A
recent social (music) situation occurred with my high school band students.
They were performing a pep song (“Royals”) at the homecoming pep assembly and
the entire crowd joined in, sang the lyrics, and even clapped some of the
rhythmic lines. Administration views the purpose of this performance as having
music that will get the crowd excited, however, I additionally view it as a
recruiting opportunity since the entire district (K-12) attends. The piece was
very short and mostly fit the popular music mold, although the tempo was slower
than most pop songs. The band also marches to create several pictures on the gym
floor while performing at this assembly since marching band is still relatively
new for the school and we want to get the word out that it exists. I think it
is fair to say that this performance is not intended for careful listening
given the loud nature of the venue.
The
20 high school band students who performed wore casual pants, their band
shirts, and the marching uniform hats with a Burger King crown attached to go
along with the homecoming theme of “A Night with King Midas.” I encouraged the
drumline to interact with the elementary students (who were sitting in the
front row). They used a section of the song with stick clicks on beats 2 and 4
to get the kids clapping with them. The students memorized their music and the
only amplified instrument was the bass guitar. There were about 1000 staff and
students (grades kindergarten through 12th) in the audience and I
believe that some of them really did listen to the song in the sense that they
had to pay close attention to ensure that they matched pitch when they sang.
With that being said, several audience members took the opposite approach and used
the time to converse with their neighbors. Audience members did not purchase a
ticket and were not allowed to have food or drink, nor did they have a printed
program. They did however applaud after the performance!
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