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Michael-Paul Smith
Early Field Experience
Dr. Packwood
December 12, 2007
Philosophical Paper II
Looking back at my senior year, I think there is something that went missing. It
was during the fall of my senior year that I decided that I want to be a music educator. I
told my band director and private instructor and they were just so happy. Something I am
glad that they did was tell me a little bit about what college was like. The ultimate
statement of my band director was, "You won't be as prepared as you think you are." A
part of me is glad that happened but another side of me is a little bit infuriated. For
example, neither one of them suggested I learn how to play the piano. They didn't tell me
it might be a good idea to learn some more basic theory. So naturally when I came to
Montevallo, I found myself to be behind. I am not too happy about this in retrospect; I
feel I should have been more prepared.
It is my newfound belief that I feel it is up to current music educators to prepare
future educators just a little bit more before that go off to have their formal education. I
feel if my band director or instructor I would have been more prepared more for college
life if they had helped me out by saying: this is what an educator does, you're looking at
being in school for about this amount of time, you need to know how to play the piano,
and just some common sense things that I apparently did not know about. It is my belief
that current educators should spend more time with future educators. They could do this
by meeting privately and talking with the current music education students or they could
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create a high school organization for future music educators. I think a high school MENC
is a great idea for students who want to know more about being an educator, and it can
help others decide whether or not they want to enter this career field.
In my ideal world, music would be considered the most important thing in the
universe. Reality is nothing like my ideal world unfortunately. Also, any music program
would have the capability to be run by itself, but this sometimes never happens because a
cut in school budget can result in a removal of an entire arts department. As a student of a
high school that's band was run on outside money, I have to say I support the idea of
booster organizations. My senior year, the band program became independent somehow
of the schools money. I don't know the details, but somehow the band gained this and the
school could do nothing about it. To me that's just wonderful, because the band needs to
be independent sometimes so that necessary equipment can be purchased. Also, I like the
idea that some armchair quarterback principal can't take money away from the band.
Bands or music departments should find some way to be somewhat independent through
boosters or some outside money source.
I have an older brother who went through the very same band program I did.
There is one difference between his four years and mine. In my sophomore year, the band
director retired and a new one came in the next year. The new director was not bad; I
can't stress it enough because he was the assistant band director before being promoted. I
liked him because I felt this new surge of energy begin to rise and it was exciting to be a
part of it. As much as I loved him being the band director there was one problem. I knew
him on a personal level. How? My older brother was friends with him. So I knew him,
but not too well.
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I think simply, music educators should not be too familiar or too personal with
their students. If students are too familiar with their instructor, then I don't think things
are right. Teacher and student is the only way music educators and their students should
interact. The "friends" business is not good. That opens the door to possible favoritism,
distrust from students and does not really encourage the students to put forth their best
effort. The idea of friendly not friend should be firmly fit into the music educators mind
when interacting with students. I will not deny that I would like to be friends with my
teachers and students, but I will play it safe and be friendly so that tasks can be done. A
band director I knew once said, "If all the students hate you, then you're not doing your
job right. If they students love you, you're not doing your job right either. However, if
you can get the majority of them to respect you and want to work with you, then you're
on the right path."
A music educator does not always have the perfect position, equipment, or
students. So it is kind of expected that an educator should be very flexible. What most
people will say is that music educators are human, so they will make mistakes sometimes.
Making mistakes is understandable and forgivable. To me what is not forgivable is
bashing your students behind their back. In my senior year, I was in charge of being the
hospitality during the District Band Assessment. My job was to make band directors
comfortable and ask them if they wanted their scores posted. Well, this one band director
came in and we talked about music education. Eventually I got the judges sheets and told
him their scores. I think it was a 2, 3, 3 overall 3. It was not one of the best scores to get.
He took the judges sheets, looked at them and said, "They don't even deserve a three." He
told me to post the scores and he continued to just talk bad about his students. Well, when
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he left I talked with a band parent who had been working with me. We were both just
shocked by what he had just said. At the moment, I unconsciously made a philosophy
point. Regardless of what you, the music educator, think about the group or performance
you have no right to talk bad about your students. It just not fair to those students who
really try their hardest to superior. I now I was embarrassed when I saw my band director
look at the judges’ sheet, throw it down, and go off stomping saying, "I'm going to talk to
a judge." To me it is a precious thing to have students, so doing anything that would
make them want to give up is inexcusable. A music educator should put on a proud face,
even if deep inside he/she is disappointed.
To be intentionally cruel is just the most horrible thing one person can do to
another person. As I said before, in the ideal world music educators have only the best.
Music educators have the best students, best equipment, and they perform the absolute
best. The world is not perfect and sometimes none of these ideas exist. So directors have
to accept that their ambitions for their groups may not be attainable. I believe many bands
set too high expectations and when they fall short they seem to just waddle in their
defeat. Music educators should set logical and attainable goals. They should focus on
what the students can perform well and learn from as well. I don't favor the idea of an
inexperienced band playing a difficult piece just because the director thinks it will look
good. Common sense and reality should be thought about. I remember during marching
band our director telling us we should strive to be like the Cadets. Logically, can you
compare a professional marching band (DCI) to a high school group? So somewhere in
that being set as the goal the band actually thought they WERE the Cadets. To me it was
so funny when everybody got so mad about not being the best band at a marching
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competition. I knew why, we had been set up with unrealistic ambitions. We chased too
big of a dream and we bit more than we could chew. There are things I am mad at my
director about, and that is the main one. I would never say lets be like the Cadets or
better, I would just simply say lets be the best and most entertaining band at the
competition. Let's give the people a good show. It is good to set high expectations and
make them or not, but it's not right to the students to set too high of expectations.
There is this one quote about music I really like. The quote is in a Stevie Wonder
song. The quote says, "Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.
With an equal opportunity for all to sing, dance and clap their hands." I firmly believe
that statement. It is my belief that music is for all people. I do not believe that one has to
be of the elite to enjoy music and its experiences. Music is something that everyone
enjoys. Everyone might not like the same music, but that is not really important. The real
beauty of music is that is different all the time, just like people. When you experience
music, be it listening or performing, you should be able to feel the magic it creates. So
when it comes to having students involved in music, I say everyone is welcome, equally.
Someone does not have to be the best clarinet player in the band to enjoy playing in the
band. An audience member does not have to know Beethoven's chord structure to enjoy
"Moonlight Sonata". I will agree that being an elitist will sharpen your love for music,
but not everyone wants to look that far in depth. So if a student comes along and knows
nothing about music, I feel it is the educator's job to introduce music to student and teach
him/her how beautiful music can truly be. All people, regardless of their preferences,
have a real right to enjoy music.