Advise for Marching Band Captains.

Warbird · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2002 6:18 am Post subject:

Hey, I don't know how many of you were in your high school marching bands but I just wanted to know, what works best for leading? You know that you always have to deal with people who are jealous of your position or don't want to work or things like that. How do you deal with them?

In Christ,
Joseph N. Pack

Yoinks · Veteran Member Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 258

Just be pure. Don't let others drag you into a battle. Make it clear by your behavior, that you are there to make music. Just don't engage combative individuals in your section. Never focus on the individuals in a negative aspect, focus on the MUSIC in a negative aspect if something is wrong. If the conversation in sectionals stops being "WE" or "US" and turns into "I" or "ME", you are in trouble.
Also, know your stuff, backward and forward. Asking other people's opinions is good, but always be firm in that the final decision is yours. And have justification ready for your decision, that is musical in nature, beyond, "because I say so." Once you open that door of letting others push you around, it will never close again.
Most importantly maybe, don't be afraid to have a calm, open discussion with another person. This can be hard, but is part of growing up as a musician. This can stop something from getting out of hand. If you continue in music, you will run into some real A**holes in your career. You're gonna have to learn to talk to them sooner or later, so you might as well start now.

trjeam · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2002 6:05 pm Post subject:

Yeah this year I had to take the lead part as a freshman in the High school. It was hard to get the seniors and the older guys to listen. I didn't try to boss anyone around. I usually just gave suggestions. I didn't try to act as leader or anything like that. I only did what i was suppose to do. Play the Higher parts, and help the others with the music. There were sometimes where I got real mad because of people not listening. But threw out the season i learned to deal with the problems in a little more mature way. It's a little weird at first but then as time went by I got use to playing the lead role. It was a big change from playing lead in middle school because in middle school people looked up to me and listened but in HS people didnt' think that I knew what i was doing. But I just led by example. And I feel like as if I did a pretty good job. I memorize any music no matter what, showed up to all the shows and rehersals, had fun, worked hard.. Those little things other band members saw me do and also worked hard.

mafields627 · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2002 8:03 pm Post subject:

First of all, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS lead by your example. If you hold yourself to a high standard, then expect them to meet it whether it be in discipline or effort put forth _BUT_ you can NEVER hold time to a high standard that you don't hold yourself to or else the first time they see you do something you've told them not to, or not doing something you've told them to, they will immediately turn you off. Be firm, but don't get the ego. Being overly mean will also make them mad at you. As their leader, when you are in charge, you have to put your personal relationships aside and treat everyone the same. Remember, as a leader, you're always walking a fine line between being effective and hated. Here's something to think about, read a copy of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince and ask your self, "Do I want to be loved or feared and do I want to be feared or respected?"

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[ This Message was edited by: mafields627 on 2002-02-05 23:04 ]

ChopsMcgraw · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2002 10:56 pm Post subject:

Don't be a tool. There is nothing worse than having a person that can't even play the note you're playing tell you to add a little more emphasis to the note, never mind the fact that youre marching sideways at 3 to 10 and the note is a double f, not to mention the fact it's the end of the friggin song and you're at 7000 ft. Maybe next year I'll make wind symphony... But seriously, if you know your stuff forwards and backwards, and can let you're section know you're a bad-ass (not necessarily high notes, we had a awesome technician as a section leader, she is scary with the fingers) you won't have a problem. Just don't be a tool and you'll be fine!

ChopsMcgraw

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

http://www.cozychops.com has some good advice on this subject I believe!

Roddy o-iii<O
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SHS_Trumpet · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2002 1:30 pm Post subject:

I try to be really upfront about everything. I'm not a very subtle person. What I do is this: First get to know everybody somehow. Next Make friends with everybody. (friendly gestures, shake hands or something) Third pep talk about what is going to happen in the course of the year. Assure them that as long as the steps are right and the music sounds good everything is cool. But also tell them that if the steps get off or the music starts sucking you are going to have something to say about it. This all needs to happen the first day. It is very important to establish a friendship with your section and make that a sacred trust type thing. Always try to be helping the people who need it, but don?t be to picky. Find a style of leadership that works with your section and stick with it. Be consistent don't change styles often because that?s just another thing to make them mess up. One of the most important points is to come up with things that the section likes. We do the tomahawk song, we have a little funny meeting at halftime, and we have a lot of traditions/inside jokes that make the marching season fun. Remember marching band is supposed to be fun when it becomes work people quit. It's our job to keep it fun and interesting. Good luck.
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MYNWA
"90% of trumpet music is below high C"

Warbird · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:19 pm Post subject:

Thanx for all of the advice. Just to let some of you know, we had sectionals today in band class...very very very breif sectionals because it turns out that my section was the only one doing well, so that made me feel pretty good. When I was leading I tried to be nice to everyone, even when they couldn't play a regular concert Bb scale...just so you don't start to look down on my section, I am in the lowest band at my school. My band director has told me that I am misplaced and I'm the second highest trumpet player in our school for next year. When I was doing everything I figured out this novel concept that the principal player needs to play with the section. I have one thing that I gained from today...I learned to play with one hand on the trumpet and the other on my music very very well:).

In Christ,
Joseph N. Pack