There are many factors that we weigh when configuring our band’s seating arrangement. Some of them are classroom management-related decisions about who can sit near who. Sometimes we place our best players on the outside of the ensemble because it is a traditional and visible place of honor to be earned by our principal performers.
When was the last time you had one of those days where you went home convinced you could set the world on fire if there was a way to make just a few key personnel changes in your band?
When I have one of these days, sometimes I speculate as if I were on some sports TV show. I wonder how good we could be if band was like professional sports, where the team’s management could put a few underperforming individuals on waivers and bring in some new blood. More often than not, the situations that frustrate us to no end, the ones that have us considering new careers and result in our students being in the doghouse, have very little to do with making music. Instead, these situations encompass the behavior and character issues associated with boys and girls who are in the developmental stages of becoming men and women.
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