roslynband.com is down, here are the Leadership Positions!

Wow, for the first time, the school notes website is down, and at exactly the time I'm going to list the Student Leaders.  Thankfully, we have this site to list them, so here they are.

Remember, don't call or contact anyone or receive calls until after 11pm. You shouldn't call anyone that late anyway.  Sleep on it and talk about everything tomorrow.

Here We Go....

All these positions are very important, they are in alphabetical order within titles.

The Captains are just as vital and important as the Executive Board

Drum Majors

Alexa D'Ambra, Lara Elowsky, Lindsay Mandel, Danielle Maslin

Executive Board

President - Spencer Cohn

CEO - Katie Binder

Vice President - Talia Eshel

Chief of Captains - Zach Goldsmith, Sam Heyman

Treasurer - Michele Feldman

Secretary - Erica Halpern

Managers - Matt Danialzadeh, Aaron Kersch, Derek Lin

Librarian - Michele Kung

Captains

Colorguard Captains - Jessica Margulis, Lauren Passaro, Faye Sun

Flute Captain - Emily Weinschenk

Clarinet Captain - Max Rubin

Saxophone Captain - Eric Chung

Trumpet Captain - Samantha Halpern

Mellophone Captain - Laura Karpas

Low Brass Captain - Danny Mendoza

Tuba Captain - Aaron Levine

Battery Captain - Sam Hoffman

Pit Captain - Grant Margolin

Thanks to everyone who interviewed.  You are all very important.  You are all great student leaders!

It’s Friday night at 8pm, the list is up. Oh no! I didn’t get a position! What Do I Do Now!!

Here is my list of some suggestions!

1. Cool down. Don’t react. Don’t threaten to quit. Don’t quit band. Don’t send an e-mail, and don’t create unnecessary drama. Relax, you need time to realize this new reality and to take it in. DON’T DO ANYTHING FOR 30 MINUTES. Then, do something fun. Have a snack, or like I do, eat a pizza. Go to the diner or a movie with your friends and don’t talk band!
   
2. This is not the end of life as we know it. Getting a position is great but just not that big of a deal where you should be upset for days or weeks over it. If it is that important to you, then you need to reflect on what life is all about. Keep it all in perspective. See the big picture.
   
3. We are always applying for things our whole life. Sometimes we get what we want, sometimes we don’t. Remember what Bill Gates said as one of the secrets of his success, rule number one that “Life is Unfair.” Remember what Dr. Martin Luther King said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Be strong and resilient. Bounce back.
   
4. Band directors and assistant directors, teachers etc. are human beings that to do their best to make decisions that are fair. Deciding on leadership positions is a tough task, taking into account many criteria. We strive to make the best decision for the band. Every time we choose a student leader we are taking a chance on that person. Sometimes it works out great, other times it does not.
   
5. You are defined by what kind of person you are. Be strong, have character, work hard. You are not defined by the position you are given. You are defined by your acts every day. Continue to be a great person in the band. Realize that the process is human and flawed. Show us that we should have picked you. There are disappointments in life and how one deals with them says far more about a person's character than dealing with the good times.
   
6. If you are a sophomore or freshman, be great! We are watching you, how you react, what you do after the results are out and what you achieve in terms of leadership, ethics, hard work, and compassion. Don’t do anything which will reflect poorly on you or the band, or that will hinder your chances of getting a position in the future. You still have one or two years to define your future in the band.
   
7. If you need to talk to me, do it on Monday, after you’ve had some time to think. I will let you know what you need to work on. Be ready though, you may not like what you hear. Sometimes we feel you just weren’t the right fit for a leadership position and that’s all I will be able to say. Realize that is the opinion of Ms. Miller and myself, that’s it. Don’t let us define you. We made the call and that’s all it is, a decision, not a life changing event.
   
8. As this dynasty grows and these positions become more prestigious, they will be harder to get. The pool of great leaders here at Roslyn is astounding. Many great leaders will not get positions in future years due to the sheer competition. When so many people want a position we are literally splitting hairs as to who makes the cut. Staying late and coming early to help, practicing more, going that extra yard will give you the edge. Being a great human being will give you the edge. Continue to be the best person you can be and your rewards in life will be great!

Why Did We Pick That Person?!

Many bands have wrestled with the student leader issue. No matter how hard the directors try, some people are always upset that they didn't get picked. These students then have to stay excited and remain positive participants in the band, while working under people that were awarded positions that they themselves applied for. This is difficult in keeping a band's morale high. Yes, student leadership positions are necessary. There are a myriad of tasks which must be completed in order for a competitive marching band to succeed, and the staff cannot do it alone. However, that balance of choosing the right people along with letting the members who don't get positions feel important is quite a task. Yes, everyone is important- especially in a marching band. Every person has a position, nobody is on the bench, and every single member is just as important as the drum major. When even one person is missing, we feel it immensely. Fortunately, our band members have always been winners. People who didn't receive positions helped more than ever after they weren't chosen, which is proven by the incredible rise of this program over the past 7 years.

When the list goes up we always get this, "What, how could they pick him!!!" "How could they pick her!!!" That person did this, and that, and that, and doesn't deserve it. How can we go on in this band with him/her in that position?!

Well here we are with perceptions. Perceptions are a part of life and each person has one. Inevitably, each person does not have ALL of the information. In addition, the information each person has may or may not be true. The information that Ms. Miller and I have may be different from your information. We may have information which you are not privy to which brings us to our decisions about who the leaders should be. We may or may not be able to share that information with you.

Some people are just not going to agree with the positions, no matter what. They have their perception and they have the right to have their own opinion.

