I know this may seem a bit odd coming from a band director, but this may not be too far from the truth. Distinguished ratings, awards, and high-quality performances currently judge the success of our programs. While I agree that these attributes have a place in music education, judging music education in this way does not meet our students needs, and by transfer the needs of society. Don't misunderstand me, my goal is to present some thoughts that will challenge the modern concept of the instrumental and choral program, and what we perceive as successful music education in them. It is not my intent to negate the wonderful music learning and performing that occurs in ensemble participation, but to shed some light on the changes that are occurring in the lives of our students. Consider the following situations: In the first example we see a director whose focus is on the physical aspect of playing or, in other cases, the literature being played. (I realize this may be a great exaggeration, but I use it to illustrate a point.) The second example illustrates the role that music has in the lives of our students, and by transition society. While these examples seemingly have nothing to do with each other, they illustrate the widening gap between what music education is in large ensemble instruction in middle and high school, and the role that music serves in their life outside of school.

When students enter beginning band, orchestra, or choir are we preparing our students for the musical life they will most likely experience once they leave our ensemble? Or, is this the first day of the end of their music making, a countdown to graduation where they will "hang it up"? We spend much of our time teaching literacy and literature. We attend so many clinics on "Forgotten Gems", "Teaching Percussion Doesn't Have to Hurt", "Easy Tips for the Changing Male Voice", and "Double Reeds: NOT Tools of the Devil", that we often lose sight an education in music that our students will (not just can) use. The music making we currently prepare them for will exist only for a few and in most cases (but not all), only the best few. But before we look at what needs to be changed, we must first establish some common understanding about what programs currently do, and what students do when they leave them. I feel it works best to start at the end of the process and work backwards.

When they leave school
A trend of non-participation is shown by the recent study completed by National Endowment for the Arts in 2008. In a comprehensive survey of more than 18,000 adults on various aspects of arts participation it was shown that arts (and more specifically music) attendance was down across all age groups in 2008. Certainly the economic conditions would have an affect on music attendance, but a further look at the data will reveal some telling trends in how adults participate in music. Of specific note are:

• Attendance at all forms of concerts (jazz, classical, opera, and latin) has shown decline since 2002
• Adults aged 40-54 (traditionally the largest age group that attends) attending arts events have dropped 12 percent to 36%.
• Attendance correlates with years of formal education. In 2008, 67 percent of people with graduate degrees attended at least one arts activity, compared with only 38 percent of people with some college education and 19 percent of people with only a high school diploma.
• The percentage of adults creating, performing, or learning about music has shown steady decline from 47% in 1982 to 34% in 2008 (National Endowment for the Arts, 2009)

In an examination of the choral experience at a high school by Melissa Arasi, it was found that those students perceived the outcomes of choral ensemble participation were critical thinking and self-confidence. But participation in these activities was not found to encourage lifelong participation in music (Arasi, 2006). As a united profession of music educators, we cannot be surprised at this. We have spent much of our time selling music education for it's non-musical outcomes. It would seem that we might be contributing to our own death.

In another research study about adult music education interests and experiences it was found that ensemble participation fell considerably after high school. (Bowles, 1991) So are we truly producing life-long musicians through ensemble participation? It is clear at least, that results from participation in our ensembles can be called into question. When a student looks back on his/her time in an ensemble and does not immediately recall musical experiences and cannot recall musical knowledge we have ultimately failed in our job.

While They're in School
In 2007 John Kratus wrote an article for Music Educators Journal titled "Music Education At the Tipping Point" where he presents a very compelling look at the shift in how music is now experienced outside of the classroom. In short it calls in question the viability of the standard model for music instruction in middle and high school. How do students' participation in band or choir prepare them for musical life beyond the ensemble? (For the sake of argument we are going to ignore those that choose a career in music.) It is up to us to as current educators to prepare students for a musical future of their choosing. Because as Dr. Kratus points out, society decides what it values, and concert band music and choir music do not fall in the category of popular music. He breaks down the differences between how music is experienced both in and out of school in the following chart.

In-School Music	Out-of-School Music
Satisfies curricular goals	Satisfies the user's personal and emotional goals
Large-group oriented	Individualistic
Makes little use of technology to connect students to others	Makes us of technology to connect mavens across distances
Primarily classical	Primarily nonclassical
Emphasizes one-time concerts, requiring the audience to be present in a single location at a specified time	De-emphasizes formal concert attendance, enabling a performance to be experienced over time and distance
Usually composed by others	Often homemade
Makes limited use of guitar and keyboard, instead focusing on instruments that restrict musical involvement after graduation except in large ensembles.	Makes wide use of guitar and keyboard, allowing for a lifetime of musical involvement, alone or with others

* (Kratus, 2007)

Our students don't experience music the same way we did. With these changes, we must adapt to meet their needs and in turn the needs of society. Current ensemble participation is due to the growth of band and choir programs because of a sociological need for recreational music during and following World War II. Traditional Big Bands filled this need. The idea of attending an orchestra concert was a desirable way to spend a night. Mass media during this time did not fulfill this need, so ensemble participation thrived. This was also evidenced in the growth of marching bands designed to entertain people in parades, and thanks to the University of Illinois, during halftime. But even this has changed. In every Super Bowl the halftime show is performed by pop music celebrities. Even during the NCAA championship football game, little on-air time is given to the halftime performances by the bands. Mass media and pop culture have replaced the need for band and choir in and by society.

It is probably safe to say that most directors feel that the goal of their program is to "build lifelong musicianship." It is evident in the approach that is taken with a heavy focus on literature that music literacy is the objective of "lifelong musicianship". It is often stated that the true measure of musicianship is sight-reading. Spending 7 years (or eight) years in band/choir to only graduate and be able to say "I can sight-read music" seems a rather narrow goal in music education.

