How can a choir director really be qualified to direct band?

Posted by Dolores
♥Brown Eyed Girl ♥ asked:


Where i went to high school, they are letting go of the band director *funding*…but they said earlier that his job was safe because two teachers were retiring. Anyways, his job is no longer safe, and in fact they are letting him go after the end of this year. The choir director is going to be dong band as well. How can she be really qualified? She was there when i was there and she was bad with choir…let along band…She only knows how to play the french horn..how can that help the other insturments?

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 10:18 am and is filed under Careers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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One Response to “How can a choir director really be qualified to direct band?”

  1. omouse Says:
    July 21st, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    Caffeinated Content

    This is an easy question. Music Education majors are trained in both vocal and instrumental music. While they may specialize in one or the other, I know that they have to take classes to have a basic knowlege of all instruments. You don’t have to play an instrument well to be able to be a good conductor. When you graduate, you receive a credential in Music Education, not in choral or instrumental music.

    So to answer your question, sometimes the best teacher for the job is not the one who gets the job. She may be qualified, but sometimes principals make decisions based on the bottom line ($) rather than the quality of the program.

    It could also be a question of senority within the district. If a position disappears, the principal must keep the teachers with the most experience.

    That happened to me when I taught at a school. They had to have one of the math teachers take over part of my position as an English teacher and I was transfered to another school.