im sorry i needed to start this thread in order to let off steam from another one haha.

people who don't know what they want to do and therefore settle with becoming music teachers drive me INSANE. the only way you can be a good music teacher is if you are akin to sappy inspirational teacher movies...im thinking any movie where the teacher throws themselves into the job without caring about how much they get paid. it means doing whatever you can to make the kids you work with better even if it means tiring yourself out a bit or putting excessive time into it. it means constantly coming up with new ideas on how to make things better, more inducive to learning, more positive. you are constantly working. in an ideal way it would be this way for teachers of all kinds...but we all know what it is like in reality. "i've been teaching here for 47 years...blah blah blah blah blabalbahbalbha so you better shut up and do what i say!" or "im only a teacher because i couldnt be a performer" (in the case of music) or "i couldnt think of anything better to do with myself." and these people may sit around and feel sorry for themselves because they have to settle for this...well guess who is suffering more than you? the kids. its their opinions you are molding...and kids views are vveeerrryyyy pliable so if there is a terrible teacher it really is the kid who suffers.

and does a band director who has a terrible band really think about why their band is bad? maybe...but they usually come up with reasons like...the kids are bad, they aren't wealthy and therefore are either badly behaved and dont care about anything or dont have the resources to get better. they never once look at themselves...when 99 percent of the problem is theirs. they are the one who initially creates the atmosphere. as soon as a band director has a predjudice that kids will do badly and why...they will beleive it and fall into the expectation. if you dont expect kids to excel...why would they?

gaaahhhdddd. there's much much much more in my head, but i will wait.

Luckily my flute teacher is very nice and same with my new band teacher. But my last one was horriable (i switched bands). He would lecture you in front of the whole class. One time he decided I moved too much when I played. So he went on and on about different professional flutists moving more than others. Also one time he lectured my friend (who's really good) about some rhythm, but his wife had just told her to play it differently, so it really wasn't her fault. She just had two people telling her different things. Atleast my new band teacher is WAY nicer!!!!
Well, there's my little rant on music teachers. But really there not all bad!!
-catgal

Before joining a band its always worth hearing them play and talking to some of the members as well as the conductor. Its important that your expectations are at least compatible with the band - especially in terms of the styles of music and any developments of your playing ability. Most players will discover that they need to change band from time to time if only to avoid boredom.

Without doubt conductors have bad days as well as members of the band. However, a conductor who consistently fails to get the band to play musically and to the best of their ability doesn't deserve the honour of conducting ... I don't advocate an aggressive approach but I am aware of some successful conductors who are consistently unpleasant.

aggression is not the way to success because...though they might play for you because they are scared of and or respect you ...they wont be doing it because they love it. its inspiration and finding ways to make them love it and want to do well.

I'm majoring in secondary music education, basically meaning: high school band director. I've known this is what I've wanted to do since junior high. Because I've had a different director nearly every single year of my high school/junior high school career and I've been able to learn many difficult lessons, personally, musically, and emotionally, I've decided that teaching music is what I want to do.

I agree with you that people who chose to become music educators just to major in something often do not turn out to be inspirational teachers. But, this is pretty rare in the "music world" because the drive and passion and commitment to become a music teacher or a musician in general has to be there. I don't think I've ever met a director who didn't absolutely love what he or she did. Music is more than just a hobby to them. It's a part of their life. And, even if a teacher seems like they don't get it and never will, you never know how much the music might mean to them anyway.

Sorry about my little speech there; this is a passionate subject of mine. I'm sorry you've come across a director who has made you upset!

I know a few band directors that I am unsure why they chose their profession. They do not inspire their kids to achieve anything.

For some reason, one that I have come across feels the need to tell kids that are just starting instruments and band, basically that they are not good at the instrument they play, not giving any encouragement such as "with hard work you can get better". I have seen several kids quit because he has told them things like that and it really makes me mad because I know that many kids, especially when just starting, look to their band director for guidance.

My wind ensemble teacher is awesome (although a lot of people hate him). He's really nice &wants us to succeed.

I hated my concert band director last year. He made band boring &I hated it so much.

i know an elementary school teacher who tells kids that if they make a mistake at a concert all of their friends will laugh at them and their parents will be mad at them. imagine hearing that as a fourth grader.

That's insane! That band director must be a perfectionist or something...

My elementary/middle school band director was NOT like that at all.

Wow. It really stinks that you've come across teachers that aren't passionate. A person who teaches shouldn't be in it for the paycheck; they should be in it for the kids!

I know that I want to be a high school band director someday, and I hope to be like Mr. Holland. I think every teacher should strive to be like the teachers that they make movies about, because if they weren't amazing, then they wouldn't be movie-worthy.

As educators, let it be our goal to get movies made of our lives.

As an educator I can tell you that NOBODY I know is in it "just for the paycheck". They DO NOT get paid enough for that. Most teachers could probably make more as a manager at a fast food joint than what they make teaching.

However, for that small paycheck they get to spend most evenings, weekends and other "non-work" times doing work. Plus, due to inadequate budgets, they get to spend some of that small paycheck on supplies for the students.

I'm sorry if you have a teacher with a bad attitude. I think that many teachers, especially at the high school level, get very little respect from their students. If you take the time to sit back and really observe, is your band director being disrespected multiple times a day? It wears on you, it really does. You may want to start a new trend and be the one who demonstrates the appropriate amount of respect. Be the leader. You may start to see the good in your teacher, and he may be able to pick up his self respect and be the level of teacher that he really wants to be.

Again, I apologize. But it only took four disrespecful students this week to really make me feel this cranky.

oh i give my band director a lot of respect...i completely understand his situation and would never disrespect him. kids arent really like that in the band at my school...my band director is fine. he is a good guy.

I know what you mean about disrespect for teachers in general.

My band director in high school put up with a lot of crap. However, with him, I think he should have been harsher on students because it was always the same ones that would disrupt the class almost everyday. He would just get angry or frustrated with them but would never do anything about it which would frustrate me because I wanted to be there and it seemed like the ones that were goofing off and being jerks didn't want to be. In my opinion, I think that they should have been reprimanded for their actions because band is not a required class, which means most the people are there because they want to be, and it is fairly ridiculous to make others put up with all the disruption from just a few students.

Sorry I went a little off on a tangent there.

I think the best music teachers/band directors are those that want everyone to experience their love of music and make it fun for everyone!

I want to be a music/theatre teacher when I grow up