When sight-reading or music literacy is the endgame of ensemble participation we cannot be surprised that students don't continue to play and sing socially after their schooling is over. Sight-reading and music literacy must be the beginning of a musical life that leads to creativity and exploration in music. There exists an implicit assumption that ensemble participation provides students with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to participate successfully in a variety of meaningful music experiences in adult life. But many children do not choose to participate in the adult music experiences we may have prepared them for.

Why is this important to us? As core class credits continually intrude into elective credits, it is becoming increasingly difficult for our students to take multiple music classes. In many cases, the band or choir director only teaches their ensemble plus either humanities, or doubles at the middle school in the same position. It will be through our ensembles that students will earn their music education at the most important developmental stage for future tastes.

Synthesis
So with such a focus on literature and literacy, and the evidence of what society values we are faced with a dilemma. We have classes that are popular (the average band/choir class is much larger than other classes taken at school), and a demand in school for them. But, we do not have a societal edict to continue them. We float towards irrelevance unless we step away from our festivals and look at what is happening, not in our world, but the world our students will enter.

So what do we do about this? How do we as ensemble directors meet the needs of society while still preserving an important part of music? How can we integrate the needs of our students and their musical society into the ensemble curriculum? A simple solution would be to shift the responsibility to elementary and middle school music teachers. But, we shirk our duties to our students by taking that path. Indeed, it is a shared responsibility amongst all music teachers working cooperatively within a district. I will offer some simple suggestions, but it (like everything else) is up to our creativity to find other ways to meet our students' needs.

Embrace Technology
Technology is the world of our students. We must embrace it as we do them. There are easy ways to do this. One is the use of recording. My students will record themselves playing and send it to me for assessment. We'll take this even further and use a music- sampling program to add a drum track or synthesizer effect to their music. They enjoy this, and it often strikes a creative chord with them. They will further explore this and eventually begin composing their own melodies. Through the simple act of recording and the marvel of technology available to them, my students are creating music and building a lasting appreciation for music. One that they can carry with them no matter what their future may hold.

Encourage individual music making
If we can guide the individual music making we can guide quality, and attitudes towards it. We already do this with performance, but we typically fail miserably in composing and improvising. Individual music making is also a way to embrace the pop genre in a way that will augment our curriculum. The trick is to find a way to make it fit with all of the other curricular obligations of our ensembles. This can be done in some of the dead time that exists after concerts or at the end of semesters. These activities will seem fun to the students because of the creativity involved.

Teach the internal instrument
Audiation. This is the true form of music literacy. This skill will have the most profound effect on the musical future of our students. When asked, it is safe to assume that most adults will attribute a decline in how to read music and diminishing physical skills as a reason for not continuing music. Being able to audiate will allow our students to continue to participate in music. Students who do not learn to truly audiate at all stages and levels never internally hear/read music as we do words. Whether you are listening, composing, performing, or improvising, audiation is a valuable skill.

Integrate Music Theory
While many directors do this as a part of music literacy, it is necessary to go deeper into this subject if we are going to empower our students to continue in music beyond schooling. Simple instruction in interval recognition is a great starting point in middle school bands. This paves the way for a deep understanding of chord formation in high school. And who knows, we might be able to teach voice leading. Students are capable of this, and it can be done in a way that complements music performance. This understanding will only improve ensemble performance, allowing for deeper and truer musical moments that will encourage a continuation in music beyond schooling. Students with a rudimentary understanding of chords will be able to feel confident in writing music.

Encourage Social Participation in Ensembles
In no other way can a connection to real-world music making be made than in this "learning as doing". It is up to us to expose our students to the opportunities to make music beyond school walls. Many churches have begun church orchestras. Even in smaller churches it will benefit a young clarinet player to play along. It will build transposition "chops" to be sure, but more importantly it will allow them to connect the skills they learn in school to a real-world emotional event. It goes without saying that vocalists have an easier job with this, because of the prevalence of church choirs, but very little "social" singing exists for them.

An encouraging trend is the creation of community bands. While many would have these for only those that have graduated high school, it provides a tremendous opportunity to blend generations. Students learn that music can continue, and see it in example by participating in these ensembles. They will often enjoy this music making more because of the lack of stress evident in school when they are trying to "get the rating". Exposing students to opportunities to make music that is not judged is an important step towards true life-long musicianship.

In Closing

This is a lot to take in. Implementing change in our approach to ensemble music is difficult with all of the obligations we already have. I fear however that we have reached a crossroads where we want to go one direction, but society has chosen another. Change has already started, and has been embraced by many marching bands. The inclusion of pop instrumentation, and contemporary pop songs in both competitive and non-competitive marching band is on the rise. Show choirs continue to embrace music making in ways that society has deemed popular.

So does this mean I feel we should do away with ensemble instruction? Quite the contrary, I feel so strongly about it's importance in our schools that I think we need to step back and analyze what the goals of participation are. I love teaching band. I don't think it is a waste of time. There are few curricular subjects that allow you to work cooperatively toward a common goal the way ensembles do, while still being able to meet individual needs, and allow individuals to excel. I feel that it is a vital part of music education. It is easy to have tunnel vision though. With so many festivals and association obligations, it's easy to lose sight of what should be our ultimate purpose.

I think it's important for our future to ask these questions, and examine our purpose. So when your students come in for beginning band or choir. Ask yourself, "What will my students learn in my current curriculum?" Then ask yourself, "What do I want them to learn?" We as music educators are placed in a unique circumstance where we can affect our own future more than any other educators.

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