Motivation for Marching Bands

By Cody Martin

Motivation is a very easily talked about subject, but it is a very hard thing to put in to your band program and players. Motivating your band is a job that will take a lot of time of work and will take even longer to perfect and keep in the program.

There are many different approaches to motivating your band, but in this article I will talk about a few simple ones, that almost any band can use. A few of these subjects will include music, awards, and student involvement. The Music You Choose as a Motivation The first motivation we will talk about is the music your band practices.

Music is one of the biggest parts of any band and program. Music is the heartbeat of your band; it makes the band move and come alive. It makes the band practice and play to the best of their ability. Music is one of the best motivations in the band. The key for the music to motivate your band is if the students like the music you are playing.

A band that is made of members that enjoy your music will be a band of happy and motivated members. My tips for motivating you members with music are let the members pick one song for each concert, do an all student picked music concert, or let your students pick your songs for the football/basketball band season. By following at least one of these tips your band will be full of happy motivated members. Awards an Rewards The next subject we will talk about is awards and rewards.

Through out the school year many awards are giving to students: perfect attendance, Honor Roll, Merit Roll, and many others, so why not take these simple awards and put a band twist on them. Through out our band year our director had two awards programs. Throughout both programs a few of our awards included most spirited, future band director, and most dedicated band member. These simple awards can motivate students to do better and become more enthusiastic in the band, during concerts, and award banquets.

Emotions Count Too! The third motivation in the classroom is positive emotions to enhance learning and motivation. Strong and ever lasting memory is connected directly with the emotional state, and experience, of the learner. What this means is that when you learn something in a manner that can surprise, frighten, or even sadden you it is easier to comprehend and remember.

In music this is a harder element to implement in the classroom, but can be done on the marching field or in a concert very easily. In marching band this motivation is known as a field show. Students doing a field show often can memorize their music because there is motion going on in the scene, instead of just sitting around through a concert. This element of motion can motivate a student just enough to make the student want to have the music memorized that way they can use all of their energy in making the show come alive and be vibrant. In concert band this is a harder element to obtain but it can be done in simple setting changes.

Making a simple change in lighting is the easiest way to motivate students during concert band performances. The simplest way to motivate students with lights is by having a spotlight on a section or student in the band. Not only will this emphasize a part of your band, but it will also motivate students to work harder to perfect their musical piece.

Motivation is not an easy subject to cover as a teacher, but as the years goes on and more classes and subjects are taught it will become more natural. But until your motivation efforts are perfected here are my motivational tips for teachers to students:

#1. Let students have say in your choices.

#2. Reward students when they deserve it.

And #3. Teach with emotions.

These are my tips for motivating students. Though they may not work for every student, they will work for many. What Put a Fire Under My Buttocks A look at what motivated me as a kid by Mark Ellis No matter what we do as adult teachers, motivating students is a difficult task, especially when it comes to Generation X. Kids today are involved in so many things that it is very hard to get them to focus on anything. When I was in Jr. High and High School (back in the ‘70’s) we had only 3 channels of TV that came in by antenna and sometimes that was not too clear. The most advanced video game was Pong (a very early version video Ping-Pong that required a whole game console for itself) and that easily gave way to playing the real Ping-Pong in the garage. The most advanced music item that I had in my room was a standard record player and a cassette player. In school, activity diversification was not encouraged a heck of a lot like it is today. It is not uncommon to have a student involved in Band, Sports, Drama, Art, Line Dancing, Llama Raising and a plethora of other time consuming events. (Talk about being a Jack of all trades and a master of none!!!) Hey, when I took Band in school it was either take Band or take something else but not both and all of my band directors made very sure that they pointed that out to us.