Band IS Advanced Placement

About this time of year, especially here at home, thoughts turn to the coming of spring, and the coming of fall. Spring because it has been COLD; fall because it is time to sign up for next year's classes.

I don't have empirical evidence, but I believe that most kids drop out of music (band and orchestra) during the transition between school buildings, from the elementary to the middle to the high school. There are a variety of reasons - peer pressure, music isn't cool, loss of interest, and around this community athletics and grades.

I can write paragraphs (and maybe will in the future) on the athleticism of marching music (T-shirt #1: "If football were harder, it would be band") and winter guard (T-shirt #2 - "If cheerleading was harder, it would be color guard.") But this is about the academics of band.

The pressure is strong for taking honors and advanced placement classes. "We have to give the kids a leg up academically." "Middle school is practice, but high school counts" (as I have reminded my high schooler, well, countless times). Math. Science. English. Social Studies. But art? Music? There are no AP classes there! (Caveat: My oldest son is fortunate to be in a school where they do have AP Music Theory.)

I have been playing a small role in connecting the middle school to the high school, trying to retain kids in the band program. Half will drop out. Maybe more. We focus on the fun, the challenge, the friends - kids talking to kids. But here's a message for the adults: Band IS Advanced Placement, and you know it, especially if you were a beneficiary of band, as I was.

Advanced Placement teamwork. Advanced Placement talent cultivation. Advanced Placement governance and social structures. Advanced Placement math and geometry. (Yes, music is math, and so is marching!) Advanced Placement goal setting and goal reaching.

High school honors and advanced placement get you into college, maybe a good one. A good college and gets you into your first job or graduate school. All of that is important. But ... after that ... it's about teamwork. Talent cultivation. Personal discipline. Getting along in a governance and social structure. Setting and reaching goals.

We know band students do better on the SATs and ACTs. But that's not the total story. Band will place you somewhere totally unrelated to music.

In his book ReImagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age (page 280), Tom Peters quoted John Merrow in USA Today: "What actually correlates with success are not grades, but 'engagement' - genuine involvement in courses and campus activities. Engagement leads to 'deep learning.'" Tom himself wrote (page 278) - or rather, ranted - this: "Budget crunch? First programs to be cut? Art and Music. I say ... the h*** with the math budget. (I really don't mean that.) Let's enhance the art budget and inflate the music budget. Training in Creativity is important, in general. But it is absolutely essential in this Age of Intangibles & Intellectual Capital."

I am curious ... among the leaders of our country, how many were in a disciplined music program? How does that compare to the overall population? I don't know, but I'd bet we will find out something ... that Band IS Advanced Placement.

P.S. As I write this - my oldest is somewhere reading a movie, my second is practicing juggling, my third practicing his saxophone, and my fourth is drawing and coloring picture after picture of airplanes. And I'm happy to say that on the TV is channel 690 - Cinema (Soundtracks!).