Man I thought trumpet players were egotistical...

[GMacDaddyTPO]

Ok a little background. I am a Junior in High school, and tried out for District 13 OMEA Honor Band today. Last year, I tried out for the concert band, and the Jazz band, making only the jazz band. This year, I decided to make it my goal to make both. Well...

Turns out they had so many people audition last year, they decided to make 2 High school Concert bands. A good one, and a less as good, but still good, one...well I made 7th chair (uhg), in the "less as good one."

I said to myself, ok sure, that's fine...still got my goal...oh wait

NO I DIDN'T! I didn't make the jazz band? How does that work? I made it last year, and after improving my skills for a year...I don't make it?

Whatever, not the point of my post.

My original intent is to speak of my friend. He is a SAXOPHONE player who is fairly accomplished.

Having never tried out for the bands before (he's a junior), he decided to try this year, with only about a week of preparation time left.

He ends up making the "less as good one," with me, and not making the jazz band.

Well, I wasn't to distraught, just turned around and said something to aim for next year, but this is what he thought of it.

(The following is an excerpt from an anonymous person's blog, who shall remain nameless. This text has been edited slightly to make it family appropriate.)

[icebraker613]

I feel the same way too. You need to be humble in these sorta situations. Even if you are the best and know you're being screwed, just take it in as some bad karma for something you've done bad in the past. The tenor player in our jazz band got too cocky at auditions because he thought he was the only one trying out. He was wrong. He ended up getting 2nd chair. It's his senior year too.
I admit that sometimes i get feelings of "I don't have to be here, i'm doing them a favor, show me a little more gratitude" then i mentally smack myself silly and take it with stride.
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[gio trumpeter]

yeah.. i tried out for mine today... not sure what chair i got yet

i think i did ok... there's the top band.. and two equal bottom bands

[SatchmoGillespie]

Sad thing is that your Sax playing buddy reminds me a tad bit of myself when I was around his age. I remember my Sr year busting my chops to make the top All region jazz band because that was the first year that they were including improv in the auditions here in Texas plus making the top band meant a chance to tape for State. I knew that there were less than a handful of trumpet players in my region that could legitimately improv at the time, so I thought I had a good chance if the audition went well. Anyway, did the audition and got the results and ended up in the 2nd band...4th chair no less. I was so angry when I saw that one guy who couldn't even swing(he was classically trained, no jazz) had made the top band only because he played the ballad like an etude(although, he had a very nice sound it wasn't very jazzlike). However, I believe the thing that really ticked me off was finding out right after results were posted that the directors had decided that they were going to give everyone a perfect score on the improv because it wasn't fair to those who couldn't(my director told me this after the audition results were posted). I remember just going on a rant and basically making a fool of myself.
Anyway, I had vowed not to do it after the auditions but changed my mind when I saw who was going to direct it. It was an old friend of my father who was the first director of the jazz program at the HSPVA here in Dallas and is now the director of the reformed DJO. It ended up being a good thing because some of the guys that I got to know through that band ended up being some really good musicians here in Dallas, one of which I reconnected with on a friend's gig not to long ago. That and I had a good time after all.
In hindsight, I wish I had learned to be a hell of a lot more humble. Of course, I have but that was only due to growing up and realizing that there are more important things to worry about in life and that there are a hell of a lot more better players than myself. Hopefully, your friend will realize that it's not the end of the world and maybe...just maybe if he actually took the time to practice that he'll end up making the top band next year.
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[bandman322]

I hate honor bands – I did as a student, and I do as a teacher. When I was a kid I made all the honor bands, and thus I had a pretty good resume to get scholarships to college. I played under some pretty darn good conductors, and got to know the fine players from some of the other schools in the area in which I grew up (Fairfax, Virginia).

So all of those things are good, so why do I hate honor bands????

Many directors put too much emphasis on district and all-state. They do this for their own egos, hoping that they can have a few kids in the band so they can go brag about their teaching skills. I have been around so many directors that make stupid statements about the kids they had make it from the past.

