Much ado about festivals

'Tis the season for festival attendance. Yesterday I took the two Santa Teresa Jazz Bands and jazz combos to the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival in Aptos, CA. The festival just celebrated its 30th birthday and is put by a board of directors whose focus is hosting the two day/two concert event. As festival host myself, I really appreciate the work that this team puts in for this non competitive festival. It might not be perfect but nothing is...we teach kids after all.

Santa Teresa HS Jazz Band 2 working with clinician John Bremis

Santa Teresa (my program) attends a lot of festivals. We go to marching band competitions, jazz band and concert band festivals with all of our groups. We host CMEA festivals and Music in the Parks Festivals. Even with all of that one of my students asked me a few weeks ago 'Why are we going?'



No matter how many years you teach and how many festivals you go to make sure that you answer that question, for yourself and for your students...because it is an important one. It will help you determine your philosophy, your rehearsal process, how you handle the adjudication & scoring process and what festivals you choose to attend.

My friend and colleague who has been teaching for 30+ years was reflecting this morning on social media about the festival process and his personal festival attendance. It made for some great dialogue on the topic. For each director you have to decide what is best for you and your program. Here's what he said:

CONTROVERSIAL OBSERVATION OF THE DAY: As you can probably tell, I don't care about festival ratings anymore, jazz, band, or orchestral. It's about the art and about the music making to the best of your ability. The walls are covered with certificates and plaques from over 33+ years. That's nice but honestly, big expensive deal. I sincerely encourage my younger music education colleagues (and many veterans as well) to take ratings at face value and with a small grain of salt. We take our groups to festival for the opinions of (mostly) accomplished colleagues, and that's what we get, a wide variety of opinions, WHICH IS WHAT WE WANT FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. Take the information and make it a teaching moment for our students after the festival. They will be better because of that, and not for that Unanimous Superior plaque or certificate on the wall. Discussion?

Here's what I know for me. I was "raised" by my middle school band director, who to this day (for me) is my gold standard, to perform often-both in concerts and in festivals. So I will say that I think that both are equally important and have a valuable place in the program. For example, we ended our 6th grade year with an elementary school tour. We attended jazz festivals throughout the spring and concert band 1-2 concert band festivals as well. We had clinicians. We prepared our music in a conscientious and determined manner as we approached festival. We reflected. We planned. We were ready. And when it was over, we listened, we discussed, we got better, and we moved on.

I was also raised in a middle school program who became accustomed to unanimous superior and superior ratings and first place trophies at competitive jazz festivals.

I was also a part of a high school band program that didn't see that same level of success.

I have been apart of both.

You could say "well just perform concerts and skip the festivals". And to that I say "sure" but wait. At a festival you do or can get a pretty big bang for you buck (look its the return of the thrifty band director). If you take your students for a full day festival they will get to perform, receive feedback, have a clinic, attend clinics (I try to pick festivals that have these clinics or workshops by pros), concerts, and other groups performances. These workshops and seeing students "better" than me was key to my growth and development as a young musician.

My principal said something to me recently (about something else) that has resonated with me "sometimes the social piece is just as important". And he is right. I know for myself and for many of my students those bus rides, trips to festivals (and all that comes with that) are just as important.

I attend festivals with my groups because I think those things are very important for young musicians. But the journey to band festival to me as also just as important. Its the fire that is lit a little bit under both myself in the students, knowing that the event is coming. Its the opportunity to focus on the rubric-which honestly is just good musicianship. The focus on tone quality, balance, blend, accuracy, phrasing, musical shape and more. We make recordings and adjudicate ourselves. Its journey we are on, together. When its all over we can take a step back and see how far we have come.

