Saturday's coming

So the exhibition went as well as an exhibition would, especially after 6 hours of practice. So far we have had 2 good practices this week and are planning to have another one on Thursday. I feel like we are starting to find our groove as far as making our practices productive. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now...my staff at Newberry was great. Kevin, Dianne, and Heather were awesome and we've become close friends after working together those 4 years. My staff at Swansea is pretty fantastic too and I'm really enjoying working there. We've got some things to iron out and we still have a little ways to go on the show but if we keep going like this we can make this a successful season. Also my moment of the day...I've commented the past few practices about one of my freshman trumpet players and how she knows her music and plays well but we just need to work on her tone a little. She came up to me at the end of class today and asked what she could do in order to be a better player and have a better tone. That's one of those rare moments and I just had to share.

Friday Night Lights...

So this has been a long week and I'm very tired. But I also feel like this has been a very productive week of practices and hopefully we will be able to end the week on a good note. I just got in from the home football game and after I finish this blog I'll get a chance to finally eat dinner. I'll have to get back up at 6am so that I can be ready for our 8am-3pm practice and community exhibition tomorrow night. Needless to say it has been a long day. I've got to make some changes for our football games so that we can have better crowd control and so that we can just look better as a band while in the stands. Swansea is just a little bit different than what I'm used to. This is my 8th year of teaching and I've never really had a problem with couples in the band but...let me just say its not just my kids, it's a problem throughout the school. It's like some of these kids have never dated anyone before. I've never seen such displays of PDA...again it's not really with my kids, other than holding hands but still. Anyway, I will say that for this being only our second time on the football field it was a pretty decent run...from field level. I have no idea what the drill looked like from up top. Tomorrow we'll work our asses off to make some progress with our closer drill and to clean in the opener and ballad. I will say that I was disappointed that some of the kids had not memorized the closer already. It is just a lack of effort and practice on their part.

Band Director Meeting

So today was our SCBDA fall meeting. This year I'm on the all-state committee. Some band directors think these meetings are a hassle but for me its kind of a time to connect/network with other directors and also to see some friends that I really only get to see at these meetings. I'm also always looking for new ideas and teaching strategies. I've been a bit worried about where we are with our show because we got a little bit of a late start because of when I got the job at Swansea. We still have not put our closer on the field but at the meeting I talked with a few other directors and a lot of them are also in the same boat so I feel a little bit better about where we are with our show. The fall meeting is also the time that the drawing is done for the upper and lower state lineup. This year we were picked to go next to last in our class. This could potentially be a great spot to march in as long as we are on top of our game. Monday the work continues.

Moving

So today was a pretty good day. We are making strides with the music but there is still one class that is way behind and they are getting further behind because they aren't practicing. It's going to be hard to do well in my class if you aren't practicing. I've got a number of kids that are sick but they are sticking it out for the most part...except those with the flu. I've also encountered a problem that I haven't had before since I taught in Sumter. When I was there I would lose kids sometimes because I got all the air force kids. But in Swansea I don't know what the deal is. I've got 2 kids right now that may be moving within a couple of weeks. They don't know when or even if it is going to happen though. We have to keep doing what we are doing because we've got a show to finish. I feel like we are still a little behind but there is some method to our madness.

A Case Of The Monday's...On Tuesday!!

So the title pretty much says it all. That's what one of my seniors said during our water break today and he was right. The kids were kind of dragging and there was no energy to anything that we did. I still have some kids who don't eat right and I do have some that are sick but we've got to do better. I also had some that I had to go get from another practice. I agreed to let them participate in the step team along with marching band on the condition that they were at our rehearsal by 4:45pm. I feel like that is very reasonable. Today they tested me and were not even there by 5:15 so I went and got them. I did it the right way though and I will be pulling them aside to discuss the situation further so that they know what is expected of them. Today was just a LONG day with a lot of stuff going on. I feel a little unorganized and I think its all because of the late start we got with me coming into the job. Things should run a lot smoother next year. We still have to play better. Period.

I think I can, I think I can

So we made some progress last week with the drill and also with guard routine. Things are getting better we just need to work a little faster. Some of our younger players still need some help playing wise. The parents seem to be excited about the community show in a couple of weeks. We're actually going to have a mini camp to get caught up and then do the show that night in full uniform...assuming I can get the uniforms out in time. That is my next big project because we lost an assistant band director this year because of budget cuts and she usually handled that. It will get done though.

Work Harder & Wiser

So today the weather was pretty nice. I pushed the kids pretty hard today. We had a couple that got a little sick and those are the ones that either didn't eat lunch all day or only ate a sandwich. That is not going to cut it for the kind of energy that we use up. They just don't seem to understand that. We got a lot more done today and the opener is starting to look pretty good. The ballad is on its way too. We've got a long way to go on the closer though. The first contest is quickly approaching...