The Future of Bands, Choirs, and Orchestras

My most recent post reminded me of a conversation I once had with a conductor of a college wind ensemble program. This person is very well-known and respected amongst their peers. We got to talking about the progressive ideas that I so often ramble about. And this professor asked whether I thought that ensembles would continue to play a role in school music programs in the future. This baffled me because…of course they will (I thought). But it also made me realize that there was this entire community of music educators that either thought ensembles would not remain a part of school music programs, or questioned their relevance in a society where music making is evolving into something much different than our traditional way of conceptualizing music-making.

So I continue to think about this. Will our school ensembles still exist in 20, 50, 100 years? Should they? Music has always been a part of education in this country. Instrumental ensembles are a phenomenon of the mid-1950’s. Before this, we had great ensembles and instrumentalists who would meet and rehearse on their own. Music was a class like any other. Removing ensembles from schools would allow teachers the flexibility to focus on a student-centered curriculum based on a constructivist ideology – I’m all for that. But I can’t help this feeling that something would be missing if we did not have these ensembles in school. Perhaps it doesn’t seem right because I was raised that way, and the generation who taught me was raised that way.

I often wonder what school music education was like for my grandparents and great-grandparents. Would it be different now that we have technology to make music and music making available almost anywhere? Would ensembles have become as prevalent if teachers were using Garageband, Sibelius, and Audacity back then? At the time, were ensembles considered a better way of teaching music? Is our generation (or a future generation) ready to move on to something else if it is thought to be so? I’m asking because, frankly, I don’t know.

The ‘Director of Bands’ Syndrome

I just returned from the IMEA convention, and was pleased to see greater representation of progressive ideas related to music curriculum in our schools. I do, however, feel the need to comment on some of the peripheral aspects of this conference. Namely, the overwhelming majority of junior high and high school teachers who refer to themselves as Director of ______ when describing their craft.

Let’s approach this from the perspective of an administrator. Here we have a teacher who tries to advocate for the many benefits of music education in the context of a holistic education by anointing themselves as what essentially equates to a music coach. Just think…what would happen if chemistry teachers started calling themselves Directors of Bunsen Burners? Bands, orchestras, and choirs are a vehicle for music learning, but in no way do these terms summarize what we do. Your job (and my job) is much larger than that. The title Director of _____ constrains the scope of your job. In the age of music education needing to extend to other disciplines as well as shoring up our own priorities, dressing ourselves in straight-jackets by worrying about glorified titles is the last thing we need.

If you teach at a college, and your only job is to be a conductor of a top-level ensemble, and you consider that to be all that you do, then you may consider yourself a Director of ____. If you feel that your reach is a little greater than that, consider changing your business card to read ‘Music Educator’ or ‘Purveyor of Sound-Based Art and Culture’…anything that accurately describes the scope of what we do. If your administration lists this as your job title, take the opportunity to educate them about the many things you do besides direct bands, choirs, and orchestras. Our advocacy efforts will only stand tall once we stop cutting ourselves off at the knees. Consider the words of our newly-elected MENC President, and use your personal forum as part of a larger effort that will benefit all the students of your community and the art of music as a vital part of a holistic education.