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Are there school band directors like Whiplash's Fletcher?


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spitvalve
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My high school band director (I was in high school from 1972-75) was a very talented tyrant. We didn't always like him but we all respected him and very few students quit band because the band was so good. We got to play cool pop tunes (not wimpy classical stuff like marching bands do these days ) and we were encouraged to blow our guts out on the field. "Put your breakfast on the press box" was our motto.

We played a lot of challenging music in concert and jazz bands, but it was clear (at least to my mother and other observant parents) that our whole purpose was to feed his ego on the stage.

His style was to grind you down as a sophomore, briefly acknowledge your existence as a junior, and finally call you by your first name as a senior. For most of my sophomore year he kept calling me "Roger" (my older brother who had graduated the year before) or just "Fields." When he signed my senior yearbook he addressed it to "Poot-head," but then wrote some complimentary things about my playing.

The assistant band director had been my junior high director and came over to the high school my junior year. He was a little more down-to-earth and the students could all relate to him a little better.

Interestingly enough, when the head band director resigned in the early 1980s to go into private business, the assistant director took over, but got fired for supposedly a having an affair with a female student--the story goes that one of the band parents caught them fooling around in a practice room. He finished his career a few years later at another high school in the county as an assistant band director, surprisingly enough, retiring after 34 years of teaching. Must have been some strings pulled to keep him out of jail, though I think the girl was 18 and he was pushing 40. Ew.

I thought I wanted to be a band director until I actually became one in 1985-86. About that time the head director from my high school years, despondent over business failures and no band directing jobs open, killed his wife and himself with a handgun. Suddenly I didn't want to be a band director any more.
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Last edited by spitvalve on Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:31 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Robert P
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spitvalve wrote:

Interestingly enough, when the head band director resigned after ten or twelve years to go into private business, the assistant director took over, but got fired for having an affair with a female student--the story goes that one of the band parents caught them fooling around in a practice room. He finished his career a few years later at another school in the county as an administrator, surprisingly enough. Must have been some strings pulled to keep him out of jail, though I think the girl was 18 and he was pushing 40. Ew.

If true I wonder what the circumstances were where he was caught by a parent *at the school* horsing around?...?? In of itself a 20 year age gap isn't even rare but with a student? Epic stupidity in Glorious Technicolor.

Yeah, he must have had an angel somewhere in upper administration to actually continue to have a job in the school system.
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Dave_3
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was a senior in 1975, and in Georgia, 18 years old was a legal adult. You could vote, buy booze, join the military, or have sex with a 40 yo. There may have been school "rules" forbidding teachers from fraternizing with students, but I doubt there were any actual laws, concerning it. A legal adult, was a legal adult.

But times change, and things are certainly different now.

And now, back to the regularly scheduled program....
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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for sharing.
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spitvalve
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert P wrote:
spitvalve wrote:

Interestingly enough, when the head band director resigned after ten or twelve years to go into private business, the assistant director took over, but got fired for having an affair with a female student--the story goes that one of the band parents caught them fooling around in a practice room. He finished his career a few years later at another school in the county as an administrator, surprisingly enough. Must have been some strings pulled to keep him out of jail, though I think the girl was 18 and he was pushing 40. Ew.

If true I wonder what the circumstances were where he was caught by a parent *at the school* horsing around?...?? In of itself a 20 year age gap isn't even rare but with a student? Epic stupidity in Glorious Technicolor.

Yeah, he must have had an angel somewhere in upper administration to actually continue to have a job in the school system.


I've edited my post quoted above. I was mistaken--he was not an administrator; I went back and did some research and learned he retired as a band director. He passed away from heart failure about two months after he retired.
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Shaft
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Woodcock

Billy Bob Thorton

That movie is a great match for this thread.
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Robert P
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spitvalve wrote:
Robert P wrote:
spitvalve wrote:

Interestingly enough, when the head band director resigned after ten or twelve years to go into private business, the assistant director took over, but got fired for having an affair with a female student--the story goes that one of the band parents caught them fooling around in a practice room. He finished his career a few years later at another school in the county as an administrator, surprisingly enough. Must have been some strings pulled to keep him out of jail, though I think the girl was 18 and he was pushing 40. Ew.