But you have to set this all up for your students and how you do this will come back to your philosophy behind festival attendance. I constantly remind my students that we ultimately can not control the opinions that others have of us. Sometimes we great and clear adjudication and sometimes we don't. How we handle the don't situations is also entirely up to us and can also be a valuable learning experience. There have been times in which after listening to a recording I wanted to yell at my friend and say "You gave them a 'Superior' are you kidding me? Were you there? Were you listening? I would have given them a 'Good'" There are times in which hearing the truth of where my ensembles were at, no matter what anyone says, brought me to tears because the quality was so low and I felt like I didn't event know where to start....but you wipe away the tears, listen to what is being said and try your hardest to set your ego aside, pick yourself up and take the right steps forward.

Developing a band program doesn't happen over night. Neither does learning how to be a band director. Part of the journey of learning for me as an educator has been attending festivals. I get to hear how other people would coach my students. I hear things that I didn't hear before. I receive strategies to improve the things I am not strong at teaching yet. I make friends who can come out and work with my groups and expand on what I'm trying to learn to do. You watch other directors and learn from them. You hear great music to take back to your program.

Going back to what my friend said on facebook "Take the information and make it a teaching moment for our students after the festival. They will be better because of that, and not for that Unanimous Superior plaque or certificate on the wall." 

You do need to make it a teaching moment or I think its honestly a waste of time and money because it is not given an important emphasis-when it is an important event. But I do think that there is something to be said, a sense of pride, about having a wall of Unanimous Superior plaques on the walls and a certificate recognizing the experience. (I won't say trophies because, I hate trophies, I hate storing them, organizing them, just give me a less expensive nice plaque I can hang flat on the wall or store much much easier). When I came to my job there were ZERO Unanimous Superior plaques around the room. There was not history of success. I know when I walk into my junior high band room I feel an extreme sense of pride to see the pictures and awards that I was apart of earning. And so I will keep celebrating the hard work and dedication that came from the journey to the Unanimous Superior. 

And just because you get one once, at least for me, doesn't really make it any easier the next year with a group of different kids. More than anything, I'm getting better at coaching them to the LEVEL of receiving that honor. My students and program are rising more and more to the LEVEL that receives superior ratings. But again, its about the road to the festival and where the next musical journey will take you.

Jazz Combo "Wombo Combo" 

Myself and Brendan-ST Alumni & recent addition to our teaching staff. He is coaching jazz saxophone, jazz combo & has even helped out with Jazz Band 1 a little bit! 

Myself & Shawn Williams. Shawn joined our team last year and is assisting with coaching all aspects of the jazz program. This includes being the lead coach and director for the jazz combos. Coaching jazz trumpet sectionals and assisting with leading Jazz Band 2.  

Taking Steps Forward

I clearly have had a lapse in posting on this blog. That's a true statement. If I could summarize where I have been or what I have been doing I would state that I have simply been a busy high school band director for a vibrant and growing program in the San Jose Bay Area.

The other part of that story is that I have become the victim of something that happens to many many people in this profession and causes many to leave (including many people who have specifically had MY job) and that is....you guessed it.... B U R N O U T!

It took me a while to recognize it and I think that recognizing the problem, like "they" say, is the first step in solving the problem. I have been having work/life balance problems my whole career but as my life is continuing to move forward and I'm continuing to "adult" (and advance in age), having a better work/life balance is critical. I'm also NOT getting any younger (I'm 35) and this is my 13th year of teaching, so I have been at this awhile.

It hit me in January in the middle of a challenging time I was having with my some of my students. I just found myself saying it out loud to a friend "I'm just burned out" and I'm not in a good place. And that's exactly what I am. Except I'm in a better place about it now....I am taking steps forward.

"Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place." -Google

Now here's some things that are true. I'm exhausted. I can't tell you how many times I have caught myself saying "I'm getting too old for this." Now I know that I'm not "old" and that I have a "long way to go" but hey I need to start slowing down none the less! I'll be old soon enough.

Is this excessive and or prolonged stress? Yes. I have been stressed for all 13 years I have been teaching with very short times where I'm probably not stressed. But ever since April of last year things haven't been "stable" in my program and so it has been a prolonged stress.

