’d been detained on another campus). This paid dividends all the way into high school, when the kids could - with minimal oversight first from me, then eventually only from their section leaders - deal with breaking down or setting up the front ensemble, complete with amplification and electronics, for example, or move instruments from the band hall to a concert venue, or load a truck in preparation for a marching band performance or gig.
The mentality extends well past dealing with equipment, of course, to preparation for rehearsal: having all needed sticks, mallets, music, a pencil, etc. To learning your notes independently. To studying recordings, preparing for performance, being aware of deadlines, handling your schedule, keeping track of your grades - everything that encompasses being a responsible member of Team Band.
I knew that this tactic was working when a student would let me know that they didn’t have their music (an inevitable occurrence because, let’s be real, these are teenagers we’re working with) but, in the same breath, tell me the solution they’d come up with in order to be able to participate in rehearsal (and, by the way, I never allowed “but I have it memorized” or “I’ll just look on with him, my part is on his copy too”). Or, by the same token, tell me that their grade in one of their core classes had dropped below the eligibility mark, but also share that they'd already spoken to that teacher and had a plan to hand in revisions or make up a test later in the week. I’m not going to claim that every kid or group of kids I ever taught was perfect at this - there were certainly plenty of times I had to remind students to cover instruments, or have students sit out because they didn’t bring their sticks to class. Nor was I the only teacher, or adult, trying to teach these kids independence! But watching those students gradually learn to come up with the solutions themselves instead of me simply handing them another pair of sticks - handing them the answer, e.g., enabling irresponsibility - made all the frustration, nagging, and irritation worth it. To me, teaching my students to be independent and responsible for themselves was the greatest gift I could give them, a skill that they could apply regardless of the situation they might find themselves in in life, and something for which they could always thank band for giving them.
So, when I tell college students that as teachers, they should “begin with the end in mind” or “have a set of core priorities that informs everything about your program,” I hope that they can see the connection between learning music theory, and how students enter the room and put together their instrument. I hope they think bigger than just “getting a Superior at contest” or “winning a marching band show.” I hope they consider beyond even “teaching kids to love music.” We love to talk about all the positives that band offers so much to students, but it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees and forget about the bigger picture.
What are the core priorities in your classroom?