If true I wonder what the circumstances were where he was caught by a parent *at the school* horsing around?...?? In of itself a 20 year age gap isn't even rare but with a student? Epic stupidity in Glorious Technicolor.

Yeah, he must have had an angel somewhere in upper administration to actually continue to have a job in the school system.


I've edited my post quoted above. I was mistaken--he was not an administrator; I went back and did some research and learned he retired as a band director. He passed away from heart failure about two months after he retired.

Even more incredible that he was allowed to continue in a teaching position.

My freshman year of high school we had a new football coach - the previous one was removed....after a parent shot him in his office for canoodling with their daughter. He survived but his school career came to an abrupt end.
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Brent
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 7:05 pm    Post subject: band Reply with quote

I graduated from high school in 1990, and I was lucky enough to have excellent high school band teachers, both in symphonic band and in jazz band. They brought home as many trophies as any band teacher, and neither acted like that. There's far better ways to to motivate your students than acting like a bully and a tyrant.

As far as the inappropriate relationships avenue. On a certain level, some of that was more accepted back then. It wasn't uncommon for right out of college band teachers to date the older high school students, especially in rural school districts.

Sometimes, maybe the 'good old days' weren't really that good.
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Tony Scodwell
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:21 am    Post subject: My band director experience Reply with quote

I started playing trumpet in 5th grade and when I got to Jr. High (grades 7-9) my band director was the biggest influence I could possibly have in those formative years. I had trouble reading various time signatures and he spent a lot of time working with me leading me through the music. I certainly took advantage of his patience ending up on the first cornet chair in 9th grade. One day during lunch (at home) I got a telephone call from the high school band director saying "I hear you're a hot shot cornet player". Hmnn...Of course when I started my freshman year in his band I was placed with the first cornets. It so happens this director had a son who had previously been his first chair cornet and I was reminded of that quite a bit. One of his "contests" was timing us on the scales he gave us. One octave slurred from the low G on up to G in the staff. Why that exercise didn't include the B major, C# and F# scales was never explained. Anyway, I managed to beat the time of his son and sort of felt a bit of backlash from him over the next two years. He did let me play solos with the concert band and I ran the dance band after the football games which was a lot of fun after marching in Wisconsin winter weather at halftime with chops still cold. I was getting a fair amount of work by this time with the older guys playing for dances and parties. Of course I had joined the local musicians union and a turning point in my relationship with the band director came when a military academy nearby asked him if "my" school dance band could play for their dance...for free. I told him no and they would have to pay us. The big Memorial Day parade was coming up (oh, did he like marching and parades) and I was demoted to way down in the trumpet section and told I couldn't march in the parade. A few calls and I lined up a gig riding on a flat bed truck, getting paid to play with Uncle Julius' German Band. I couldn't resist waving to him as the high school band was getting started wearing their wool uniforms in 90 degree heat as I rode by. His most famous statement after I joined the union was "I don't understand how you can play do-wacka-do in a straight mute all night long".

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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gad, Tony. How about giving some tired old eyes a break?
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cbtj51
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

spitvalve wrote:
My high school band director (I was in high school from 1972-75) was a very talented tyrant. We didn't always like him but we all respected him and very few students quit band because the band was so good. We got to play cool pop tunes (not wimpy classical stuff like marching bands do these days ) and we were encouraged to blow our guts out on the field. "Put your breakfast on the press box" was our motto...

...We played a lot of challenging music in concert and jazz bands, but it was clear (at least to my mother and other observant parents) that our whole purpose was to feed his ego on the stage.


Great read spitvalve! My 1965/66 Freshman/Sophomore years band director was much like the one you describe. Everyone wanted to be in his band in spite of, maybe because of, his in your face "drill sergeant" approach. Everyone loved and respected him, including the rest of the staff at school and the parents. He was 'promoted' to Jr. High Principal just before my Junior year, but we all continued to seek him out for guidance and advice for many years afterwards. That's impact!

