Florida Bandmasters Association

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

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Welcome to the Florida Bandmasters Association

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE CHANGE:

Thursday, January 8:
FBA General Membership Meeting: 5:15pm in Ballroom C
Brass Band Concert: 7:00pm in Ballroom A-B

The Florida Bandmaster
The November and December issue of the "Florida Bandmaster" newsletter are posted, which includes the minutes to the recent December Executive Board Meeting.

New Concert Music List
The list of new concert works recently approved by the board and the updated list is now on the Concert Music page.

FMEA Clinic-Conference January 7-10, 2009
A list of FBA Clinic Sessions and the All-State schedules are on the "For-Directors-->Convention" page.

MPA Online
Please read the information about how to register and use MPA Online. Remember two things about usernames and passwords: your MPA Online registration is different from your FBA Website registration, and MPA Online registrations do not carry over from year-to-year. Questions and problems should be directed to your district chair, and if they can't help contact Josh Bula at joshbula@gmail.com.

All-State Results
You must be a member of FMEA, and have a user account for this website before you can access the results (Your user account from last year should work this year--This is not your MPA Online username).

Adjudication Seminars
Registration forms are now on-line for the Certification and Re-certification seminars to be held just before the FMEA convention in January.

Handbook
The FBA Constitution, Bylasw, and Handbook have been updated for the 2008-2009 school year.

All-State and Honor Band Forms
Application forms for All-State and nomination forms for Small School Honors Band and Middle School Honors Band are now on the Forms page under "For Directors."

August 2008 Florida Bandmaster
Includes the minutes from the July board meeting and general membership meetings.

All-State Audition Information
The latest change to the requirements was posted 6/24/08

MPA Results Archive Complete
You can now see State MPA/Festival/Contest ratings as far back as 1939, thanks to the work of Timothy Groulx.

Forum

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Discussions

General Band Director Questions

AB Block Schedu...

AB Block Schedule Questions

3/25/2008 11:31:45 PM

stradivariusbone

1 posts

N/A

AB Block Schedule Questions

I teach at a high school that is planning to implement an 8 period A day/B day block schedule next year. The band program is small and growing, with young players. My largest concern is not seeing the band students every day. This schedule will take away an average of 35 minutes of instruction per week, which could be more or less depending on 80 or 90 minute blocks. The one alternative I have heard is that some schools have been utilizing the "lab" class for their B day band. For example, Johnny Trumpet would take Symphonic Band on A day and Instrumental Ensemble on B day. This seems like a perfect solution, because then you are getting 80-90 minutes of instruction per day, which would take some pressure off of the after-school rehearsal regiment.

The downside that is appearing for my school is that there are multiple attractor programs that students are eligible to take. Somehow, they have already obtained the "double-block" status, and despite the fact that there are technically still 2 open electives, taking band and an attractor program would effectively eliminate the ability to take any additional classes. This of course is operating on the precept that all band students are above a 3 on the FCAT and are not in intensive classes. Additionally, there is a separate attractor program that is off-campus that will bus students back to school at the end of the day. It is a new program so there are only freshmen in it, but as of right now, there are no plans to return sophomores to campus for any electives. This will take away 3 current freshmen I have and about 10 prospective freshmen in the future. Bearing in mind when I starting this gig last year there were only 40 kids in the program, this is a heavy hit.

Between working with the attractor programs, the FCAT pull-outs, the off-campus program, and this AB Block, I am at a loss. I've begun doing research and the elements that seem to be key are allowing for continuous instruction and a open-minded and well-organized administration. I think the difficult part is that there are so many different programs of study that these kids are being channeled into, there might not be any band program left before too long. This shouldn't come as a shock as this county has almost eliminated choral programs from the district. So, I am opening this up to the experience of my colleagues in hopes that there is some resolution available. Lend me your thoughts and any suggestions you might have.

5/22/2008 7:21:07 PM

tphillip

1 posts

Re: AB Block Schedule Questions

I am a middle school director in St. Augustine, and we are on a similar schedule. I see most of my students (even beginners) every other day for 90 minutes, and I see my advanced students for 45 minutes EVERY day. It can be a trying schedule, but somehow I adjusted to it, especially being my first year. We are also called "Center for the Arts", so the students have several options as far as electives go. My first question would be, how are your middle school feeders? What is your relationship with those programs? Visit them, and really get to know the kids so you can increase your numbers. In addition, you need to make your program look as important as possible. My high school director whom I feed, has been holding sectionals once a week for my eighth graders who are coming to her. She also visits often to rehearse and attends our concerts, so my students are very comfortable around her. Let me know how everything goes!

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