honor band rigors

[bloke]

Before we know it, those things will be happening again.

- Do they still over-rehearse and wear kids out as severely as in the past?
(sore mouths and other exhaustion, proving to be endurance tests - with the concerts featuring sounds of muscle and mind exhaustion)

- Do the guess conductors still (often/seemingly most of them) subject them to ear-damaging metronomes whamming (indoors) through "Long-Ranger" bullhorns?

- When I've witnessed such rigors myself (as an adult), I've thought, "Were my rehearsals for shows and concerts like these, I would NEVER agree to be hired to do ANY of them".

WHAT ABOUT THIS:

RATHER THAN frantically rote-teaching the music at the overly-long/overly-intensive/borderline-abusive rehearsals...
Have the region/state-wide auditions only select the GROUP of students (and NOT "chair" them).
Just prior to the events, the 60/80/100 students are chaired, based on all of the same musical aspects of the actual music they are scheduled to play.
This way (rather than practicing three exercises prior to auditions and - once selected - then IGNORING the programmed music until the actual rehearsals), the chosen students would (hopefully) be motivated to ACTUALLY practice the music they will be playing...

ALSO...
How about real music (rather than four or five formula/grade-composed "band pieces")? Shouldn't these concerts ALSO be entertaining (for the parents, as well as the students)?

...eh?

[Jperry1466]

Yes and yes. These events are often an ego trip for the guest conductor to "show what I can get the kids to do" by playing music for which there is nowhere near enough playing time. When I was invited to do all-region jr. high bands, I would pick music just a little bit below the level I thought they could play. It made for a more polished performance and much less stress on both conductor (me) and the kids. And they had fun: after all the purpose is to make them enjoy band enough that they will go on in to high school band and/or want to stay in band. I don't get invited to do those any more, because 1) I'm considered too old to know how band is done "now" and 2) because I didn't impress all their directors enough with the difficulty of the music. I never did pop music, but I did stuff that I thought the kids and parents would find interesting and enjoyable.

[Three Valves]

Well executed less than full tempo band music is for the non-sensical!