Each year, students are encouraged to involve themselves in leadership training courses in order to become a student leader in their high school band program. Seminars, workshops, and courses are prepared to engage youth in the most effective ways to become a leader in their band. This is one of the most exciting times for young leaders to become motivated to take on new responsibilities and step up to take their band to further achievements. I have noticed that many of these leadership workshops tend to focus on service, teamwork, communication, commitment, respect, and inspiration. The workshops often discuss aspects of what great leaders have in common and how they can be utilized in the band class. Because of this, students go away motivated and inspired knowing they can be that leader. After the workshops, they know how to be a better leader and they have the confidence to take on the role expected of a leader. This is why we send them to leadership training camps, isn’t it? We want them to become knowledgeable and more prepared to contribute effectively in their roles as student leaders. I am always enthusiastic to see what these energetic youths are ready to accomplish when they get back to school. These are the best times to see your young leaders go back into their bands and make a positive impact on the program.
We are able to see the benefits of student leaders early in the year, but some students are able to take on more leadership opportunities throughout the year. Band camps normally engage the youthful, excited leadership team. It can set an atmosphere for positive expectations for the semester. As the gleam and shine of the initial days of school set in, many students find themselves running a routine that has been set in previous years and their focus becomes divided with all the other aspects of school-related activities. However, when the semester progresses into November, many band programs could maintain without several of their student leaders teaching their peers. By the time concert band is the primary focus, most of the leaders have little responsibility over instruction. The appealing aspect of the marching band as a flipped classroom (Phillips & Trainor, 2014) where the students are part of leading the program is nearly complete. The leadership responsibilities shift from student leaders teaching younger students into student leaders serving as dedicated performers. Please don’t misunderstand me, I have done this and know multiple directors that utilize leadership teams in the same manner. I am a firm believer that leaders must lead by example whether it is in the marching, concert, jazz, or any ensemble. This type of leadership works and leading by example is effective. However, there have been years that I’ve had some exceptional leaders that were capable of teaching throughout the year in multiple ensembles. These were the years I decided to step back and allow the student leaders to take more leadership roles both semesters. When I stepped out of the way on these years and let the student leaders step up, I realized several things: the student leaders benefited greatly from experiencing more responsibilities throughout the year, more band students became invested in the program, and I had to have patience with the process.
Experiences
Consider all the important characteristics listed for great leaders that you have noticed in your years of teaching. One critical factor that bonds all these characteristics into the type of leader you are today is experiences. If we consider the servant leadership style, it is directly connected to having experiences of service (Lautzenheiser, 2005). It is an action style of leadership. Just because someone knows that they are supposed to serve others means little to nothing in servant leadership until the actions follow. These actions become the experiences that are remembered. This process begins building the characteristics traits of the servant leader. I cannot think of any worthwhile leadership trait that can be developed without experiences. This is why I think the student leaders benefit from extended responsibilities throughout the year. We are often able to determine which students are capable of teaching and leading at the beginning of the semester, but I am concerned that we cut them short of their full potential as leaders.
One opportunity that could open some wonderful experiences for you and your student leaders to learn more about leadership is to let the students conduct on the fall or spring concert. Review the Fall and Spring concert repertoire with a focus on finding works that your student leaders may be able to conduct and instruct at the end of each semester. Consider how many student leaders that may be able to conduct in these concerts and the instrumentation with each student as the conductor for those works. Set aside a conducting/instructional day where the students on your leadership team can learn leadership traits specific to the concert setting. Work with the student leaders on the problems that could occur in rehearsals and how problems can be addressed. Depending on the student’s prior experiences, you could discuss conducting patterns and some of the things you’ve learned from your experiences that the ensemble needs to see from the podium. Help them map out an instructional plan for teaching the entire work within the limited time that you will allow them in class. Set them up for success just like the other leadership programs prepared them for leading the marching band. Just remember, this is all somewhat abstract until they experience this leadership role from the podium, so each rehearsal plan may need to be individualized. When the time begins for rehearsals, allow the students to teach the way that they believe is best and be a mentor in the rehearsals. If they have an issue or don’t understand how to do something, you are there and can help them. If their teaching or conducting method is not clear, you can be there to help them experience a better way that you have learned. When the rehearsals are almost done and the concert is approaching, work with the students on concert etiquette as a conductor. At the concert, they can now experience all the emotions and successes we often experience as the conductors. Having student leaders conduct works on concerts was one of the ways I increased student leadership responsibilities, but it provided another benefit to the ensemble that I did not expect: increased investment from all students.
