Almost Everything I've Learned About Teaching Band

Many times, High School band directors are quick to put the blame on their middle school. Often they have not even met their middle school director. I am fortunate to work with an outstanding director who is also my assistant director for the high school marching band. We collaborate often. I started my career as the 4th-12th grade band director at a small private school. I was my own feeder! These 7 things your middle school director wants you to know were gleaned from multiple informal interviews and personal experience.

When I started at my current position in 2005, I inherited a stack of music three feet tall that was mostly SINGLE sheets of music that had not been filed. The school was first opened in the 1970s. It seemed like nobody had organized the library ever! It took me the entire school year, but I was finally able to get that all organized and now have a system in place that is easy to maintain.

Have you ever wondered how to get a bunch of groups to perform in a short amount of time? I remember when my two oldest kids were in high school. The concerts were great, but they seemed to drag on as the stage crew set each chair exactly in place between each group. I didn't care about the chairs! Incorporating some advice from friend and fellow band teacher Wayne Hoey, this past May my spring concert included 5 performing groups and we finished in 62 minutes! Parents told me that was their favorite concert ever. But you need a plan. See www.jamesdivine.net for mine. 

Being a great conductor does not make one a great clinician. Besides having a lot of music knowledge, a great clinician will be a people person, adaptable and have the ability to inspire. Join me as I share some tips on how to be a great  guest clinician.

I learned a long time ago that there's no way my brain can remember everything I need to do. I created what I call a "Yearly Task List" to help me remember what I need to get done and WHEN I need to get it done. This list gets revised each year as I add or take away responsibilities (or realize that I am missing something). I print it out at the start of the year and actually go through the list, adding the items to my calendar. If you would like to see a copy of my list, here it is: Yearly Task List

Did you know many of our top marching bands in the country are under what's called the 8 hour rule. They are only allowed to spend 8 hours a week practicing their marching band show. How do they do it? With efficiency! In this episode I interview marching band judge and clinician Andy Brady. Find out more about him at www.andybrady.net. 

As a professional sax player myself, I am sometimes deeply disturbed by what I hear coming from the sax section, even in my own band! But it doesn't have to be that way. In this episode I share 8 tips that will help your students to have a better sax sound.

The main thing we do...fixing the music! How do we get better at that? In this episode, I share 14 tips that I have learned over the years, including an acronym from the Army Band (DIAC) and what NOT to use as a rehearsal technique, a technique used frequently by one of my band commanders. Also listen to Episode 40 to find out more about the function chorales mentioned in this podcast.

I take a slight turn in this podcast and answer a few listener questions. I hope to do more of these. If you would like to submit a question, please go to the contact page at www.jamesdivine.net and send your question. Joel writes...I've been teaching awhile with the program growing stagnant. Do I need to move on? If not, how do I pull it out of the rut? Or can a program only become "so good." An anonymous listener writes...What do you do if there is a school culture of AP classes and no time for band? Submit your question

Like me you probably think you don't have time to run a Tri-M chapter. I'm here to tell you you don't not have time! A 2-hour investment per month can yield hundreds of hours of influence. It's simple and not expensive. Go to the Nafme website to find out how to start a chapter in three easy steps. They have a ton of resources for you:  http://www.nafme.org/programs/tri-m-music-honor-society/