This week I took my middle school band to contest for the 12th time in 13 years and, as I often do I have to ask myself, "Why?" Do we take our groups to "win?" Do we take our groups because that plaque/certificate we will hang on the band room wall will somehow improve and enrich their lives? Do we do it to feed our own ego's?
I think the most beneficial parts of contest lie not in the rating that seems so important to my students and to many of my colleagues, nor in the actual act of performing for an audience other than our own parents, but in the clinic portion and the opportunity for the students to sit in the audience and see and hear what other young bands look and sound like.
Most band directors spend anything from several weeks to several months preparing our two or three pieces for contest. In the course of those rehearsals we dole out many morsels of advice to our students to improve their performance of those pieces. There are some things that I feel like I have said so many times, that the students must have absorbed them by now only to realize during a performance that there are problems that went unrepaired by the conductor, or went unnoticed by the students. A clinician could come to the stage and say the exact same thing you said in a different way, and suddenly it makes since to the band. In 12 years of going to contest, there has only been one occaision in which the band did not immidiately make some sort of improvement when working with the clinician. If the clinician is wise and skilled they will be able to provide comments that will not only improve their performance on those 2 or 3 pieces that they performed that day, but to their performance of future pieces as well. For example, a judge could waste 5 minutes of his clinic corecting a complicated, but fairly insignificant rhythm, in this piece which the band is likely never to play again, or he could spend the time wisely talking about sub-division, couting, and listening that might not only improve that rhythm but help the students in future performances as well.
In the area where I first taught, after the band performed, we went to a clinic room down the hall from the stage where one of the adjudicators gave a half hour clinic geared toward improving our performance. This 20 minute clinic was great for the students in the band that just performed, but I like the way we do it in my current area better. Here, when each band finishes playing, one of the judges comes to the stage and presents the clinic not only for the benefit of the students who just finished performing, but also to the benefit of any students or directors that may be listening from the audience. This way the students not only get the benefit of there own 20 minutes clinic, but also of the clinics of every band they have the opportunity hear play.
The more noble among us read the above and say to ourselves, "Of course that's the reason that I take my band to contest." Yet, some of our actions say otherwise. How many amongst us schedules our regular concert in the week prior to contest? I know I and many of my colleagues here have. If we are really want contest to be about improving our students musically, wouldn't it make more sense to have our own school concerts (where the audience presumably cares) scheduled the week following contest so our audience could benefit from our contest experience? Because of scheduling, at my contest this week we had literally NO audience. There were 3 judges, 3 chaperones that rode the bus with me, and 1 recording engineer. Why all the hype for that "performance?" Is it because our contest experience is all about getting that I rating?
Is there another way?
Well, yes and no. There is no substitute for the opportunity for our students to sit in the audience for high quality performances of their peers. There certainly is not a more convenient way to get so many students to a performance. We could cooperate with the other teachers in our area and share concert schedules and distribute them to our students with the expectation that they will attend some of those performances, but it's not quite the same as all of your students sharing the experience of many performances together.
What about that other important reason we attend contest: the clinic? In my area contest costs about $90 + the cost of the bus which is not insignificant (per mile cost, plus a per hour cost which is charged whether the driver is driving, or waiting around on standby). The bus costs at least $200 even for a short trip. Couldn't we, in the week prior to a performance spend that $290 to pay a clinician to come and work with our band during a regular rehearsal, or, better yet, trade planning times, or arrange for an after school rehearsal so we could have the benefit of a 2 hour clinic rather than the 15 minutes we get at contest?
I will most likely continue to bring my bands to contest, particularly since in my area we all have to take turns running the contest, but the reasons behind that trip need to be clear. We are going to learn and improve, not to win, or beat the other bands.
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