Now here's something important. I have NOT lost my interest or motivation that led me here. And that's because I'm still VERY inspired by the music and I'm VERY inspired to make music with these awesome students.

So I'm going into "band director recovery" of sorts. I'm working on trying to force myself to come home. To ask others for more help. To organize my booster club budget to fund positions for people to help me. I'm trying to make a calendar for next year that gives me time off.  A schedule that allows me to do something else or play music somewhere else. I'm going to band director camp this summer http://www.banddirectoracademy.com/ and I'm trying to Love Myself and honor my personal time more.

Because I don't want to be burned out. I also really like my job. Teaching and band directing have a high burnout rate. I know that I'm not going to teach high school or be at this school forever but I do know that there is a chance as a I get farther along in my career that if I am going to do something different in this profession or professionally. These might be some of the last years at my current job and I do want to make the most of it. I just can't keep running at the pace I'm running at now.

I'm not sure how this story will end or when it will get better but I will keep you posted. I do know that burnout is different for each person. Its finally happening to me. My band program has continued to grow and expand. I have been on a variety of volunteer boards for various music organizations and running or working at summer camps (or both). With my growing program at ST and some transitions there its just been a lot on my plate, especially when there is only one band director at my school for the size of the program that we have.

So for my therapy for burnout today I will list the things that I am doing TODAY to take better care of myself.
#1-I slept in.
#2-Easy lesson plans
#3-Done by 3pm
#4-Afternoon workout
#5-Packed all meals today/Dinner in the crockpot
#6-Time to color in my coloring books, listen to music etc.
#7-Watch House of Cards/hang out at home

Are you over scheduled like me? Overworked? Pick a few things that you can do this week for self care. Find a few ways to take better care of yourself each week.

Because you never know....

There are so many things to reflect about at the beginning of the school year. One of the things that has been at the forefront of this year for us over at Santa Teresa HS so far is that after years and years and years (the story is FAR too long for sharing here in this post), lights were finally installed on our football field a few weeks ago.

There are so many emotions surrounding this. I work and am close to a lot of people who went or were involved in Santa Teresa and they never thought they would ever see this day come. We are all so passionate and excited about what is coming for our community and as someone who had Friday night football games growing up,  I am so excited to watch how it will shape and bring our community together in new ways.

The dawn of lights does mean the loss of the Homecoming Parade...an annual ST tradition that used to take place on Saturday morning before the Homecoming Football Game (that was on Saturday afternoon). While it is a loved and anticipated event in our neighborhood it has been a stressful and difficult part of my job to coordinate all 200+ students (we did the parade the last several years with every member of the program regardless of if they were in marching band or not). The evolution of the parade within our organization was something in and off itself. The marching band (which became a non-required activity in our program about 5 years into my time at ST) bore the burden of the parade. The only parade marching our program did was the Homecoming parade. It stretched the marching band thin for time trying to cram the learning of a parade as well as finishing the field show all at the same time (Homecoming is almost always the week before our first show).

Then I decided to go with my gut on something. For years I had felt like I didn't like the fact that I had a number of students who simply didn't know the very basics of marching.  I had a student join the Coast Guard Band and was put in a marching unit. Only later did he tell them that he had been in band but never actually marched before. I feel like there is an assumption that band members who have been all the way through the high school experience should know the very basics of marching, have played in a pep band at an athletic event, know their school fight song, and have performed the Star Spangled Banner multiple times. I felt like I was doing a disservice to my students for not having them do this.

And as many kids have said in class this week "Pep Band is fun".

So I made the Homecoming Parade required for everyone and I asked that each student not in marching band participate in a few pep bands at football games (not all of them). And we did our part to help support this happening. We learned the music in class (all the stands tunes and parade music). My visual caption head and some other instructors helped me teach the students marching basics and we had some large music sectionals outside (like literally outside in the parking lot) to work on the stands music so we could pay nice and loud and work on the horn manuals. It took a village to manage this endeavor (we have a parent that helps me organization the large and small music, helps make sure that the kids have the right flip book/lyre material, and created a google spreadsheet where I manage part assignments and attendance) but we did it.