Increased Investment
Just as experience is a key factor in developing leadership traits, investment in a program is essential to attaining progress. One of the benefits from opportunities like student conductors is that the student leaders and their peers often realize how important each individual is as a member in the band. The conductor/teacher has a different type of ownership and investment in the program. When the students become part of the conducting/instructional part of the band, they return to performing in the ensemble as a type of transformational leader. Transformational leadership emphasizes leaders engaging with subordinates in an effort to change the process and methods for better societal purposes (Burns, 1978). In the band, student leaders can act as transformational leaders by engaging their peers in taking ownership of the program. Transformational leadership can create a chain reaction of positive actions in the band program. Think about the student leaders who you have selected that not only do the jobs you have assigned, but they have brought in friends and younger band students to teach them how to help do work you haven’t asked them to do. It can be as simple as one student getting another student to help pick up trash, reset chairs, or put stands back in their place after a rehearsal. These may be small examples, but the servant aspect is being combined with an ownership of the program. Some of the best areas for transformational leadership and an increased investment in the band is through chamber ensembles.
If your band program is able to create some chamber ensembles, find a way to have them. Chamber ensembles often expect students to invest more into the program because they are the only ones performing their part. You may find that some student leaders that perform well but do not want to conduct may be more capable of leading a small chamber group like a brass, woodwind, or percussion ensemble. Allowing students to conduct a work or works on a concert may not be possible in your program, but student leaders may be able to work with you and assist in leading a chamber ensemble. Scheduling and planning is an important aspect for having a good chamber ensemble experience. Even if the students are not the conductors in these groups, they are increasing their investment in the band by becoming better performers for their peers in the chamber group. Chamber ensembles create an individual investment on the part of each performer. If the student leaders have a feeling of ownership of their chamber group, they will work to make sure the other members of their ensemble can perform their parts equally well. Students who are dedicated to perform well in the chamber ensemble music are often able to perform at a higher level with more confidence in the large ensembles. While the chamber ensembles engage a higher level of performance expectation from students and can be another way for student leaders to contribute, I am faced with a difficult task: patience.
Patience
I do not like to wait. When it comes to developing student leaders and testing leadership development theories, I want to put them in front of the band and see positive results in their leadership skills. Just like when I work on music with students, I want to move quickly through music without having to repeat sections over and over, but I know this is not how I learn and it is also not how most people learn. We must be patient with the process. I wish I could tell you some wonderful way to learn patience. However, I am reminded of my dad telling me to be careful when I pray for patience because patience is often built after going through a difficult time. Just like when we were learning our leadership skills as youth leaders, in college, and throughout our years of teaching, we have to be patient with our student leaders. Even though I have no quick-fix to patience, while we are being patient and looking for those small successes in our student leaders, we can do several things to help them along the way.
I have noticed that one of the most important parts of effective leadership development is to create a supportive environment. They are still our students. They have not had the experiences we have had in our careers. Our successes and failures have brought us all to become the teachers that we are today. More successes and failures are still to come. Allowing our student leaders to take the reign in situations where we know they will succeed is very important to building the confidence of a young leader. As they mature in the leadership experiences, hopefully failure will occur on a small scale so they can understand how failure can also teach us how to become a better leader.
We should be flexible with our methods of guiding the student leaders. I have noticed that some of the most influential teachers are on a continuous learning curve to meet the needs of the students. As teachers, they remain teachable (Goodstein, 1984). In many cases, the content does not change, but the methods may because the students are different every year. The inexperience may be one of the greatest difficulties facing student leaders. They are not always aware of what should be taught and how to teach the same content in multiple perspectives. This is all the more reason to be provide them with experiences that can build their confidence while remaining patient.
Finally, it is okay for student leaders to make mistakes. It is actually something that we should expect if we place them in a true leadership role. As music teachers, we do not want to hear mistakes. We want the sounds our students produce to blend, be in tune, and be perfectly in time. However, if we allow young leaders to be the influential students that can benefit our programs, we must allow them room to make mistakes. If we decide to allow them the opportunity to conduct on a concert, rehearse the band, lead chamber ensembles, or if we just want to try something new with the students as the leaders, mistakes will occur. Just as we desire to see progress in every rehearsal, we should want the same from the young leaders. Our goal is to get near and achieve perfection in the smallest areas so the whole is as close to perfect as we can get, but this is a process and we should allow young leaders to go through the process knowing we are there to support them. In fact, if we do not prepare them to lead and improve as leaders, we have made a mistake by giving them a title without any responsibility or the ability to complete tasks expected of their title. We should plan with the student leaders to keep them involved as student influencers throughout their time as leaders in the program. As we are patient with our developing student leaders, we can make plans to engage them in the best leadership experiences in our programs.
References
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. Harper &Row, New York.
Goodstein, R. E. (1984). An investigation into leadership behaviors and descriptive characteristics of band directors in the United States (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. (UMI 8424644)
Lautzenheiser, T. (2005). Music Advocacy and Student Leadership: Key Components of Every Successful Music Program. Chicago: GIA Publications.
Phillips, C. R., Trainor, J. E. (2014). Millennial students and the flipped classroom. Journal of Business and Educational Leadership 5(1), 102-112.
