When most people think about extracurricular activities for students to get involved in, they usually think of different sports, such as football, basketball, soccer, etc. There is another very important activity that students are able to enjoy participating in, however: band.
Steve Stringer, the band director for Enterprise School District, loves his band. While he enjoys spending time with the older band students on the marching field and going to the competitions, he is well aware of an extremely important point in band—beginner band.
“We like to start band in sixth grade, but that doesn’t mean that that’s the last chance,” stated Stringer. “I believe there is actually going to be an opportunity for a few seventh and eighth graders to actually get a second chance to be in the beginner band.”
Enterprise has actually already started the process to recruit new members for the beginner band.
“We begin the beginner band process on the first day of school and will continue the process for a couple of weeks. We’ll test all the students by a process where we play different notes and rhythms and get them to say if the notes are the same or higher pitch or different rhythms or just two unison notes. It’s called a music aptitude test,” explained Stringer. “From there, we find the kids with the highest aptitude and invite them to join the beginner band, but we don’t turn anybody away. If someone wants to be in band and wasn’t initially invited, they can just ask to join and will be welcomed in. Then, we test those students to see which instrument will be the best fit for them.”
The test to find the perfect instrument is very important for the students. Although students will naturally have a preference for an instrument, they will need to trust the band director with any suggestions about the perfect instrument for them.
“The band directors test the students on their abilities to play certain instruments. It’s fine that students come in with a preconceived notion of instruments they want to play, but they really have to trust the director to find the right instrument for them. We’re trying to help them have the best chance for success,” expressed Stringer. “Through our experience, we know by seeing the different shapes of the mouths, physical characteristics, math skills, and different things like that which instruments the students will more likely be successful with.”
While everyone enjoys listening to the band as they march across the field on Friday nights, the beginner band is one of the most important steps to reaching that point. It is where the students will first start to learn how everything works.
“Beginner band is so important because without it, you would have no high school band,” informed Stringer. “You have to go through the process of learning how to put your instrument together, what instrument you’re going to play, figure out how to read music, and how to put all of that together in context with the rest of the instruments playing too.”
Being a member of the band does more than just teach kids how to play music. It also has several benefits to it.
“Beginner band also starts you on a journey that can take you through college and even the rest of your life. So many students are looking for scholarships as they go to college, and with band, you’re pretty much guaranteed at least two years of free college just by playing in the band at a community college. When I taught in community college, some kids had just full tuition and others had full tuition plus room and board depending on their skill level,” declared Stringer. “Other benefits of being in the band can include friendship, discipline, team building in a skill based environment, and it’s just a lot of fun. Being in the band can even make you smarter. They call it the Mozart Effect. It was proven in studies years ago that people who listened to Mozart before they took a test would score three to five points higher than people who didn’t listen to Mozart. The way it works is that it allows certain pathways in the brain to help kids develop better reasoning skills, critical thinking, and concentration.”
Band is a great opportunity for students, and Mr. Stringer is excited about adding more students to the beginner band to continue building the already great program at Enterprise.
