A Day in the Life of a Tennyson Middle School Band Director

As a band director, it is easy to get caught up in our own daily lives with all we have to do and not realize that the outside world doesn't realize all we do on a daily basis as band directors. It is our job to communicate and not assume. How many of you sometimes feel like your subject is thought of as "less than" - as expendable? It is easy to feel like we are thought that way as we are grouped with the other fine arts, languages and athletics as "extra" (extra-curricular) or "specials."  State monies are  not given or withheld to the school based on how well we perform at UIL contest, so we often feel less important than those core subjects that have the STAAR test. However, you and I both know that we care deeply about teaching our students the value of music and having successful performances. It is more than just playing instruments - it is about creating those goosebump musical moments after months of hard work; it is about family; it is about getting outside yourself, listening and creating one unified sound. We have to make sure we are communicating to our students, parents, other faculty and administrators the value of middle school band and all that goes in to creating and maintaining a successful band program. 

So, here is an average day for us Tennyson Middle School band directors in Waco, Texas:

7:15-7:30 AM - arrive at school and prepare for the day (straighten out any chairs that were moved by the custodian over night, check email and voicemail, put beginner travel bag together)

7:40-8:20 AM - morning sectionals for Advanced Bands

8:30-9:15 AM - 1st period beginners. This year, I teach 11 beginner saxophones and 1 beginner bassoon in a foyer at the front of the school where the elevator is located as we do not have a classroom in which to have class. I set up the chairs with the help of other students who arrive early. The students get their own stands. The students rack their chairs and stands at the end of class. We start every day with counting and clapping four measures of rhythms; then do breathing exercises; then play articulation exercises on the mouthpiece and neck/bocal and reed; then play the rhythms we counted on mouthpieces; then play warm-ups and scales and then play lines out of the book or sheet music. During this period, Mr. Bloch (the TMS first assistant) teaches 16 beginner trombones in the cafeteria and Mr. Lemmons (the TMS second assistant) teaches 11 beginner percussion in the band hall.

9:20-9:47 AM - 2nd period Advisory. We each have 23 seventh graders (mine in the band hall, Mr. Bloch's in the cafeteria and Mr. Lemmons's in the Library) in which we teach SEL one day (social emotional learning), math another, reading another and then whatever we want on the other two days. These students are just a mixture of seventh grade students (many are non-band students).

9:51-10:35 AM - 3rd period beginners. I teach 31 beginner clarinets (I was at 35 for a long time until some moved and some were put in alternative school) in the band hall while Mr. Bloch teaches 16 beginner trumpets in the cafeteria and Mr. Lemmons teaches 5 beginner baritones in the front foyer. I do my best to keep the clarinet class on pace with the saxophone class, but with the class being larger, we often fall behind. It takes twice as long to do our weekly playing tests and it takes longer to teach them different registers.

10:40-11:06 AM - Lunch

11:11-11:55 AM - 4th period beginners. I teach 17 beginner flutes and 2 beginner oboes in the band hall while Mr. Bloch teaches 5 beginner horns in the foyer and Mr. Lemmons teaches 4 beginner tubas in the instrument storage room attached to the band hall. 

11:59 AM-12:43 PM - 5th period Honors Band. I have 39 in the class. I lead the class and Mr. Bloch and Mr. Lemmons assist. Mr. Lemmons helps a lot with the percussion as he is the percussion specialist and Mr. Bloch helps with whatever else I need (listening to solos, copying music, playing along with the brass sections, etc.).

12:47-1:26 PM - 6th period Jazz Band. Mr. Bloch leads this class while Mr. Lemmons helps lead the rhythm section. I often use this period to get administrative stuff done that I can't get done during our conference period (turn in deposits, bus requests, purchase orders, etc.). When I can, I will sit in and play with the group. At the start of the year, I help switch the flute, clarinet, or double reed players over to saxophone. Mr. Bloch helps switch over the horn players to trumpet and the euphonium and tuba players over to trombone. And Mr. Lemmons helps get the rhythm section players set up and good to go. 

1:30-2:16 PM - 7th period Concert Band. Mr. Lemmons leads this class and Mr. Bloch and I assist. I often sit in and play with the woodwinds. Right now, I am taking half of the class to help them learn their solos for solo contest. 

