PERSPECTIVE
TO BE OF SERVICE BY DAVID GREGORY “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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he National Band Association celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020 and entered into its seventh decade of service to bands stronger than ever before. The time in which we now find ourselves is one of unprecedented opportunity to change our profession for the better. Ours is an organization which offers many venues through which diversity and inclusion can be expanded, and it is one that will continue to search for ways to be a voice for those who do not have one and a forum for those who cannot find one. In short, the NBA will continue be the most significant professional organization for bands in America. It epitomizes service to others. The legendary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged the world with his immortal words cited at the beginning of this article. There is no uncertainty as to what he believed our purpose should be, either as individuals or as organizations: service to others. I believe it is most appropriate that we as professional music educators ask that same question of ourselves...and not be afraid to accept honest and realistic answers. My career-long mentor, Dr. William J. Moody, once said to me during one of my learning
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conversations with him that answers usually bring more questions. Upon that premise, and the statement of Dr. King, I base the following comments. I fear the line between being of service and self-service has become less and less clear. Internationally renowned maestro Ricardo Muti commented during an interview marking his 80th birthday: "Today, many conductors use the podium for excessive gesticulation, for show, trying to make an impression with an audience more interested in what they see than what they hear." I find that Maestro Muti's words ring uncomfortably true in our profession today, and the ease with which one may move from serving others to that of self-service is a slippery slope...one upon which balance and purpose easily can be lost. Teaching is about service to others; it is not about self-serving actions. The years of one's career, indeed one's life, fold easily upon one another. The years of my career certainly have done so, but during those decades a number of observations and questions evolved. And they persist even today.
Dr. David Gregory, Founder and Conductor Emeritus of the Georgia Wind Symphony, is former Director of Bands/Coordinator of Music Education at Reinhardt University (Ret.) and Conductor Emeritus of Tara Winds Community Band. He has conducted elementary, junior high, high school, community college, university, and professional bands during his career. He is a Past President of the National Band Association and served eight years as Advisor to the Executive Committee of that organization. Maintaining a regular schedule of appearances, Dr. Gregory has received invitations to appear throughout the United States and abroad. He has conducted allstate bands throughout America, and his band activities have taken him across the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and the European continent where he appeared as guest conductor of La Banda dell’Esercito of Rome, Italy (2x), the Associazione Musicale “G. Verdi” Band of Aci S. Antonio, Sicily, the Federazione Bande Siciliane of Santa Maria di Licodia, Sicily, the Lucania Orchestra di Fiati of Matera, Italy, La Banda di Sant’Oreste (Rome), La Banda di Commune Triuggio, and five times with La Banda di Sacrofano in Rome. He is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and served as a member of the Board of Directors for that organization. In February of 2020, Gregory was inducted into the National Band Association’s “Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors” and was named as a “Midwest Legend” for 2021.
Thoughts and Observations:
• Those more concerned
with their personal and professional image than that Continued on next page
NBA JOURNAL