I probably should do an entire post on pep band.

Moving back to the Homecoming Parade and Pep Band. The student reaction was different than I expected. I thought I would get more push back. Turns out pep band is really fun when done well and the kids really like doing it and so its really not a big deal to anyone that they "have" to do three games (marching band will do all 5 games now that we have lights and will perform at every single home game). The students loved it. Sure the parade wasn't our favorite thing in the world but it was a really special thing to take our ENTIRE band program out into the community....

And what is so special these days is all the stories I receive about students who joined our program because they saw the Homecoming Parade. I won't miss the hours and frustration surrounding preparing for that 1 hour of the parade. But I will miss the community outreach part. It really reminds us that you never know who is watching you. It was really special to hear today that one of our new members would watch us every year as the parade would pass by the front of her house.

For all you band directors I challenge you to remember this....you never know your students' story. They might have been that kid watching from afar for years hoping someday to be part of the program...in fact many of us used to be that kid....its how many of us got here in the first place. 

Money can't buy you everything

Today we kicked off our 2015 Marching Band Leadership Workshop. I have a lot of feelings as we move into the beginning of another season. I am one of those people who doesn't dread the end of summer or the beginning of marching band season. I am not one of those directors who doesn't like marching band....I love it. So this time of year is always a little exciting...sure I mourn the end of summer (but let's be honest I live in California so I am not mourning the end of great weather) but I am excited about the prospect of a new year and about the upcoming season. It's an exciting time.

As the years have gone on at ST (Santa Teresa HS) things have changed. When I started this blog my program didn't have near as much funding as it does now, that is true. However, it was in today's workshop that I was running (free of charge...so it was free :)) that there are a lot of other things that don't cost money or you CAN'T BUY! and sometimes they are the most important. Today I was reminded of a few things.

You can't buy success. You can buy a great musical arrangement, choreography, percussion music etc. You can assemble your dream team of staff (trust me I have been working on this for years) but you can purchase hard work or dedication from your students. You can't buy passion and commitment from your members. You can't buy intonation (because if we could we would). I reminded that to my students.

I can set them up for success. I can coordinate and encourage fundraising. I can provide them with all infrastructure for success but if they don't do it....well then we won't be the best group that we can be.

Hard work, dedication, determination, and commitment. Those are the important things that money can't buy.

Happy marching band season....we kick ours off tomorrow!

Returning the Favor

Last week was a week of ups and downs. The ups were HUGE our marching band went to the state marching band championships and just had an amazing time. Then there were the downs, having struggles with some non band students on campus who were giving me a hard time. In the middle of last week I received this email from a wise beyond his years recent graduate from ST. I thought it was timely to share today on Thanksgiving. I am not only thankful for all of the blessings I have in my life on this day but its the signs of gratitude no matter how big or small that pop up in my life throughout the year that make this profession so special.

So here's the email I received on Tuesday of last week.

Dear Ms. Bounds
I understand that this week has not begun in a positive manner. In addition to what's happened, I know this is a busy time of year for the program. I wanted to take time to remind you of things you've done for me, as well as many others. 

1. You pick good music to play......I truly appreciate your music selection. 

2. You've ingrainted in me to always wait until my instructor (music or otherwise) is finished speaking, before I pack up. 

3. You've taught me to have a pencil during rehearsal.

 
4. You've taught me to use that pencil during rehearsal. 

5. You've made sure I have a tuner.

 
6. You've made sure I have a tuner during rehearsal/practice.

 
7. You've made sure I use that tuner during rehearsal/practice. 

8. You've taught me that if I'm late, hustle. (I overslept today, and as I was running to class, I couldn't help but remember when I had to run to the field to be on time).

