Rural Band Parents are Cool People

[OkeeDon]

My daughter, Amy, is the high school band director at Okeechobee High School. Every year, the students attend band camp before school starts to learn their half time show for football season. This is the norm at almost every high school in the nation.

One challenge for band directors is keeping up the motivation of the parents. The parents are absolutely necessary to be chaperones, run the concession stand, handle the drum line equipment at the side lines, and, of course, for fund raising. I'm willing to bet that a significant number of TBNer's have been band parents, and were darned good at it.

Last year, Amy started something new for the parents. Part of the suggestion was mine. I suggested that on the last day of band camp, the kids should put on an exhibition for their parents, showing what they were up to and how they learned their show.

The first picture shows some of the kids on the field pretending to hold their instruments and explaining how they learned the marching drill.

 

[OkeeDon]

Next, the students picked up their instruments and played through the show. This year, they're doing selections from "Phantom of the Opera". Sorry, no sound...

 

[OkeeDon]

So far, so good. Not much different than most bands anywhere in America. But then, Amy added the killer ingredient. Here she is, getting ready to tell the parents what's going to happen, next.

 

[OkeeDon]

She explains to the parents that the students have a "suicide drill" routine that they do as a penalty for minor infractions, like being late for practice -- and that they don't like them. She then offers one free excuse from suicide drill for any student whose parent will join them on the field and see what it feels like to march with them. Of course, the kids beg their parents to participate.

And, this is what makes rural America so great -- the parents fill the field! First, they march alongside or behind their child, doing exactly the same drill, while Amy counts cadence. That's the drum major's Mom up on the stand, while her daughter (in the blue shirt) tells her what to do.

 

[OkeeDon]

Next comes the real corker. After running through the first 3 moves of the drill, the parents take their child's instruments, the kids leave the field, and the parents do the drill themselves!

On the command, "Horns Up!" everyne is ready to go. The students stand on the sideline and cheer them on.

 

[OkeeDon]

Even Grandma gets into the spirit.

 

[OkeeDon]

Some are a little more confused than others...

Of course, the parents aren't trying to play the instruments, but not a one of them will relax and put it down. They all try just as hard as the students!

 

[OkeeDon]

A few of the students, the band's officers, do remain on the field to keep things from turning into total chaos.

 

[OkeeDon]

Those Moms can really handle those bass drums!

The real point of this for me, is the difference in attitude among country folk. If Amy had tried this at one of the more sophisticated high schools were she taught in her early years, few of the parents would have been so dedicated, and very few would have tried so hard! This is an incredible experience to see.

The parents get so fired up, they come in to the cafeteria afterwards, for the traditional covered dish dinner, and they fill the table where the volunteer sign-up sheets are located. After all, they're now more than parents, they know how the band works! They're involved.

I'm so proud of my daughter for this innovation, but I'm even more proud of the country folks who make this possible.

Like Harve says, "Life is Good."

 

[Dargo]

Cool Don! I'm having my first experience of "band practice". It seems that most of my poor children have inherited my music gene. That gene is a deep love of music, but the strong inability to play nothing more complicated than the radio, and the ability to not being able to carry a tune even if it is strapped to my back. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I have one daughter who is currently breaking the curse. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif She is working hard and has been attending band practice every morning lately. School doesn't start here until next week, so she has a good month of practice ahead of school. As I said, this is all new to me. I'm impressed with how hard everyone works at it. My daughter who is playing in band just got her 2nd degree black belt and she works just as hard at band as she does karate.

I've not told her that way back in the dark ages when I was in high school, I was one of the athletes and figured that the band was simply for distraction purposes while us "real" athletes rested and planned. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Gees, if I could ever take an attitude back!! Maybe it was that I was not in band because I couldn't, not that the people were in band because they couldn't play the sport. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Cool pics, and great post about kids (and parents) who generally are not given the accolades they deserve for the hard work and dedication to their endeavors.