By Col. (Ret.) Thomas Palmatier
The title of this monthly column is Perspective so I guess I should offer a personal perspective after the start of school. I recently substituted for a beginning band class. For their second lesson (only one per week!) I had one clarinet, one saxophone, two trumpets, three trombones, a baritone, a French horn, and three percussionists. Following that class my “perspective” was…..THAT’S HARD! For all of you who face this every day, you know well the challenges of trying to spend 30 seconds helping the clarinetist with her embouchure while the rest of the class experiments to see how many different noises they can make. One minute with the trombones (two of them had their instruments assembled backwards) led to the percussionists wandering off. Showing the percussionists how to do a proper matched grip resulted in a debate with the student who says, “my mother says to do it differently.” After nearly 38 years in the Army with service in multiple combat zones, I was wishing to be someplace where I was getting shot at instead of teaching such a diverse range of beginning instrumentalists simultaneously.
For all of you who are ruefully shaking your heads saying, “OK boomer, welcome to my daily life,” I have only one response. THANK YOU!
For years I have attended the Midwest Clinic in Chicago each December. I frequently also attended the Texas Bandmasters Association convention in San Antonio in July. There’s something deeply twisted about supposedly educated people who willingly go to sometimes frigid and always windy Chicago just a few days before Christmas and then to Texas in July which often feels like the surface of Mercury. Why do we do it? Because that’s where “our people” are!
If you want to commune with “your people,” in this issue, we tell you what to expect at the upcoming ASTA and JEN conferences and look at the offerings at the 78th Midwest Clinic.
In this issue, Matthew Arau’s “Leadership Tips” advises us to mindfully observe things to help keep our batteries charged. He specifically mentioned this magical time of autumn when, depending on where you are, the air is crisper, the colors are more vibrant, and it just feels good to be alive. I live in the mountains to the west of Denver and it’s impossible to escape nature’s beauty here. Today, instead of watching football or editing SBO+, I went for a walk on a mountain trail with a friend, breathing the air, and enjoying the golden aspens. Take Matthew’s advice!
This is the 25th year we have recognized a music educator from every state in America. For the first 24 years this feature was called “50 Directors Who Make a Difference.” As you know, School Band and Orchestra magazine is now SBO+ and we serve all teachers of music and many of those teachers are not ensemble directors but nevertheless, have profound impacts on students. Accordingly, in this its 25th year, we are asking you to nominate someone for the honor of being selected as one of “50 Music Teachers Who Make a Difference.” Teachers of all types and for all ages are welcome. Just go to SBOmagazine.com and click on Music Teachers.