 
9. You've reminded me to be flexible like Gumby. (I need to work on this more). 

10. You've taught me that it takes approximately 7 minutes before your instrument fully warms up.

 
11. You've made sure I know what concert F is. 

12. You've made sure I know what concert A is. 

13. You've made sure I go out into the world with knowledge of jazz standards.

14. You've made sure I listen to jazz. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your day!

A Day in the Life of Work to Rule....a rant from a LBD

This started out as a facebook status update. I decided it should just go on the blog.

A Day in the Life of Work to Rule....a Rant from a Lady Band Director (aka LBD)

Reflections on Day 4 of Work To Rule.

I am not very good at work to rule. Ok that's not entirely true....I'm working on being good at aspects of it. I only did ST work (no CMEA emails, or non ST band specific emails). No personal texts or phone calls (which sucks because of the hours I keep. I really should call my doctor and get in to see him since I haven't been feeling all that hot).

 I tried to stay focused during my 1 hour prep and prioritize the week (which was hard considering the internet doesn't really work at ST) and it was very frustrating. I left at lunch and took my duty free break at my house and returned for Jazz Band at 2pm. During my "lunch" I did relax and eat and try to catch up on personal stuff (CMEA stuff, answering personal emails etc). Then I did some work because....well the internet works at my house and doesn't at my job.

Finally I taught jazz band and copied stuff right after school until my contract ended at 3:30pm. By that time I was playing with flute choir....because I am a member (I can't just call work to rule on them...if I am IN that group).

Then I came home and did the bus list for the competition because if I called "work to rule" and didn't do it tonight the only person who it would hurt would be me tomorrow morning when I had to do it at the crack of dawn before practice and walk across campus and print it because I don't have a printer in my office and have to print to the copy machine which often takes forever because the internet doesn't work at my job!

Work To Rule...the Introduction to the Saga

There are a lot of things that I should do more of. I guess we all fall into that trap. One thing I always feel like I should do more of is support our teachers union and honestly be more involved in many aspects of our district. But like so many folks I just don't have any more time. Before I knew it I like, many of my fellow teachers, we have found that our union negotiations are not going as planned and that the union was calling for a teacher protest entitled "work to rule."

What is the first word that comes to mind when I hear the words "work to rule"?  Conflict. I am about to have many conflicts in my little world. The union has a conflict with our district and now I have conflict of interest. Do I follow work to rule, meaning only work my contract? 7.5 hour work days would have me in at 8:05am and leaving at 3:35pm. I am still under contract to do the marching band class but would technically be done with contract hours before marching band practice ends. I can't end marching band practice early at the end of the marching band season. There are so many letters of recommendation to write and emails to respond to. What do you do with this conflict? Do you "punish" the students and cancel parts of the band program because its outside of my teachers contract?

I wasn't sure what to do so I started thinking about it. Then I read the following statement that  was prepared by my colleague, friend, and band parent for our parent community and students:

"Dear Parents and Students. 

I'm writing to solict assistance on an urgent matter. Despite a significant increase in funding to our school district, the teachers have not yet been given a new contract. Our union, the East Side Teachers Association, is pushing to reduce class sizes that were increased during the economic downturn and is seeking a long-awaited pay increase for teachers. Because the district seems unwilling to negotiate these issues in good faith, our union leadership has called for all teachers in the high schools of East Side Union High School District to state a protest called "work to rule." This protest is designed to bring the negotiators back together to work ou issues about class size and teacher salary. The phrase "work to rule" means that teachers follow the letter of the contract and stop doing any activities that are outside of it, such as working with students during breakj or lunch or before or after school. The goal of this protest is to encourage students and parents to contact the superintendent and school board to urge that negotiations be conducted in earnest and in a timely manner."

