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Good school, good band: Show appreciation

By J. FRANK LYNCH

I proffered a theory a while back, and now share it for your consideration, that goes something like this:

Good schools have good marching bands.

That’s not to say ALL good schools have good marching bands, but more often than not a good band can be counted on as a solid sign of a good school. Think about it.

I’ve never known what I’d otherwise label a “bad” school to produce a “good” band. And I’ve seen a lot of bands, good and bad, in my day as an official marching band groupie. (With both my sisters married to band directors, what else could I be?)

Here’s what I mean with my theory: If you ranked all the high schools in Georgia based on the traditional methods (test scores and the like), most all of them from the top on down would offer a broad, well-rounded curriculum that includes a large and successful fine arts program.

Which is to say, most likely, that they have good music departments, which more often than not translates into a good marching band.

My argument for good marching bands is really a metaphor for quality fine arts programs overall, because like it or not the marching band is the showcase product that most of the general public sees. Thousands of folks packed into a stadium for a football game aren’t likely to show up for a pre-festival concert in February, after all.

In Fayette County, we’re blessed with schools that have some of the finest music programs and directors (both instrumental and choral) in the state.

Starting in the youngest elementary grades, Fayette students are taught music appreciation by certified music teachers, something that, I’m sad to report, is becoming more and more scarce across America.

Further, Fayette County schools start beginner band classes in fifth grade, which is almost unheard of in today’s tough budget times.

Band directors will tell you that starting kids one year before they reach middle school makes a huge difference in the quality of the programs once they reach high school.

The icing on the cake is that Fayette County has fully staffed, graded string orchestra programs starting in the elementary grades as well, one of only a handful of school systems in Georgia to do so.

If you’re like me, there’s just something neat about seeing a freckle-faced kid toting a cello case home on the school bus.

Many school districts across the state have cut out elementary music classes altogether as a way to cut costs. In the past two budget years, Fayette County has not only ignored any suggestions to cut fine arts funding, they’ve added teachers and programs.

So in case you didn’t realize it before, music education is big in your local schools, and it’s another thing that contributes to the overall high quality of life we enjoy.

It should go without saying that the kids in the band deserve your respect. Locally, the marching bands go off to summer camp about the same time the football teams do, and they sweat just as much.

That’s why it angers me the way fans at a certain “football school” in south Fayette County treat their marching band whenever the kids take the field at half-time.

To be blunt, Starr’s Mill athletic boosters should be ashamed of their lack of support for the kids in the Panther band. I’ve witnessed it for years, and I saw it again loud and clear last week.

Here’s a bit of half-time etiquette for the folks down Redwine Road: It’s fine to go to the bathroom or get a Coke at the mid-point of the game.

But standing up and turning around to chat with your neighbor with your backside aimed at somebody else’s kids is not.

If you haven’t noticed, the band parents cheer the football team. Return the favor, why don’t you?

Starr’s Mill parents can take a lesson from none other than Fayette County High, where coach Tommy Webb told boosters last year his goal is to field the kind of football team that will compel fans to stick around after the Marching Tigers perform at half-time. He wasn’t kidding.

The FCHS band is such a force in football games, its mere presence can turn the tide in a close contest. The Tiger band has actually drawn PENALTIES from game officials for playing too loud. It’s something the coaches, players and band directors are all keenly aware of.

And when the Marching Tigers take the field for half-time, nobody dares leave. The students in the stands scream and holler like they’re at a rock concert.

Webb has taught the football team, which includes several players who would be in the band if they weren’t on the sideline, to show proper respect to the band as well.

Friday night, as students swarmed the field after the Tigers’ big upset homecoming win, the football team ran over to the stands where the band was blasting away at “Eye of the Tiger” and hoisted their helmets into the air in acknowledgment. “Well, that’s kind of neat,” I said to one of the band directors.

“They do it every game, win or lose,” she replied. Imagine.

This area has a well-deserved reputation for fielding good marching groups. Tuesday night, weather permitting, the marching bands from Fayette County’s five high schools joined with the three Coweta schools to strut their stuff at the annual “Coweta-Fayette Exhibition.”

It’s sort of a “dress-rehearsal” to the competitive marching band season that actually began last Saturday and continues each weekend through the first of November.

For example, both the Spirit of McIntosh and Starr’s Mill Panther Pride, along with East Coweta’s band, will compete this Saturday at Marietta’s Lassiter High, home to arguably the best high school marching band in the entire nation.

Forty-two schools from across the country will compete against Fayette County, McIntosh and East Coweta on Oct. 22-23 in a two-day Bands of America “Super Regional” at the Georgia Dome.

Closer to home, there are three big contests in our area: The Sandy Creek Invitational at Sandy Creek High on Oct. 9; the 23rd Annual LaFayette Classic at Fayette County High on Oct. 30; and the Old South Festival at Newnan High, also on Oct. 30.