What is an Interesting/Unusual Question You’ve Heard in a Job Interview for a BAND Position?

In our recent survey, we asked Band Directors Talk Shop readers, “What is an interesting/unusual question you’ve heard in a job interview for a BAND position?”  With hundreds of responses to the survey, we came up with this categorized list of your answers to the oddest or downright inappropriate questions you’ve been asked! Thanks so much to all of our readers who took the time to fill out the survey. Keep an eye out for more Readers’ Collaborative Posts in the future!

General

• “If your teaching style were an object, what object would it be?”
• “How would you deal with this parent…?”
• “What is your greatest weakness?”  Looking for better answers than, ‘I’m a perfectionist’ or ‘I work too hard.’”
• “How do you assign a grade to something that is creative?”
• “How much do you agree that there is some truth to this phrase: ‘Teaching would be great if it weren’t for the kids’?”
• “Tell me your vision.”
• “What is the first thing that you want to change if you get this job?”
• “How would you handle a student who is enrolled in your class but doesn’t want to play an instrument?”
• “Why can’t the beginning band students just all start together in one class in September?”
• “Describe a middle school band student using a simile or metaphor.”
• “How are you going to get a student to care about learning to play clarinet when they don’t know where their next meal is coming from?”
• “Describe your ideal instrumentation for a 100 piece 6th-grade band.”
• “If we asked former students to tell us about you, what would they say?”
• “What is the most important song for the band to learn?”
• I was asked about discipline – and what steps I would take.

Music

• “Are the following pitch tendencies sharp or flat for each of the following notes on the specified instruments…”
• “Put the following aspects in order of importance: embouchure, tone, tongue, air support, posture?”
• I was asked to rattle off a concert program (titles and composers) on the spot.
• Being asked to sight-sing.
• Complex oboe fingerings!
• “Can you play all of the instruments?”
• “If you were given X amount of money to buy music (not band arrangements – music to listen to), what would you buy?”
• “We’d like to hear you play something on the piano.”

Administration

• “How do you approach the administration about the program?”
• “We have kids who, because of scheduling, can’t take band as a class. How do you plan on incorporating them?”
• “Would you be able to work without band boosters?”
• Most questions were about assessment and non-music things.

Random

• “Can you turn a tractor over on its side and fix it?”
• “Do you have a CDL?”
• “If I asked you to play 4 quarters of a basketball game, would you?”
• “Name the colors of the rainbow?”
• “What is your favorite color?”
• “Were you involved in sports in high school?”
• “What would you do if you weren’t a band director?”
• “If 2 football players were in a fight in the hall and one of them pulled a knife, what would you do?”
• “Is there a question you wished had been asked, if so, put it in the form of a question and answer it.”

Are you kidding me?

• “You’re a young guy…the girls are going to like you! How would you handle a student making a pass at you?”
• I am female, and when applying for a band position, he kept directing me the choral and elementary positions open.
• After I was given a list of courses I would be teaching in addition to band, “What is a class that is not currently on your schedule that you would be interested in creating and teaching?”
• “Are you married?”
• “Are you a Christian and what church do you go to?”
• “I’ve never worked with a female band director before. What do I need to know?”

Related Reading:
What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Band Director
How to Interview for a Band Director Position – What They Want to Hear (TBA Archives)
Advice for Those Seeking Band Director Jobs (from Directors Around the Country)

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