2:20-3:15 PM - 8th period Symphonic Band. Mr. Bloch leads this class while Mr. Lemmons and I assist. Mr. Lemmons helps to manage the percussion section. I help with whatever else is needed (fixing instruments, writing passes, listening to solos, working with sections, etc.). 

3:20-4:00 PM - 9th period Conference. This is when we contact parents, put in grades, make copies, plan, talk about what happened that day and more. Sometimes we are so exhausted it is difficult to get our minds focused enough to do what we need to get done. We do our best to use this time wisely though.

4:10-5:00 PM - Afternoon sectionals for Advanced Bands. The morning and afternoon sectionals are so important. In the Fall, we utilize sectionals to help coach our students for All-District & All-Region Band auditions. In the Spring, we use them to coach our students on their solos and ensembles as well as their UIL music. This is the time when we work on instrument-specific things such as vibrato. instrument intonation tendencies, range, articulations, etc. 

If I did not get things ready for the following day during the conference period, I will stay at school after sectionals to get that all in order (put name cards in chair order, check the prepared Advisory lessons, straighten the chairs and clean up the band hall and my desk). I think it is important to have things in order so I can just show up the next morning and not be stressed out - just grab my beginner travel bag and go. I do my best to leave before 5:30, but have stayed as late as 8:00 once or twice. At the beginning of the year when we are flooded with handbook forms and course cost and instrument rental fees that I have to deposit, I have to stay late to get everything organized and completed.

On concert nights, we bring an extra meal and our change of clothes so we can just stay up at the school and babysit the kids who cannot go home before the concert. Concert nights are LONG days. We often have to wait around thirty minutes after a performance for a couple kids to be picked up by their parents. We really stress the importance of someone being at every performance for our students - to support them - but that's not always possible for some. 

We are constantly going, going, going every day. Our beginner classes aren't always on pace with one another either. So we have to have four to five different lessons prepared to teach every day. We are on our feet for all our classes - on the podium, in front of our students and walking around amongst our students to help them out. We are expert classroom managers as we teach our students very specific procedures. Our students are entrusted with musical instruments valued from $500-$5,000+. We have to know instrument pedagogy for over ten different instruments. We need to be able to model the correct instrument carriage and tone for every instrument and know the correct hand position, fingerings, tongue position for all the instruments. We need to know the tuning tendencies for all the instruments and how to play those out-of-tune notes IN tune. We need to be able to articulate quickly and clearly to our students. We must know every sound we want from every measure from every instrument for every piece we play. We need to teach our students the skills to practice, to listen and to figure things out on their own. We need to teach the kids how to read music, how to sit, how to breathe, how to assemble and disassemble their instruments, how to properly clean and care for their instruments, how to hold their instruments with the correct hand position, how to form an embouchure and make a good sound. We need to teach the students how to articulate notes correctly and how to play the different ranges of the instrument in different dynamics with different articulations with good tone, balance, blend, style and intonation. We need to teach our students the musical vocabulary (music terms are in Latin and Italian). We need to teach our students to be good listeners, to be respectful, responsible and hardworking. We need to teach our students to work together as a team and to put the needs of the group in front of their own. There is just so much involved in our jobs as middle school band directors. In addition to all of this, there is ALL the paperwork (grades, attendance, fundraising, trip requests, bus requests, meal money requests, purchase orders, repairs...). It is a LOT, but it is worth it - our students are worth it. What we are doing is changing lives - music changes lives. 

I do recognize and honor that there are band directors out there who are doing way more than even we are. I was once that director who lived on an island all alone doing the job of 2-3 people by myself. I am truly blessed to have assistants to share the load with. I am blessed to have administrators and counselors who understand and believe in what we do. I go to school excited to teach every day. I love my students and I love what we do. Because of what we do, we have students who are confident, who can perform in front of others (not just on an instrument, but speaking too), who are leaders, who manage their time well, who understand projects take time and work hard to create things they are proud of, who work well with others and can work well alone, who have empathy and who can see and appreciate beauty in the world. 

I thank you for taking a few minutes to read this article. It is past my bed time, so I must sign off. I pray you have a great day tomorrow and every day and that you keep on keepin' on - especially if you too are a middle school band director.