In our recent survey, we asked Band Directors Talk Shop readers, “Why do you love being a band director?” With hundreds of responses to the survey, we came up with this categorized list of your answers of why you LOVE your job of being a band director! Thanks so much to all of our readers who took time to fill out the survey. Keep an eye out for more Readers’ Collaborative Posts in the future!
A-HA!
- I love seeing their eyes light up when they finally get it.
- Seeing the kids “light up” when they have success.
- I love the “A-Ha” moments! When a student has a hard time with a concept and then all of a sudden understands and can replicate it, it is the best part of my job!
- I love those “light bulb going off” moments. I love the goosebumps I get when we have a musical “moment”.
- That moment when it clicks with a student or an ensemble. Those moments are awesome!
- The feeling you and the group gets after you nail a performance. I love seeing their faces when they realize we’ve all worked well TOGETHER to make music.
- LOVE getting to see the sense of accomplishment on students faces going from barely getting out a first note to playing a song.
- Seeing an autistic child BEAM as she played the woodblock flawlessly at very specific times in the piece her class played at our spring concert! And I love to hear my band make beautiful music after weeks of hard work and devotion to band practice!
- The kids! I love the excitement on their face when they learn how to play something and it just clicks. I love when they want to play a solo for the class because they figured out how to play something by ear or by looking for sheet music on google. I like how most are comfortable playing introductions to the songs and not shy. It shows they are practicing and love their instrument.
Family
- Band gives students a home and family.
- I love the connections I make with my students.
- Because I get to grow musicians!
- Making connections with the kiddos!
- Because students can see how much fun we can have together making music and I get to build a relationship with everyone in my school.
- Making music every day! Also, I am the only band director at my small K-12 school so the band kids are MY kids from 4-12. We’re like a family.
- I get to instill the love and appreciation of music to all of my students. Playing duets with my students is educational and I truly enjoy making music with my beginning students.
- I love making music with my kids. Everyone is important. Everyone is needed! No one sits on the bench. We don’t put numbers or names on our uniforms. Everyone’s hair goes under the hats. We are uniform.
- I love the look on my student’s faces after their first performance, the excitement they have wearing their band uniform, the come camaraderie they have in the classroom, and I love that everyone gets along no matter where they are from, who their parents are, where they live, we are all a family!
- So much to say … love to allow kids to create music, have them be a part of a greater thing (that’s not athletics), the versatile skills they learn. And seeing the pride and belonging in their eyes!!
- The students are great, and I enjoy my music colleagues in the district. The community is also very supportive of the music program in the school district.
Growth
- I love growth!
- Because it’s fun to take a student from that first awful sound to her last performance.
- I love watching the growth the students make at each level and really enjoy the enthusiasm of the beginners.
- I really enjoy working with beginners because everything is new and they are so excited to learn.
- Because I literally get to follow my students from beginning through intermediate levels of playing, watching them grow from timid 9-year-olds to mature 14-year-olds who are funny, witty, and somewhat sarcastic.
- I teach 3rd, 4th and 5th-grade band, I love to process and watching the students go from barely making a sound to be accepted into the honor band and succeeding.
- Having the best subject to teach and I get to see my students year after year and see them grow.
- Seeing my students continue after they graduate
- I like to see kids excited about making music and creating their own compositions.
- Seeing my students grow into hard working, dependable and mature individuals through the use of music.
- I love being able to make an impact on kids in a positive way through music. They will never remember the music we played but they will remember the times we spent together and the life lessons they learned.
- I love that each year is different. We always have a new project that we are working on. I love seeing kids enter our program as 9th graders and leave as 12th graders. They change so much.
Personal
- This is what I was made to do.
- Music is my passion and I like to share that.
- I get to play music, have fun, and be silly every day.
- I get to work with kids and make music all day long!
- I love inspiring a love for music.
- I love people and I LOVE music. What better job is there?
- Hey, I get to do music every day! And I get to build relationships with some great kids. And I get to try and redirect a wayward student or two (folly as it sometimes seems…). It’s hard, but I don’t think I could see myself doing anything else.
- I get to MAKE MUSIC every day! And I get to bring kids to that place where the music we are making SPEAKS to their soul, those “goosebump” moments.
- The beautiful music I get to hear every day! When I feel my podium vibrating from the sound, it’s wonderful!
- So many reasons – the variety (I’m NEVER bored), the exercise, the crazy stuff the kids do, but number one – seeing the kids develop a lifelong love for music.
- I get to contribute to humanity by helping kids make great music.
- I get to share my passion for music with others and hopefully inspire students to develop a love for music!
- I LOVE helping kids, teaching them to make music, watching them grow as musicians, helping them reach goals, seeing them become a team, and growing up to be great people.
- I love kids, I love music. Every day is different, the kids love playing and the good feelings come from great music!
- I love my job because the kids want to be in my class and their musical progression throughout the year. When they begin to play musically and not just notes on the page, I feel the students enthusiasm.
Hard Work
- I retired at age 66…..eight years ago. Seeing how important being in band all four years in high school was to the students.
- I especially love my job when you see the look on the student’s faces when they have worked hard on some challenging aspect of music or piece of music and they all nailed it!
- I love having a group of students who can appreciate more about what goes into making music besides what is covered in general music class. I also like teaching students things like prioritizing, time management, diagnosing and solving problems, etc.
- I’ve often said that there is no logical reason to become a band director. It’s certainly not the money, fame, glory or any such thing. You will be ridiculed by your peers for not being a “real” teacher, you are underpaid and over-worked. It has to be a calling… It is something you “have to do”…As for the LOVE aspect, it is that we deal with students in ways that nobody else can. We develop musicians and develop their team building and leadership skills in ways that would be impossible in any other class. We also have the opportunity to be expressive in our own ideas and interpretations and help students explore those things in ways that no other class can.
- It’s all about working with young people. Our work is thankless and can be daunting when it comes to all of the non-teaching that we do. When I get down about the job, the kids always bring me back. They remind me why I got into the business in the first place.
- Middle school is a really difficult time in a person’s life. Band makes it better. I can see that when kids come into my room each day.
- The kids make it worthwhile. They will do whatever you ask if they trust you and respect you.
- When they ask do we have music today and the answer is yes – and then they smile. That students want to play music they would not normally listen too. It is my own special universe.
All of It
- What’s not to love?
- Everything.
- Kids!!!!!!!(x15)
- I have great students!!!!
- My kids. They Rock.
- It’s never boring.
- Kids and Music: Best Combination EVER!!!
- It’s a calling, not a career.
- It’s not just about the music, it’s about the everyday interactions!
- LOVE making music and sharing it!
- My kids choose to be there.
- The kids are the best. They’re hard working, dedicated, and NERDS.
- It’s immensely rewarding to watch kids find such joy with music.
- I like the way Plato said it “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but more importantly, Music, For in the patterns of music and all the arts are the keys to learning.” -Plato, 410 B.C.
Related Reading:
If I Knew Then What I Know Now…
64 Ways to Improve Student Performance in Band
How to Teach Focused Listening
The WHY of it All
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