Alright, I have several things to say in response to the last posts. Firstly, Jason. Is it possible and probable the the trumpets PLAY better now? Yes. Is it also possible that the band LOOKS like crap? Yes. There are I'm sure some very great players, as there always will be, the band sounds better than some of those years, but I look at things as a whole. Marching wise it is a mess now. There are several possibilities that may lead to this. Too many people with too little of a staff to instruct, Drill that may be too difficult for the average skill of the band, poor use of time on the practice field. I'm certainly not saying that EVERYTHING is worse, but as a whole, the quantity over quality approach of recent years has been very detrimental as a whole. (Thank God the band wears those black shoes that everyone ripped me to pieces for liking or else we'd probably see more out of step people and late step-offs than we do.) About the director, I think Goofyeuph hit the nail on the head, the director fails to push the band as far as it can go. I just saw some stuff over the last few days of two other college bands (University of Cincinatti, and University of Kentucky, where two of my former drumline students now march) and wow, it's amazing what CAN be done with a college band. Granted I think they play only 2 or 3 differnt shows, but what would be the real harm in that for the FMB? I'd love to see 2 or 3 shows like the last one of 2002 rather than the 5 that I saw this year. Please realize that my displeasure does NOT come from the membership, but rather the design team. The shows are getting cheezy, the drumline music is an abomination (I speak of that mostly because I know it better than other parts of the band.) and the basics and fundamentals are lacking. Is that the fault of the students and student leadership? NO! What can student leaders do when they are not givin ample time to address such issues...........that's right, absolutely nothing. If only the director would take some initiative and do some of this stuff. There's nothing worse than watching the person who's name is on the course list do nothing. The band director is more than just a facilitator. The director should also be an educator. The only thing I learned in my time there is that A**kissing and putting on a smiley face even when things aren't good is apprently the true spirit of this band, cause that's the only thing that works. Never speak up, never wipe the ear to ear grin off of your face, even if you're only frustrated with yourself because you made a mistake, and never, most certainly NEVER, express your concerns to the director of this band, cause they know WAY more than everyone even though their marching experience is far less than yours. Also, I learned that amplifying the metronome from the front is a really great
idea because you should always listen forward through the sound to delay and be able to decipher where the beat is. The list could go on, but would not even exist if we could get a director that actually knew how not only to run a rehearsal but how to run a band, how to listen, and how to judge people fairly. As far as the drumline goes, I think I'd rather just tell them to play whatever they want for the whole show and hope that this way at least one measure or even count of music might turn out cool, because God knows that it's not happening right now. Also, for the record, apparently the new cadence this year was nix-ed because it didn't groove. Tell the guys that taught the DCI 2004 drum trophy that. Apparently it was groovy enough for them, but what the hell do they know? If they were really, truly good, they'd probably already be with the FMB because we OBVIOUSLY can see that the staff here is the best in the world........far too good to actually investigate a new idea or approach once in awhile. to the current members, keep it going, if only the current administrator would just GO AWAY........
) but try and use some common sense sometimes.
