Marching Band: Flexibility Is the Name of the Game!
By Victor López
Given today's stressful life for typical high school students, band directors must take into consideration the rigor of academic demands and jam-packed extracurricular schedules that students have to juggle (and still be able to have a life!). This can be a tremendous challenge for adolescents. In today's society, high school diplomas are no longer sufficient, and students understand that a college degree is of the utmost importance. Therefore, getting into college becomes the priority.
The "school schedule revolves around the band" mentality is long gone. Expectations at the high school level and college level have increased, and the global competition has not made it any easier. Balancing the curricular demands and extracurricular activities has never been easy. It can take a toll on the young students both physically and mentally, not to mention the self-imposed pressures teens are under.
Although many would challenge the thought of calling band programs extracurricular, the marching band program, indeed, is definitely beyond the scope of all other music programs and involves many extracurricular activities. If the band is involved in marching competitions, the many hours of preparation that it takes in order to have an effective performance can take its toll on the students (and the parents!).
Click here to finish reading Victor's article and to learn some ideas on how to ease the situation.
Good luck with the rest of your season!
