What would you be able to accomplish with less on your plate? Would you be able to plan for better rehearsals? Would you be able to go home sooner? These are the questions I hope to answer by sparking this discussion on involving more leaders in your program. In recent years, I’ve re-structured my own program’s leadership team to allow for a larger pool of participants, and as a result, I’ve seen a big change in program buy-in. Whatever your current leadership structure is, some of these ideas may complement what you are already doing. While a lot of these thoughts are brought to you via a marching band perspective, I encourage you to apply these same principles to other ensembles or even your general classroom management. I hope that by sharing some of our successes at Camp Hill, you can also be convinced to give this system some consideration.
Let’s unpack what I mean when I say “more leaders” in your program. The root of this philosophy is to build as much buy-in from students as possible. This buy-in will hopefully then translate to ownership, and thus, create or enhance a student-led culture within an ensemble. The main idea is simple: when leadership auditions roll around, award every student who is ready with a leadership position. Instead of students competing against one another, they compete against your personal standard of what a leader should be. For example, if out of twenty auditionees fifteen are responsible enough to lead their peers, all fifteen should be selected in the eyes of this philosophy. That does not mean that each one of those fifteen students must be section leaders in the traditional sense. Individual roles can be assigned based on each student’s strengths and weaknesses. Some strengths that my own students have exhibited have been in clerical tasks, communication, management (field lining crew!), and running sectionals, both visual and musical.
I first learned about this philosophy from a friend and colleague at another school. At the time, he was employing this strategy and seeing the buy-in for his program increase. Students began to take on smaller tasks that we as directors, and sometimes our staff members, take on. My friend was able to focus his time and energy into tasks that only he as the director could handle. At first, this was a jarring concept to me. Why would you just give away a leadership position to almost everyone who applies? After giving it some thought, I realized that there is no pedagogical purpose to gatekeeping the experience of leading one’s own peers to an arbitrary quota based on band size. What I noticed was that my leadership teams were more ready to take on tasks without me asking and after some time we were able to easily fit each leader into their own niche. We are not only teaching students about music but about how to exist in a society where one day they will be tasked with leading groups. We want to train effective and empathetic communicators who are builders of trust. This is at the heart of everything we do and selecting more leaders who can handle the responsibility can provide these experiences.
Let’s discuss what this looks like at Camp Hill. In 2024, the marching band was comprised of about 64 students. In the winter months, we begin our leadership auditions. Every student in grades 9th through 11th is encouraged to audition. In past years there has been a tendency for younger students not to audition because they would like to provide the space for older students to be awarded leadership roles in hopes that when they are upperclassmen, they will be selected. This mindset was built out of students thinking that they are in competition with one another for leadership roles. Now, we have a large turnout of students signing up for leadership positions. Not all students are ready, however, as students who are selected must demonstrate good work ethic, accountability, and responsibility throughout the season, not just during the audition window. Following auditions, we may end up with anywhere from 10-20 leaders. While that is a lot for a small to mid-size band, we do find a specialty for each leader.
Specialization and training happen during the spring and early summer months. Each year we host a retreat where students not only receive leadership seminars but gain hands-on experience running sectionals and setting goals. During this time, students start to figure out if they haven’t already what their strengths and weaknesses are and how they synergize with the leaders around them. Ideally, each section would have its own specialist who is comfortable running either music or visual sectionals. If this does not happen, two sections may be paired together. For example, our tenor saxophone section would pair off with either the alto saxophones or low brass (depending on the part rehearsed) since those two sections had dedicated specialists for sectionals. This avoids putting a leader who is uncomfortable running sectionals in that type of a position and prevents putting someone in a leadership position just so a section can have someone to run sectionals. As students enter our Mini and Band camps, they get increasingly more time to hone their skills under staff supervision with crystal clear goals. Often in the early season, we task our sectional leaders with aiding students in memorization while we pull students for playing tests. Other leaders may be tasked with prepping the field for rehearsal, communication to section members, leading memorization checks, sweeping the field post-rehearsal, and other duties as assigned. The educational staff for the marching band also plays a role in demonstrating techniques for running sectionals to those students tasked with a more educational role. Much of this framework then transfers indoors to the band room. Students who are invested in the program keep the band room tidy, recruit new members, and are on top of their schoolwork because of the heightened expectation of them. This investment has spread to other students in my program as well beyond just the leadership team and thus has taken so many items off my plate. I am appreciative of all they do for the program, and I believe that we have all become a better team through this experience.
Do keep in mind that every program is different and what has worked for my students may not work for your students. Additionally, it may take time to see results from this change so stay consistent but don’t be afraid to make small tweaks to better suit your needs! I sincerely hope, however, that you consider giving thought to using some of these thoughts in your leadership program. We have the opportunity to provide more experiences for kids to get them ready to take on the real world, so it only makes sense that we give everyone a chance to lead.
Armon Raygani is the Director of Bands at Camp Hill Middle & High School where he directs all instrumental activities and oversees the Fine Arts Department. He can be reached at araygani@camphillsd.k12.pa.us
Special thanks to Seth Jones at Spring-Ford High School, the mentor mentioned in paragraph 3, for introducing me to this philosophy.
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