So as a director I decided to do something about it. I put the student playing the auditions behind a screen, and gave them random numbers to audition. Teachers gave them signals to send to the other side of the screen – rule 1) No talking in the audition room. So make sure you play something, or cough, or humm or whatever, so you teacher will know you are in the room. Basically they taught their students to cheat.

All-state is another even more stupid even in many areas. Why should a certain district only be allowed to send 4 or 6 trumpets to the all-state finals if they might have 10 of the best players in the state? Or, if you have one huge all-state audition does this not give an advantage to the home town players?

There is no perfect system, and there will always be some low-life directors who don’t play the game straight. I remember when Silverstar auditioned for her all-state the judge asked her “What kind of trumpet is that?” when she walked in the door. At that point she was thrown off a little and ma not have performed her best. I loved the answer someone gave her – she should have said “It’s an Eclipse MR. Would you like to play it?

So take honor bands for what they are worth. If you make it, enjoy the experience, and if you don’t, then blow it off and find some other way to build up your resume. I promise – the sun will still rise and fall the same no matter which band you are in.
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[plankowner110]

Your buddy needs to clean up his act AND his mouth. What a punk! His talent on saxophone is only exceeded by his ego, and I am confident that the directors hearing his audition placed him in the chair he earned and deserved.
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https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26763

[DaveH]

Not unusual kid-type behavior...highly ignorant and immature.

Anyone who is really good at this instrumental music thing doesn't have to prove anything...it is obvious anytime they play...and they themselves don't need to say a word.

Quite often, the better someone is, the more humble they are as well...check it out and see.

And, as to the matter of "fairness"...life ain't; so grow up and get used to it.

[GMacDaddyTPO]

Hey guys. Here is his updated xanga...

[plp]

My old high school director actively discouraged us from All state auditions, although whatever the required technical pieces were got worked into our playoff assignments. It was considered a distraction, and all distractions were not entertained.

[romey1]

Saxophone SUCKS!!!!!!!

Romey

[KevinPierce]

Well said rom!

[Mikeytrpt]

[KevinPierce]

Who says, Ever seen my girlfriend?

[KevinPierce]

[trptStudent]

Which sax player stole her from you?

[Mikeytrpt]

[KevinPierce]

not cool, either one of you.

[RBtrumpet08]

hehe nice ones you 2
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[plankowner110]

Seen on a t-shirt:

REAL WOMEN
Dig Trumpet Players
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https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26763

[308WIN]

GMac, this isn't directed at "you" per se, but any HS musician auditioning for any type of "honors" group. IMO, a lot of this stems from the whole "everyone's a winner" mentality that is pervasive in our educational system. People must realize that if you're trying out for an "elite" group, there's the risk of disappointment. If you don't get desired result, all you can do is work harder next time, and hope it goes better. Blaming anyone othere than you only makes you look bad. As a performing musician, you need to realize there are no "givens". Just because you were "top dog" one year, does not guarantee you will be the next (even if you bust your butt practicing). You got to learn to roll with the punches.

Bandman,
I see where your hatred of honor bands stems from. I do agree that it's mostly for band directors chest pounding, and that's a great reason to hate them. I don't know about your state, but where I'm from (PA) it is (or at least was) done differently. The state was divided into (I think) 11 "districts", not to be confused with school districts. These districts were large. Everyone prepared the same rep for the audition and scales and sight reading. They would accept however many for the District _____ band. If accepted they assign you a part (depends on your score). You would get your music folder the next week for practicing. A month or so later, you go to the actual festival. Once there, everyone re-auditions for chairs. Once chairs are assigned, the top two from each section go on to regionals. Same thing goes on at regions to determine who goes to states. This seems to be the most fair way of doing it. What school you're from has nothing to do with it, it's strictly based on how well you auditioned. There's really only one "cattle call" audition, and that's for the District festival. Also, unless if you're the host school, once a student has their paperwork in for the District audition, the band directors are pretty much out of the picture. Yes, PA also does county bands, but I never did those, nor do I have any idea how they operate.

Rich
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