Welcome to October. Or, if you are a band director, student, parent, enthusiast or perhaps more importantly, spouse of band director, this month is not October. It's Bandtober.
Yes, we started in August; perhaps earlier. Summer band came and went. Then the start of school and also this thing called September. But, if I'm being honest, I don't really remember September anymore. That might as well have been five years ago, not less than 30 days ago.
Bandtober is the culmination of almost countless hours of preparation and rehearsal. It is, as I like to think of it, the dessert you earn after having put in all of the effort to get through your vegetables. While it is a particularly stressful month, you still get to enjoy the fruition of your work. You get to reap what you have sewn. Bandtober -- and oh, how I wish I had coined this term -- is what we preach to our kids: "I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it."
Has it been easy? Has it been worth it?
Last night before our competition performance, I told my front ensemble students: "You have put in the work. You've had great attitudes. You keep showing up, wanting to improve. You've done everything I've asked. Now, you get to go perform. You get to enjoy what you've put into it. So tonight, I want you to enjoy it and I want you to look up at that audience and enjoy their feedback. Make eye contact with someone -- it'll freak them out! But, most importantly, enjoy what you get to bring them: a performance you have spent so much time to craft."
Let us give ourselves the same advice: we've put in the work, now we get to see our students perform. Let's enjoy what they bring to our audiences. And, let our passion for music be renewed by their passion for music.
Happy Bandtober!
