Doing these trips is a daunting task for band directors. It is an all consuming, tremendous responsibility that takes hours away from family time during the planning stages and typically falls during the holiday season when families are gathering together.
These are optional trips, not part of the competitive season schedule or the curriculum. They are “extras.” Directors joke: extra work, extra headaches, and extra sleep deprivation! The chaperone pay during the few days of the trip is also an extra, but no band directors who do this ever calculate the actual hourly rate based on the entire trip process, better we don’t know.
So here I am, planning on pulling next year’s trip off the table, an easy decision with the bad economy and knowing the expenses associated with being in this band to begin with. I was thinking we could simply skip a year or maybe a few years until my youngest children (2 and 4) are in full time school, or old enough to go on the trip. It is very hard for me to cut the holidays short or leave them during a break, which is why most band directors either choose not to do these big trips or have their families accompany them With 120 family members going to Florida to be a part of this trip, it is obvious that being with our families during the break is a priority for all of us. Last year at Disneyworld, we had huge numbers as well. Remember that big dinner show at Epcot! It is clearly no wonder that I am torn between my immediate family and my extended band family. And then I receive this incredible letter from Joe Capozzi, one of our chaperones at the Orange Bowl. It reminded me why we do all this. No person on the earth could have worded it any better. Please read on.
5 January 2011
Dear Mr. Patterson:
I want to thank you for including me and congratulate you on an incredibly successful trip.
The experience you provided for your band members far exceeds the fanfare of standing on a field before 80,000 fans and millions more on TV. The memories they will hold forever transcend perfected notes, synchronic steps, and undulating candles. It is the pride, the camaraderie, the esprit de corps, the teamwork, the mutual support, the work, the blood, the sweat, the tears, and the laughter they shared that will so profoundly impact each of them the rest of their lives.
I knew a few of your members prior to the trip from class. It was a pleasure to view them in a different venue as well as to get to know more of the members. To see these 68 students of varying ages, abilities, and experience blend, meld, sync, and bond was the most heart-warming aspect of the trip. To see students who are perhaps not the biggest stars in a Roslyn classroom shine in the Florida sun was a great reminder of why we do what we do, why we teach.
It is not the lessons of the classroom, but the lessons of life that are our most valuable gifts to our students. And through your (and your co-workers) efforts, your consideration, your attention to detail, your support, your encouragement—and likewise admonishment when necessary—your tireless and sleep-deprived dedication to your members, you have provided numerous and significant gifts that will last all of your very fortunate members a lifetime.
As a parent, our children become the barometer for all of life, and I can think of no higher praise to proffer than the thought that I wish my own children could experience a similarly nurturing experience. It takes a Herculean effort to plan and implement this type of undertaking. I applaud your efforts and dedication. To do what you do and have your students walk away with the positive experience they do is beyond commendable—it is almost incomprehensible, especially considering 50+ hours of bus rides!
Congratulations and thank you again for including me.
Sincerely,
Joe Capozzi
