Music Education in Texas Pt. 1

I have been planning on putting up a post detailing my experiences in music education here in Texas since the end of my first year teaching in May 2022. There has been so much to take in here between the band scene, percussion ensemble pedagogy, and various other opportunities that have presented themselves along the way, that my initial plan admittedly fell by the wayside a bit. As an implant here in Texas, having taught fairly extensively in both Pennsylvania and Arizona, my plan with this blog post is to really touch on what makes music here so different at the middle school and high school levels especially. It would be quite the undertaking to fit all of my thoughts just into this one post, so I decided splitting it up into 2 parts would be best. My hope is that I can inspire other educators outside of Texas to really strive for the level of excellence that is being achieved by so many schools here. I have now presented on this topic at 2 separate universities, and so much of my planning for this post has come from my time spent researching for said presentation. I will start part 1 of this post by looking at the “every day” of the beginning instrumentalists up through high school, and how I think this impacts the quality of music education here in Texas.

“Beginners”

In Texas, students really start honing in on their craft (their specific instrument) in 6th grade. Some states actually start a bit earlier than this, so I have received MANY weird looks when telling my colleagues this from out of state. Students go through a selection process near the middle of 5th grade to determine what instrument they will best be suited for. This process is not exactly 100% accurate but does tend to integrate the kids as best as possible on an instrument that is in their top 3 choices. Experienced music educators and performers are often brought in to put the students through a series of tests that are specific to the instrument they are in charge of. For example, the percussion process has simple coordination and call and response challenges.

This, in my opinion, is not only a fantastic way of getting the right kids in the right spots, but also gets them excited about the instrument. If they’re not excited about it, then hopefully the testers can tell that and suggest other instruments or other paths. In my 2 years of testing experience now, it is a mostly straightforward process that gives you great insight to the quality of beginners a program will have. Not everyone you select may want to do percussion of course, and the students choice will also need to be taken into account, but in general this is the path of least resistance.

After a beginner has been selected, they start the next fall at the beginning of the school year. They now begin training every day with a band or percussion director (percussion director specifically? More on that later) every day for the entirety of the year. For percussionists, this means how to hold the sticks, how to read the most basic rhythms, how to approach the drum/keyboard, and more. Eventually these students play a marimba and snare drum solo by the end of the year, and many are selected to play with a full band that often meets outside of school. These kids really do hit the ground running and, as a lesson teacher especially, it is extremely humbling to bear witness to the musical growth of the youngest students in such a short amount of time.

How Band Works: A (very brief) Overview

Once the beginners have gotten through 6th grade and enter middle school proper, they spend the bulk majority of their time in a band class, very similarly to many other states. They meet every day and work on difficult repertoire that has different goals depending on the time of year. Often times, the fall semester is looking toward a Christmas concert at the end of the semester while training the students on just HOW band works. By the spring semester, the focus is on competition season and every band works on specific rep geared towards this. There are still some standards I do not quite understand here, like the requirement of doing a march every year, but maybe that’s for another post.

The competition season is run by an organization called UIL or the University Interscholastic League. This governing body is in charge of MANY competitive facets of Texas including the arts and sports. UIL’s job is ultimately to even the playing field of schools from around the state, and they do this by setting up certain regulations and rules that every school must abide by. I have my problems with UIL but I do believe it is one of the best regulatory organizations that exists in any state. UIL also takes charge of the majority of marching season for the high schoolers, plus solo and ensemble competitions.

Speaking of solo and ensemble, the middle schoolers also go through this exercise and by spring semester, have solos picked out. They practice these in conjunction with their band music and even percussion ensemble music. The middle schoolers really do have a lot on their plate and are treated like collegiate players much of the time. They balance these 3 activities and by 8th grade, most of the students are very used to it. This is where Texas is very good at pushing their students to cultivate a program that is successful in everything it does. These kids are playing every day, sometimes for multiple hours, and the hard work pays off by the time they get to high school.

These mindsets carry into high school and many bands are asked to play at TMEA and Midwest conferences, where they get to show off on a national stage. The year round playing and extra rehearsals translates to the kids constantly working on curating a better sound on their instrument. For percussion, they are often allowed to be pulled from class occasionally, to study with the percussion director on a more focused basis. This means the kids are getting attention specific to them and, from my point of view, it is accelerating their growth faster than almost anywhere else in the country.

Marching Band

To be fair, marching band could almost definitely have it’s own lengthy post, because Texas has such a history of excellence when it comes to this facet of music. In the fall, every high schooler in a given district participates in the marching arts, often at a very competitive level. UIL governs this part of the arts, as mentioned above, to the point that they actually limit the schools to 8 hours of rehearsals a week. There are other more specific regulations that accompany this, and they are all meant to even out schools that have vastly different resources, or are from very disparate socio-economic backgrounds. I enjoy this part of UIL from a general standpoint, and think a lot of other states could learn from this way of thinking.

Marching season takes place starting, for many of the schools, with a 2 week long intensive camp usually late into the students summer break. The band performs at football games and competitions after the season stars, similar to programs in any other state, but the main differences come with band funding, and the overall quality of educator that is being hired for these major schools. Funding can come from a lot of places and, from what I have experienced, almost every student in every district pays to do band out here. This is, for better or for worse, a foreign concept to a lot of out of state bands, and one that directors often have a tough time implementing. It does, though, help a band afford things like lots of teaching help and the larger than life props Texas is known for. The students go through hours of rigorous learning and training during the week, and the quality really does speak for itself when you’re standing in front of a hornline that could fit in with drum corps. There is a TON more I could go into detail about, and I would be happy to answer any more specifics on a private basis.

Conclusion Pt. 1

I have garnered a respect for every educator I have worked with out here, and they truly care a lot about their craft. Even the youngest and newest teachers have a fantastic understanding of what it takes to be great in such a cut throat environment. The kids grow up in this intense musical environment and really tend to take what their instructors say with the utmost importance. From my experiences, these young kids can be pushed harder than I thought possible while teaching and growing up in other programs outside of Texas. It is exciting to work every day for programs that truly care about music education, and I am very lucky to be doing so. In my next post I plan on talking more in depth about what it is that Percussion Directors (and assistant percussion directors) do on a daily basis, while detailing a little more about what is really expected of the students throughout their careers. I also will touch more on percussion specifics, such as the state of the percussion ensemble scene out here, because that is a whole other beast in itself. For now though, I hope my colleagues and friends who are teaching outside of Texas can marinate a bit on some of these thoughts and maybe use them to keep bettering their own programs.