A letter from the President
of the SCBDA, Tom Finigan.

Other Letters

"Summer 2003"

Hey Folks! I hope all of you had a restful summer and had a chance to recharge and regroup for another school year. All of us need some recovery time. Time to reflect and just take a breather. It is very important for all of us to take some personal time and spend it with our loved ones and family.

A new school year always brings excitement and anticipation, but at the time I am composing this letter, our state's schools are bracing for the difficult challenge of trying to provide a quality education to the youth of South Carolina on a shoestring budget. Many of our music programs have been cut and some have been done away with all together. As band directors, we understand that budgetary restrictions are being mandated throughout the country, and administrators are being forced to make band the target of this fiscal cutting process. The results are we may not have a middle school band program to feed our high school bands and our high school bands may not have funding at all. Without BAND who plays the "National Anthem" at the ball games? Without BAND who marches in the local parades? Without BAND who plays Holiday Concerts and Graduation? Most important of all who will teach these students how to play?

It is crucial for you to make your band program so valued in your community, that your district would be hard pressed to have it done away with. WE need to reeducate our administrators and communities on how vital your band program is. We need to make our bands in South Carolina the most visible part of the school. It may mean that you need to play a few more concerts or march in an extra parade, but in the long run it may impress on the average citizen (taxpayer) that without BAND, our communities would suffer. In the end, our kids will suffer too.

A majority of voters believe music education programs should be funded from the school budget. If school budgets are cut - BAND programs are cut too! Remember that band parents are VOTERS TOO! These people voted for our legislators and we need to remind them to support our children and their band programs. Please contact your local legislators and make sure they know how important your program is. Better yet, have your band parents (voters) contact them and remind them too!

I know that I may be preaching to the choir, but BAND instills students with the life-skills of responsibility, discipline, group cooperation, self-esteem, and develops creative problem-solving skills. In BAND, commitment is fundamental and transfers to every other part of life. You may need to remind your faculty, principals, administrators and board members of how important your band program really is.

I want to thank our SCBDA Executive Board for the continued growth that our association enjoys. These people do so much for our association and for the band students in South Carolina. It is important that all of our association be involved. If you have a new teacher in your district, make sure they read through this issue of the MUSICIAN and they attend our fall meeting at Ridge View High School on September 6 at 2 PM. We will have a "New Band Directors" session at 1 PM.
This handbook issue of the SC MUSICIAN is an indispensable planning tool. Please read over the BAND division section carefully and highlight the dates and deadlines that pertain to you and your students. Also, plan to use the SCBDA Bandlink website, www.bandlink.org as a tool for online registration for our events. Bandlink is the model now for many other state band associations websites. A HUGE thank you to Jeff and Donna Thompson for keeping Bandlink on the cutting edge in cyberspace!

SCBDA is great organization and I am honored to serve you as President. If I can be of any assistance to you, please contact me. Have a great school year and remember Music is Instrumental to Success!

Tom Finigan
President
South Carolina Band Directors Association