I am sharing this as part of my blog for many reasons: Its a my space in the internet and the world and its my platform. Many other teachers may have faced these and other similar challenges. My blog is to help other teachers. So if this helps one of my friends out there then its worth posting. And I want to be transparent with my students. 

Its a conflict for me to decide what to do because I didn't get into this profession because of what the contract said it would pay me to do. All along I have been here at Santa Teresa to create the band program that I always dreamed of running and Santa Teresa has been the BEST place for me to do that. I would never change working here for one minute. I am proud to be an employee of East Side Union High School District and Santa Teresa High School. 

Work to rule has made me take a step back and evaluate what my job would look like if I worked to the letter of the contract. It has helped me focus and prioritize both my personal and professional time. It has made me conscientious about my work and the time that I have to do it in....or not to do.  My contract is complicated because of my stipend and my complicated course load but none the less I determined that I couldn't do work to rule. Not now, not in the end of marching band season, winter concerts coming, chamber groups starting, jazz band auditions pending, etc. No way was that going to happen. But I could take a look at the things that I could do to support work to rule. 

But I am trying to limit what I do outside of the contract. And honestly that means that I do need to see both sides of "work to rule". This means that if I am only to try to only do what is in the contract then I need to only do East Side Union High School District work when I am at work and on the clock. That means no personal text messaging, no facebook, no personal emails, no calling the doctor, no surfing the web for personal items. For me it also means not responding to emails from CMEA Bay Section during my prep period or answering questions about the Music in the Park Festival or writing a recommendation letter for one of my marching band staff members. If I am going to do work to rule those other things that get mixed in my day need to be outside of my work day. And to the best of my ability my work day needs to stay when and if at all possible in my 7.5 hours. 

In rehearsal time alone I provide about 2.5-6 hours of supervised student time during the week beyond my contract. I volunteer, I respond to emails and I attend meetings just to name a few things. I support our students by taking them on field trips to music festivals and concerts. I do this because I love my job, but work to rule reminds me that those are above and beyond our contract. And this program and my job wouldn't be the same without these contributions. 

Today I was faced with an interesting conflict. My pit instructor became ill and he was thinking about canceling part of the practice but I didn't want to see that happen and was happy to volunteer my time for the group. I could have asked my staff member to pay me for taking the rehearsal or invoicing the booster club for my time but my pit instructor does work all the time for me that is above and beyond the call of duty.....especially when it comes to technology. Some of his help we would say is being a good friend or great employee but its also outside the scope of the contract he has with myself and our booster club (STMAA). And so I don't mind stepping up to help in this way....and my booster club takes GREAT care of me so I do feel compensated and supported. But the biggest reason I stuck around is because I could work with the students and make them better as we approach the final weeks of our marching band season and that is the real reason why I stayed after school today despite work to rule. 

I saw other teachers around. I couldn't tell if they were watching me work after school with our kids during this protest or if they were checking out the great work that the percussion section was doing. I am hoping the later but its probably a combination of both. I hope they know how much of a conflict it is for me....like I hope it is for them....because then I know that we care. 

I am sharing with people the fact that I have conflict and its distracting from my work. That conflict is not having a contract. We work hard for these kids and our community and it would be great if we could be compensated for that. I ask both sides to work together to come to a resolution. 

I am not asking for sympathy. I LOVE the extra things about this job. The music festivals and competitions with the students are the best parts. There is nothing like working with a single student or small group after school and having a musical breakthrough. I didn't get into education for the pay check or the contract....but a positive, conflict free, work environment is something that we all deserve. 

So help support myself and my fellow teachers. In our own district and in mine. Specifically for those in my local community, consider asking both our union and our district to work together towards a resolution. Every student needs smaller class sizes. Teachers need more compensation and we deserve, a three year contract so that we aren't in the same place again next year. Provide me and other teachers with the stability that I have found with my school administration & staff, my students, and my amazingly support booster club. They are a big part of the reason why our band program is so successful and I never want to see that change.