Mike
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spitvalve
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cbtj51 wrote:
spitvalve wrote:
My high school band director (I was in high school from 1972-75) was a very talented tyrant. We didn't always like him but we all respected him and very few students quit band because the band was so good. We got to play cool pop tunes (not wimpy classical stuff like marching bands do these days ) and we were encouraged to blow our guts out on the field. "Put your breakfast on the press box" was our motto...

...We played a lot of challenging music in concert and jazz bands, but it was clear (at least to my mother and other observant parents) that our whole purpose was to feed his ego on the stage.


Great read spitvalve! My 1965/66 Freshman/Sophomore years band director was much like the one you describe. Everyone wanted to be in his band in spite of, maybe because of, his in your face "drill sergeant" approach. Everyone loved and respected him, including the rest of the staff at school and the parents. He was 'promoted' to Jr. High Principal just before my Junior year, but we all continued to seek him out for guidance and advice for many years afterwards. That's impact!

Mike


Unfortunately my high school band director didn't have that kind of a happy ending. After being out of the teaching profession for a few years and with his businesses and marriage in trouble, he killed his wife and himself in 1986.
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joshlawrencejazz
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went to high school with Damien Chazelle who wrote and directed Whiplash. The character was based on our band director Dr. Anthony Biancosino — old school music teacher and saxophonist who was a student of Carmine Caruso. He gave my first serious lessons. A few of the scenes in the film were pulled directly from our time in the band.

That being said, he did "Hollywood" it up a bit
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cbtj51
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spitvalve wrote:
Unfortunately my high school band director didn't have that kind of a happy ending. After being out of the teaching profession for a few years and with his businesses and marriage in trouble, he killed his wife and himself in 1986.


I have never seen the referenced "movie", so my comments may be out of place in this thread:

I should have noted that much of the brass and drumline in my high school band were also members of the local drum and bugle corps as was I, during a time that Colonel Truman "Tru" Crawford was the music arranger and brought his United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps background and personal discipline along to retreats and rehearsals. At school or drum corps, there was never any physical, verbal, or emotional abuse that I ever witnessed, just a personal demonstration of focus of purpose, mutual respect, and personal accountability, qualities that often seem to be unpopular these days from my perspective. I also served in a US Army Band a few years later with many of my high school classmates/drum corps friends. BTW, the CO of the Army Band had been my 6th grade band director his first year after graduating from college and was well known to most of us. Many of us are still in touch with each other and him! I count those experiences as some of my best! Times were different then! I must be getting old!

Mike
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lipshurt
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As for times being “different” then and the notion that certain good qualities were more prevalent in bands or schools or kids in general…… I call B.S. on that.

Kids are great, and they work hard, and they possess every admirable quality that any generation of kids has had in the past. Actually I would say if anything they are way nicer, more relaxed and less dramatic.

I’ve been a band director now close to 30 years. And I was a private teacher full time for 10 years before that. Granted, I’ve always worked in great places, so that might be something, but that is tne way I see it. Sometimes hanging out at faculty meetings etc, some general Ed teachers start bitching about how the old days kids were better. Usually old white guys, and when they do that nearly everyone just keeps their mouth shut and rolls their eyes. I avoid those types of teachers, who exist but are in the small minority thankfully.

I will say that maybe 30 years we pushed a bit harder on kids to play, but I’m quite certain that we get the same or better results these days which are more relaxed. Goes along with the idea that kids are simply less dramatic now. It’s better this way, and definitely more sustainable.
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tomba51
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

joshlawrencejazz wrote:
I went to high school with Damien Chazelle who wrote and directed Whiplash. The character was based on our band director Dr. Anthony Biancosino — old school music teacher and saxophonist who was a student of Carmine Caruso. He gave my first serious lessons. A few of the scenes in the film were pulled directly from our time in the band.

That being said, he did "Hollywood" it up a bit


Well, if he was a student of Carmine Caruso, his teaching style (at least as how it was portrayed in the movie) was the total opposite of Carmine's. Carmine was the most positive human being in the world. He was always encouraging, and NEVER criticized.
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