Band attendance: A Perennial Predicament 

Every student in the Gilman Upper School band is familiar with the constant struggle of maintaining band attendance throughout the school year. Whether it be three different away games, a Gilman plague, or constant upperclassmen desertions, the Gilman band is continuously challenged in terms of attendance. Despite this, the band still performs consistently well; however, it has yet to unleash its full potential due to its failure to achieve a high rate of attendance.

Several factors continue to hinder higher band attendance. Mr. Lander, director of the Upper School band, identifies the main problem as scheduling conflicts: “I think it’s just when the band meets and what things meet at the same time as the band, so a lot of overlap with clubs.” Mr. Lander acknowledges that students shouldn’t have to give up club or other extracurricular opportunities to participate in band, and thus, he works with students on an individual level to smooth out these conflicts. This approach, which requires a significant amount of extra work on the band director's part and still sometimes results in students missing rehearsals, is far from ideal. Another major factor impacting attendance is academic pressure, as students miss band to “make up tests, meet with teachers, all that stuff.” 

Additionally, there are those who skip band entirely. When asked if and how many people skip, Ray Yang ‘28 replied, “Yes, they do… like 10-15 people.” This number may seem small, but when one considers that the average band attendance typically ranges from 40 to 45 people, ten people becomes far more significant. At the center of this problem is a lack of accountability and credit for attendance. 

While creating a class may help to ameliorate attendance, this approach also ultimately carries problems of its own. As band would occupy a class slot, this would limit band members' ability to take other courses. Additionally, as the band has members from all levels of the upper school, scheduling conflicts with other classes are unavoidable. However, this approach would ensure far greater attendance, provide a greater incentive to practice, be graded, and have a more organized and consistent structure. Students would also not be entirely averse to this approach, as Ray Yang ‘28 voiced support for it: “It’s not a class, that’s one of the worst things. I think it should be a class, Mr Lander is right.” 

Another, more balanced alternative would be to give credit for band while keeping it a program, rather than a class. This approach would eliminate the downsides of a band class, while still holding members accountable by giving them credit for participating and practicing. Students such as Silas O’Hanion ‘28 voice support for this:” I think right now, the way Gilman does music credits, it’s just terrible. So I feel like adding a little bit more weight to our music program would definitely help.” Gilman’s band program actually used to have a similar system, but it was repealed six years ago. In terms of alternatives, this middle-ground option seems to be the most feasible and reasonable.

While the band’s attendance remains a problem, the situation isn’t entirely negative; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Fortunately, band attendance this year is actually significantly higher than in previous years, signaling that the program is in a healthy state. In addition to this, the band continues to play exceptionally well and has introduced new programs, such as Percussion Thursdays, during which Mr. Lander provides specific and in-depth instruction to the percussion section. 

The program's situation, while unique, highlights many of the broader problems associated with clubs at Gilman. As students engage in an increasing number of new extracurriculars, traditional programs such as band should find methods to increase attendance rates and address the challenge of working with these students.