Dog and Pony Show 2008

Or you could call it Concert Festival. Or if I'm talking to an adminsitrator I call it the State Assessment Festival. Because the one thing that KY does right is use the same labels for music scoring as they do for math or science scoring. When I tell my prinicipal that we scored a "Distinguished, Proficient, Apprentice or Novice", he knows exactly what I'm talking about.

So here's the shake down:

I knew we were in trouble 4 weeks ago when I got the schedule and our school was FIRST on the list. We were first. The first band, the first sound that these judges would hear. MS bands had played on the two days prior, but they had different judges - the HS guys were fresh off the plane and ready to go. Great. I tried to put a positive spin on it for my students. I gave them a lot of gab about how we would be the ones to 'set the standard' and the judges would not have any preconcieved ideas before they heard us. Well that's a bunch of hooey. The reality is that it tough to go first. Judges are generally very harsh on the first few bands and knitpick everything. And knowing that - I'm the same way. I've been judging audition rooms for years and I'm always toughest on the first few players. It can't be helped.
BUT - we had a shining light. After we played there were two bands scheduled who (how can I say this politely?) had not scored very high in the past. So even if they were hard on us, we still may come out okay. Band #4 was VERY strong. In fact they usually play in the higher graded category and dropped down to our world this year.
On Monday I got a call. Band #2 dropped out.
Thursday night I got another call. Band #3 dropped out.
Now we're playing FIRST on Friday morning to be followed by Band #4. This is not good.

Enter student drama. You know there had to be drama, right? Really, almost everything went perfectly student wise. A lot worse could have happened. I have four saxophones in my group. Two saxophone holders and two saxophone players. My top player decided to get in a "scuffle" Thrusday morning. On our last rehearsal before the festival, I ask the kids, "Where is sax #1?". They reply, "Oh he got in a fight this morning, he's suspended."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We're playing Korean Folk Rhapsody! The main melody is carried in the french horns and saxes. We don't have french horns! We only have two saxes that play! Sax #2 is good, but quiet. I need Sax #1!!!

After class I go to find the Assistant Principal. I beg mercy that this kid's suspension begin Monday instead of Friday. He tells me, it's too late, he's already gone and nothing can be done. I look as pitiful as a 9 month pregnant woman can look and use the magic words, "State Assessment" and "team". This guy is a football guy and a principal. He knows these words well. He allows Sax #1 to go to Festival. Whew.

Friday morning. All students arrive on time (a small miracle since they had to arrive at 7:00 before most buses ever get to school) and looking sweet. I've got one clarinet player who blatantly wears pinstripe pants instead of the black pants that are required but I don't let her get me ruffled. Sax #1 is there and we all load the bus.

We make it to Festival and because we are first, have the luxury of using the stage for warm up. Kids start to assemble instruments. Uh oh. Sax #1 breaks his reed. Fine. I have a ton of back up reeds. I look. Clarinet, clarinet, tenor sax, bari sax, bass clarinet, clarinet,.........no alto sax reeds. Someone is playing a joke on me. How am I out of alto reeds? I keep them all in a tupperware thingie, so they're not in boxes where I can see how many are left of any one kind. (note to self, bad system, must change). And then....Sax #1 says, "look at this!" A screw has come loose and his whole key system has come out of whack. This is not a 3 second fix. We are warming up at festival people!!! So the director at the host school sees this going on and is gracious enough to loan us a sax. I give him a tenor reed and tell him to deal with it. I do not loose my cool and the show goes on. Somehow, he is able to play.

Somehow, they are all able to play. They have a great run. A fantastic run. It's probably the best they've ever played. I am extremely pleased. We sight read well. Not perfect - but really well. Again, I'm pleased.

Now this is the part where I should stop the story. The students did well.

But we scored poorly. Our overall score was a II. Not bad. I would be satisfied with that. In fact I was expecting it. I did NOT expect that two of the judges would rate us as a III. Eeek! So we have two III and two II. This allows our overall to be a II. I listened to the tapes and their comments were dead on. They called us out on every mistake. They were upset that the trumpet solo did not have enough shaping (I was happy that he played without missing the "G" above the staff and didn't rush the tempo) They were critical that the "and" beats of an eighth note passage were out of tune because they were written for a 5th partial. Okay, really? I spent every last breath I had working on full band balance, blend and intonation. I failed to address the tuning of a 5th partial to my brass as they played the "and" beats of a song written at 135bpm. And there were so many other comments just like those.

The whole going first thing, combined with my chosing a very popular score for our warm up (overly popular songs should be avoided for young bands. The judges have all performed them a zillion times and have strong notions about what should or should not happen during every measure of the song) and the fact that my band is made up of 21 freshmen, 7 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 senior.....Well an overall rating of II is good.

But it's still frustrating. Not because the comments weren't true. But becuase those comments are on ME not them. It's up to ME, the director, to address those things. And if the music is too hard to ever get them to that level, then it's up to ME to choose something where they'd be successful. It's up to ME to pick another song besides Korean (even though it was a great contrast to our fast paced 2nd song and a 'standard' melody that I wanted my kids to be exposed to).

After we played, we sat in the audience and listened to other bands. (Missed #4 because we were in the Sight Reading room). And my kids really listened. They critiqued. They made intelligent comments. And when we got back to school, I asked, "Are you pleased?"

And they honestly said yes.