Delayed Gratification and Citizenship
Why You Need Band in Your Community
The article below was written by David Willson. David and I have known each other since we were in band together at Hardy Jr. High School in Jackson MS about the time electricity was invented. We went to Provine HS together, then I followed him to Ole Miss and we both majored in music education. I believe it’s pretty safe to say that music changed both our lives for the better, and both of us taught music to our students in the hopes they would benefit from some of the same things we had learned. In 1991, after building superior band programs in Columbus MS and Clinton MS, David was chosen to be the Director of Bands at our Alma Mater, and taught hundreds of his students how to be successful in band and in life. Mr. Willson retired from Ole Miss recently, but still does an enormous amount of teaching to anyone willing to listen. This article originally appeared in the Phi Beta Mu Newsletter in 2009. I think it’s a message worth repeating.
Each year I see band directors in our country have more hurdles thrown at them making it harder to have band where they are. These hurdles start with national testing, new graduation requirements, scheduling and the list is endless. We as a society need to sell the real value of band to all within the community instead of getting stuck on the spirit or community relations area that all see and recognize. The community and local employers can be the energy for this “Why Band” movement for the band world.
Every employer in our nation should demand that there is a good band in their community. We have heard how music helps all parts of the brain develop more coordination and how music helps test scores go up, etc. Let’s talk about the real reason why a band is so important to the community. Building citizenship is the reason why band is so important to the community. To do that we first have to determine or explain why band is different from any other subject in the school.
First, most band classes are different in size and scope. Most academic classes in secondary schools have 20 to 25 students per class. Generally, the room has approximately that many desks where the students take notes from the lecture, do classwork or participate in discussion. Band classes are generally larger and different in scope. Band halls look different! Most are larger and do not have traditional desks. In place of a textbook and other traditional classroom necessities, band students have complex instruments, music stands, music and chairs. Every instrument requires a specific type of instruction, and each student has a different set of physical attributes that require the directors to be more analytical and detailed with their instruction. To have any form of success with this type of INDIVIDUAL instruction each student must develop a tenacious self-discipline and the group discipline must be exceptional as well. Band students learn that they alone do not make a band and without them the band is not as strong. The type of group experience is a great citizenship development tool.
Secondly, everybody must achieve excellence in band to have a successful program. In traditional classes you can sit on the front row, study hard, make an A or you can sleep on the back row and barely get by or flunk out and your performance does not affect anyone else. In band, one person with an immature tone quality or bad pitch can affect everyone else tremendously.
Band participation is more demanding than school organizations such as athletics, choir and orchestra. Everyone is not physically suited to participate in sports. There are thousands of students that have grown up singing in church choirs that can join choir just about any time they choose. Orchestras, like choirs, offer the advantage of music instruction, but they do not have to march outside in all kinds of weather and withstand the heat, extra rehearsals and the peer pressure of playing at football games and in parades. It would be very difficult for one to find (usually less than 1%) where an individual not started in beginner band was able to walk in and participate in a superior, well established high school band program. How much effort individuals dedicate to coordinating the very small muscles in their lips, lungs, tongues, eyes, fingers and toes over a sustained period of time is 99% of the ingredients needed to be a good band student. Students achieve excellence on their own merit while they learn valuable lessons in self-discipline and citizenship because they achieve in a group experience with peers working toward a common goal.
Thirdly, every student has to make a sizable financial investment. Generally speaking, less than 5% of the instruments are provided by the school district. Most families have to go into debt to purchase an instrument and eventually transfer that to an even larger debt for a higher quality, more advanced instrument. This experience is like taking a job and having to buy your own desk, computer, chair and phone in order to be a valuable part of your employer’s company. Most other school activities do not require that level of financial commitment. There is also a sizable investment in time spent in personal practice, group practice and after school rehearsals and performances. With an investment of both time and money, parents are more likely to support the effort and to insist that their child get more out of the activity rather than wanting band to be an “easy in, easy out” sort of class. Students must be persistent and dedicated over a period of years to succeed in band.
And that’s the final step - DELAYED GRATIFICATION! It takes years of small improvements to learn to coordinate every aspect of the body in performing on an instrument, even at a modest level, for success in a high school band. Students have to be supported to succeed in spite of other academic subjects, athletics, dating, working and family obligations. The likelihood of someone sticking with this lengthy process is really pretty small. What a child learns from all this are the benefits of delayed gratification; something often missing from learning activities in our present society. One cannot buy a band instrument, program it electronically and learn to play it overnight.
When students develop tenacious self-discipline by investing time and money, they learn the pleasure of delayed gratification in a group setting and also achieve on their own merit. These are qualities that make up the backbone of every successful citizenship building activity in our society. All of us should learn the joy of going to work for the team and learning to stick with the company through thick and thin even though we don’t always receive continuous accolades and positive reinforcement.
I would hope every employer in America could readily see the benefits of student participation in band programs and demand these benefits for their own children and those of their employees. The time, effort and money expended will pay benefits for generations to come.