For those of you who don't know, Apolo Ohno is an Olympic-level speed skater, and during races he settles in near the back until late in the race, when he makes his move.
This year (which may have been his last Olympics), he did NOT get a gold medal. Of course, when asked if the Canadian officials may have had anything to do with his unfair disqualification, he didn't deny it.
But that is not the point.
Our band teacher has a similar approach.
He hands out the concert music sometime in October. None of us really enjoy concert music that much. That's why colleges have concert bands and pep bands and symphony orchestras and jazz bands and marching bands all separated. Anyway, we don't play eighty percent of the music he hands out, which is probably a good thing (we have NO Beethoven in our vault! None whatsoever). So, we play the music every day, except for the one random day he doesn't feel like directing so we just play pep band by ourselves while he sits in his office and cuts out paper cornucopias and snowflakes. Cool.
But the point is, we mostly JUST play the music. He doesn't give much advice, doesn't say "change this," and yells at the drummers once in a while, but doesn't try to change what they do.
About two weeks before the concert, everything changes.
Suddenly, he's all about articulation and dynamics and who has the wood block? (Let's not forget, they BROKE the wood block.)
Also, he asked me if he ran me over.
Certainly not, my band teacher.
And who's got the crash cymbals?
And the bells?
And the duck?
Just kidding. We ate the duck for Saint Patrick's Day.
Well it's kind of a roundabout way of saying it, but here's what it comes down to: If the band teacher wants good music with short stacatos and wood blocks and all of that fun stuff, talk to musicians.
The high schoolers will be eating a duck.
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