Immortal Words

“The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.” – John Quincy Adams

I am currently in the DFW metroplex with the Razorback Marching Band. On dinner break tonight, we stopped by a Barnes & Nobles where I was able to pick up a new book. This was a book of quotes entitled, The Essential Wisdom of the World’s Greatest Leaders. After dinner we went to a high school and performed after a high school football game. Following the performance, I was sitting on the bus reading through the quotes just to see if any popped out to me. The one above immediately caught my eye. It started to make me think about everyone’s influence on one another. One simple action, or one performance, has the potential to change millions of lives. On the other hand, one simple action or performance has the potential to do irreparable damage. The more powerful of a position you are in, the more drastic every decision you make can be. I am constantly thinking about the role of the educator. This is a position of almost absolute trust. The educator who has successfully won over the trust of their students with a combination of love and knowledge can do an immense amount of good and bad. The example we set outside of the classroom is easily the most overlooked area of our profession. I’m not talking about what we do in our free time. That is scrutinized in todays culture almost to a fault. I am more concerned with the conversations educators have with their students.

Four years ago (I think) the governing body of band directors in the state of Arkansas (ASBOA) decided to have their first state marching competition. This came after years of arguing about the validity of contests in music. One band director summed this up in a short talk in front of almost every band director in the state. The gist was as follows:

Competition is bad when competition is taught incorrectly. He then said that if competition made the members of his ensemble rude towards other organizations, or if there was bad sportsmanship between schools, it was HIS fault as the educator. In his opinion it was his job to teach his students how to treat others at a competition. It was his job to teach his students how to react to both good and bad scores at competitions. It was his job to lead the students into a healthy understanding of both competition and the influence competition has on the advancement of our craft.

This is one example of the many things that I believe can be said outside of rehearsal or class time. We as educators have to be constantly aware of the language we use off of the podium and outside of the classroom when talking to our students. We can easily turn our programs into whatever we want with a simple positive or negative word. This change can have lasting effects not only on the program, but on the future of a student and their peers for years to come.

This is just a narrow scope to which the above quote can be applied. This narrowness is a testament to the heavy burden that is placed on educators. We must be the reflection of the shining light within our students. We must cultivate this light and lead them to believe they are capable of being a positive influence in the world. This is a full time job that must show through in every conversation we have.