What we do request is that you trust that we made the right choices and that you support the incoming slate of student leaders. For instance, millions of people voted for McCain in the election. He lost, and now everyone should rally around our new president, because it is the best thing for the whole. The truly great people can move on, and wish for the success of all the new leaders, and do everything to make sure we have the best year ever, winning the class next year.

Drum Line Recruitment Video

This is the drumline recruitment video.  Drum and Pit auditions will take place in January!

87 Drum Majors? When to Post.......The Big Question.

Some people, after the announcements last year, stated that we had 87 drum majors. I don't know why this number was chosen. Sure, 87 is a nice sounding number but 82 more than we actually had! So the drum majors and myself have joked about that 87 number on more than one occasion over the past year. Yes, last year we had 5 drum majors. Although I am a pioneer in the band director field and realized that this new trend, having more drum majors, would lead to other bands doing the same, I faced much criticism about having 5 drum majors. Like anything else, it is a new thing, and many people became upset about any change at all. In retrospect, I thought it worked out great, each drum major, in their own style and way, led the band. Not many, but some band members have told me that 5 of them made it confusing. Looking at our rehearsals objectively I did not agree at all. The 5 drum majors were utilized in different sections of the band, warming up, rehearsing, and assisting the staff throughout the season.

This year we are going with 4 drum majors. Why? Because I feel that would be a great number for the coming year. We don't make decisions lightly when running this band. Things are thought out in detail, weighing many options, ideas, as we put everything into place. Ms. Miller and I talk for hours about the changes and tweaking of the program year to year. The staff, along with the two of us meet weekly and go through all options, then Ms. Miller and I make the call. Sometimes we just don't have the time to bring everyone "up to speed" on the multitude of details that make up a decision.

Sometimes a band member, not agreeing with some of the decisions we made, comes up to me and gives me his or her opinion in a strong fashion, letting me know I am "way off base". Sometimes I explain it. Sometimes I don't have the time to explain, or it is not professional for me to go into those details for various reasons. In either case, trust me, the reasoning that brought us to decisions running the program would probably convince you that we are "spot on" or at least "in the same ballpark" as you.

When to post. Ok, there are many ways to do this. Some people in the old days put the list up, then ran to the car. Some hang it up in the morning, and the drama throughout the building shuts down the people who didn't get anything while they are in school. Hanging up a list during the day would have everyone texting each other, illegally during school hours, with most people finding out their positions via cell phone. Last year I posted it online, midweek, and many people were coming to me the very next day, very upset about not getting a position. It took up a lot of time and didn't accomplish much for anyone. The drama can upset the program, and that is exactly what happened.

I will post an entry on Thursday night about how to come to terms with the let down of not getting a position if that happens, and my advice on how to deal with not getting a position you applied for. I have an idea that I think this will work well. I will put the positions online so everyone will get the same information at the same time. Let’s then have a moratorium on calling each other on the phone for 30 minutes. Nobody answer a cell phone for 30 minutes, or call anyone for 30 minutes, just a short break time to contemplate results so that the emotion can calm down a bit. I know, of course that I cannot monitor this but a short 30 minutes will help so much. The emotions, positive or negative, about a leadership position, subside minute by minute as you realize the situation. Let's try that.

Check out the video above regarding the drum line auditions. Mark Carman made this incredible video, it is great!

See you here tomorrow on the blog for the next article "Why did we pick that person?!"

The Positions

There were many comments made all year as to why we had so many leadership positions in the Marching Band.  So many comments that we had to rethink the number of student leadership positions.  For one thing, this is an army and students need to help so that we can get everything accomplished.  Another important part of the marching band is the leadership training that comes from being in the band, whether you are a leader or not.  There are very few venues available to a high school student where they get first hand experience in the actual building of a program, whether it be corporate, a team, or a social group.  The marching band is a great group to teach these lessons of life.  A self proclaimed specialist at motivation, team building, character building, and goal setting, I am totally immersing every member of the band into these important facets of life.  I affectionately call it CD - or Character Development.  One perfect example is the building of this band and getting the judges to see and reward us for what we have accomplished.  As you know from reading this blog regularly, this is no easy task.  We were somewhat able to move the numbers, but clearly not as much as we expected.  There comes the growth lesson.  Be resilient, bounce back, come back harder and stronger and persevere.  

So here we are, we had 36 leaders last year,  30% of the band.  This year we are honing it down to 24, which is still a huge 20% of the band.  As a staff, we feel that 24 is a great number to work with..

We are adding two new positions, I originally called it Lieutenants although the name didn't quite fit.  We switched it to Chief of Captains.  I got the idea from the title "Chief of Staff" for the President.  I think it is fitting to what it will be, the captains in charge of the captains.  They will be the leaders of the program in music and marching as long as we stick to the "no talking" rule on the field when Mr. Bennett and Mr. Downey are teaching drill.  

The decisions have been made, Ms. Miller and I did the interviews and are just waiting until the end of the week to post the final list.  We want to be totally comfortable with our decisions.  It will be posted on the roslynband.com website on Friday night, November 21st at 8pm.  The interviews and essays went extremely well, we have some amazing people here at Roslyn, which makes the decisions that much harder.

I will be posting a blog daily this week in preparation for the posting of the leadership positions, to let you know how we came to the decision on 4 drum majors, announcement of next year's show, and the posting of the audio so you can start getting psyched for next year.  

I will also be posting some quotes for those of you who get positions, and those who don't. Quotes from the great leaders in our world help me to deal with those speed bumps in life.