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.
February 2, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Director of Bands, Facilitator of Musical Learning, Program Administrator, Webmaster, Therapist, Instrumental Instructor… sure there are many hats we can wear. I think we have to be careful in our assumptions that we are the only teachers who wear as many hats or who work as hard as we do. There are plenty of Chemistry Teachers out there who are wearing just as many and doing just as much. I know you’re going to say that you never said they didn’t. We need to be able to back our arguments up, not with the names of the hats, but with the results of the learning process.
Take your “title” as an opportunity to educate your learning community, but lets be honest with ourselves. What is it that we’re really doing? Are students learning? Are we genuinely concerned with the success of each one? Are these the things that are the most notable about our programs?
Most music teachers simply aren’t ready to fight this fight. We haven’t made the transition. How long do we have to call ourselves “music educators” before people actually believe it? The proof is in the pudding. When students come out of our classrooms asking about music, we’re getting closer. When they can write about it. When they can create it. When they can be affected by it. … then they can sit amongst the fluffy clouds and be happy forever… (kidding).
It’s hard to argue when you pretty much agree.
February 3, 2009 at 9:46 am
Christi,
You are right that music teachers aren’t the only ones to wear many hats in a school. And I DIDN’T say that chemistry teachers were somehow able to do less than we are (that was supposed to be a bit of satire). I think what you’ll find, though, is that chemistry teachers, and all non-arts teachers, are not required to advocate for themselves through their curriculum nearly as much as music teachers are. If you find yourself unprepared for this, you need to prepare asap. In the first week of my first job teaching middle school instrumental, my administration wanted to take away our pull-out technique classes. Knowing that this was the greatest contributing factor to students’ success, I was put in a position to ‘fight’ for this program…mainly because the previous teacher had not used it well, and had just sort of used it as sectional time to work on ensemble music.
I did what any new teacher should do in this circumstance…I called everyone I knew for help. Lucky for me, there was an IMEA State President working just down the road who advised me on how to present my program to the administration. We talked about using pull-out time to work on individual musical skills in an environment that was completely independent of the rehearsal – using completely different material. Though the teachers in the school still did not understand why students had to be pulled from THEIR classes, the administration supported the reasoning behind the program, and never questioned it after.
So no, it is not all puffy clouds, but the opposition that you might and will face is very real, and you need to be armed with a good answer to the question, “Why is this class integral to our academic community?” (which you already have). Now you need to outline the process of getting to those goals that you wrote about. As a group of professionals with a common goal, it’s going to take more than waving your arms in front of an ensemble and deigning yourself as the Grand Czar of Winds and Percussion. Perhaps a job description means very little, but Director of Instrumental Music (which is the ‘title’ that was printed on my most recent contract) does not accurately describe what happens in my classroom…and it does not reflect what I want the students in my class to be.