Brooke Point High School band All States Erica Leja (from left), Concert Band fourth chair oboe; Teddy Kovacs, Concert Band sixth chair trombone; Chelsea Cook, Symphonic Band second chair bass clarinet; Ashleigh Bell, Concert Band sixth chair alto sax. rez

All Stafford high schools earned the designation of Blue Ribbon Schools for the county's music program

By ANNETTE JONES

Date published: 4/28/2004

MAKING beautiful music isn't easy. Just ask Brooke Point High School Band Director Doug Armstrong.

"It has to be a 100 percent unified effort, especially marching band," Armstrong said recently. "We can't call a time out and substitute a trumpet player."

For Armstrong and Colonial Forge Band Director Andrew Loft, this marks the second year in a row that the schools' music programs have earned Blue Ribbon honors. That means that marching band, concert bands and chorus have all received superior ratings. Stafford Senior High's Chuck Hite and Joe Tornello, first-year band director at North Stafford High School, also led their charges to that honor.

"I'm more than happy with the way my first year has gone," he said. "I'm so fortunate I can't even think straight most of the time."

The four band directors--Armstrong, Loft, Tornello and Hite--gathered at Colonial Forge recently to discuss the county's music program, which is threatened by budget cuts.

The band directors said the only way it was possible for their schools to earn Blue Ribbon status was through the excellent work done by the music teachers and band directors in the middle schools. Cutting back middle-school music is one of the options the School Board is considering to close a proposed budget deficit.

Having the students come up through the same system provides unique opportunities, the directors said.

"We are competitive but we aren't competing," said Armstrong, who has been with Stafford schools for eight years. "I don't want [the band] to do better than anybody else, but I don't want anyone to be better than us."

On the surface, that can be a contradictory statement. But the directors explained that in the band festivals, the group is competing against the ideal, not other groups. "You don't have a scoreboard," said Payne. "You have people who are subjective."

"It's not sport, it's art," Armstrong said. "It's a continual process. We all have the same goals. It's not about winning."

That sentiment was echoed by Hite. "If you concentrate on the competitive aspect, you are setting yourself up for failure."

Armstrong, who was Virginia Teacher of the Year in 2003, said the competitive aspect is not something he focuses on with students.

"Seldom do I talk about ratings and judges," he said. "I talk about musicianship. If we do that right, the ratings and judges will take care of themselves."

Band students--especially those in marching band--start practice in August and don't stop until school is out in June.

And the teaching is just part of it.

"Sometimes it comes down to situations," said Hite, who has been with Stafford schools for 17 years. Anything can affect a performance from the wind to the sun. "There's a hundred things that could happen."

Which is why having all four bands attain Honor Band status was so phenomenal to the quartet.

"We always seem to have one of us run into a wall," Hite said.

"There's not a single one of us who doesn't push their kids hard," Armstrong said. "The level of energy and passion we're asking them to pull out."

"When they are really creating music," Hite said, " there's more than notes."

To reach ANNETTE JONES: 540/368-5046 abjones@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 4/28/2004