By William Johnson Vice President for Professional Relations Kappa Kappa Psi
F
or the last several months, members of the National Council of Kappa Kappa Psi have been reading and evaluating the Chapter Summary Reports submitted by each chapter last spring. As your Vice President for Professional Relations and the newest member of the National Council, I have found reading these reports to be very interesting. For the most part I am extremely impressed with the extraordinary accomplishments of our fraternity and the powerful impact that we are having on the college and university bands throughout the country. After careful analysis, however, one will find that most of our chapters have between 15 and 35 members. This is an excellent number of chapter members for band programs that have about 120 students in the marching band and another 100 students in the concert band. Unfortunately, a chapter of only 25 members is not adequate for the large programs that have over 300 students in the marching band and another 200 students in the concert band. In reading the reports, I have discovered that many chapters are spread too thin to be of significant service to both the marching and concert bands. When this happens, almost invariably the chapter only becomes a service organization for the marching band and the concert band program is simply left on its own. In addition, too many chapters with adequate numbers of members simply devote almost all of their time and energy serving the marching band at the exclusion of the concert band. This creates an imbalance in the chapter and can damage the image of the fraternity at that college or university and possibly throughout the profession itself. Please don’t misunderstand. No one loves the marching band more than I do. I was in two big-ten bands as an undergraduate and graduate student and was the director of a university marching band for over 25 years. As a Director of Bands I, along with most of my colleagues throughout the United States, have worked hard to produce a proper balance between providing entertainment at sporting events and performing the wonderful music written for the wind band at public concerts. A Kappa Kappa Psi chapter is an organization of very special band students who strive for the highest and have a built in service-beyond-self personal philosophy that will probably remain with them throughout their lives. In any college or university band program, this energy force should be carefully balanced between the needs of both the marching band as well as the concert band. I am convinced that most of the imbalance comes from the lack of imagination. The needs of a thriving marching band are so obvious. It takes little effort to make a list of what the marching band needs from a service organization.
Marching bands begin the school year with a vengeance and with almost immediate performances. The excitement is extremely contagious and it is not difficult to obtain very strong prospective members from this group of people. The concert band begins its year with much less fanfare but with strong needs for the kind of service that our fraternity can provide. Some of these needs, however, appear later in the year as the program begins to give public performances, host festivals and go on tours and, for the most part, are different than the needs of the marching band. My recommendation is for the chapter president and others to have regular meetings with the conductor(s) of the concert band(s) and find out what their needs are. If the conductor is at a loss in determining what can be done, then present him/her with a list of possible service projects. I guarantee you that his/her face will light up! In addition, the chapter must recruit prospective members from the concert band so that its membership is carefully balanced between the two programs. Don’t forget the jazz band(s) and their director(s). They are band people too. In addition, lets work hard to develop chapters with an adequate number of members to do the job for all of the ensembles. When the brotherhood permeates the entire band program, wonderful things will begin to happen. Barriers between performing ensembles will crumble and a spirit of cooperation among all students in the band program will form. When the college and university band profession sees our fraternity as a cohesive society of dedicated bands people who, in its membership and service, represent the entire band program, our reputation will be greatly enhanced. We must, with great enthusiasm, move in this direction. I look forward to seeing many of you in Lexington in July. Don’t forget to audition for the NIB and get your application and recording in on time. Encourage your friends to do the same.
KAPPA KAPPA PSI MUSIC EDUCATORS! Attend Conn Selmer University! Advance Your Career In Music Travel / Registration Scholarships Available to Kappa Kappa Psi members! Applications available at www.kkpsi.org. Due by April 15th!
The Podium, Spring 2005 - 31
