It's Just Festival

This post is not just for you, Dear Reader. It's for me as well, because I know how ridiculous it sounds to say it's just Festival. I've turned into that director a time or two this past week. You know the one. That teacher that J.K. Simmons was channeling in Whiplash. I very much hope I haven't been that bad, but I know I definitely become a much crankier version of myself.

This is not to say that Festival (or Contest or what it's called in your region) is not an important event or experience, because it absolutely is! We're playing for not only our families, but other musicians who are giving us feedback on music we've worked on for months! We go and represent our school and our music departments for other music educators whose only impression of our district might come from seeing bands at Festival.  Students and teachers alike gain new insights and it helps set new musical goals.

Sometimes though we get hung up on that darn rating that comes with the experience. If we went to Festival only for a rating, there'd be a lot more Variations on Mary's Lamb (I get partial rights if someone decides to go write this!) and a lot less quality learning happening. As teachers, we say the rating doesn't matter. And maybe someday I'll even get to a point where I can be entirely truthful when I say that. I must confess though, it does matter a little. This is not my first rodeo, but I'm still in the first third of my teaching career, and earning higher ratings is a very validating feeling that I'm on the right track with my teaching and approach.

But when it comes down to it, for most of us, it's just Festival (for those whose rating may be a part of their official evaluation, my deepest apologies). This is a single event out of many for the whole year. The judges are there to give feedback on one performance. In the grand scheme of the whole year, you know what your kids have accomplished. Just like standardized tests are not a complete picture of our kids, neither is this one concert.

Take a moment in your final preparations and only write down positive things you hear. Ask someone else to listen. Invite another class down to hear what your kids have done. We even got some awesome insights this by sharing recordings with band students on the other side of the country! Because our tunnel hearing keeps us only hearing mistakes, and our musical  perfectionism wants us to correct them, we sometimes forget that we've got an awesome group of kids sitting in front of us, most of whom are playing their butts off.

And so, to those who have already played, I hope it was a great experience! To those who have not yet, remember to keep some perspective and have fun as you make music with your students!