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That is a really horrible way to choose a section leader. I hate that as much as I hate the seniority choice(seniors get it, if no seniors junior, if no juniors nobody kind of thing). I think the seniority thing is much of the reason why I didn't get section leader.

We actually have auditions for section leader, drum major and drill instructor. The audition is mostly commands and teaching. Marching and playing play a part in who gets the part, but not very much. Obviously, you must be able to march as well as play your instrument. Seniority plays a light part apparently too.

Persoanlly, I think I would have made a better section leader then the senior who got it. Don't get me wrong, I love her. She is really funny, nice and just great to be around, but she is not a good leader or teacher. Plus, she is never with our section. she is always with other sections, so us sophomores are always giving the freshman advice, explaining things, helping out if they have a question, etc. Yeah, it is fine to mingle with other sections. Everyone does it. But you do need to give your own section some love, especiallly when more then half of it are freshman who honestly need quite a bit of help(questions and marching). Then in sectinals she is never really teaching anything. She just makes us play it over and over again, rigt or wrong(for the freshman, mostly wrong>.>) She also needs to watch their marking time, which she doesn't. I have yet to see most of the freshman together when marking time. Its pretty bad. And then the freshman won't listen to us sometimes.

So, the point of my story is: You can be an upperclassmen, but you may not be the best leader.

Okay, I'm done

Well that's stupid. I'm an alto sax and we have three section leaders who're really good. They should be chosen for how good they are, not how high they can play.

im in a middle school band and last year (6th grade) my bd said the section leader was an 8th grader and she never played. She was always talking to the flute section leader and my bd even said that i would possibly be the leader if i werent teaching this new girl in band. She learned so fast and plays pretty much as well as me but he still won't make me leader, so he promised it to me for 7th grade.

im done ranting for now.

hmm the way we do it is an interveiw, no playing test.

Wow.

In my band, becoming a Section Leader, Drill instructor, or drum major has an extremely rigorous audition process. You have to be a good marcher, a good player/performer and you have to have a good track record/the directors have to like you. You have to go through three rounds of auditions. First you have to write a leadership essay, fill out a resume, get one former leader, one woodwind player, one brass player, one percussionist, and one guard member to fill out an evaluation form on weather or not they think you'd be a good leader; and turn them all in by a certain due date. Then you have to teach a randomly selected group of band members about proper posture, how to forward, and backward march in front of all the directors. The people in the group can be made up of incoming freshman who know nothing or upperclassmen who know everything but are encouraged to mess up and force you to fix them. The directors then evaluate your teaching skills. If you make it past that point then you have to get your personal director to chose you over anyone else in your section who tried out for the position. Then during the summer before band camp there's a leadership that all leaders HAVE to attend. One of my tuba friends missed the mandatory leadership camp because he was marching Carolina Crown and had his leadership position taken away. So yeah. Our auditions are intense.

Oh, and it means you don't necessarily have to be a senior or first chair (though it helps) you just have to be really dedicated to the band. And you have to really want it. Otherwise, why would you put yourself through all that? lol

Our section leaders all pretty much the people you would expect. The players that have good range but are also fun to be around, cuz no one wants to take time out of their day to go to sectionals if their leader isn't fun.

Then again, i can't think of a single person in my band that isn't amazingly fun to begin with...

I never explained our audition process.

After I think it is 4 weeks of leadership and student staff training, the first thing we do for auditions is go onto the practice field and do some marching. It is basically an easy drilldown, just nobody gets pulled out if you make a mistake. The whole time the judges, who are not current instructors or band director so their is no previous knowledge of the person they are judging, are watching us and marking down what we do good and bad and givving us a score. Next we go on to commands. We are pulled out in score order according to our isntrument, while everyone else is still in the marching block. The person pulled out says their name, section and position they are going for, and then they have to command the rest of the potential leaders to do stuff, like go to attention, parade rest or marktime. They are scored on how clearly they say it, voice projection, and ability to notice they are clling you(which I think I failed at). After everyone is done, we go inside and everyone sits in the auditorium wth their instruments. The judges go into the bad room and a few rythms are written on the board(only the peple in the band room can see them). In score order, we go into the band room one at a time(1 in band room, 1 in hall to wait and 1 just inside the door of the auditorium so we have a continuous flow) Inside, we sit down and are instructed to sightread two small pieces, and then we have to teach one of the rythms to the judges(awkward!) After that, we are done, and we find out wh made it later on. Drum majors have to stay after everyone else to have a private interview with the judges. I'm not sure if they do conducting while or instead of the playing and teaching test or in the interview, but they get a piece a few weeks before and a cd to conduct to, and they have to have cues and everything to get the position.

Oh yeah, my sl nd I do not get along well. She is always "sarcastic"(Her words. I don't believe her on that one, but whatever)

We have tryouts during Mini Band Camp (where we first get our music and refresh basics memory and introduce freshmen if you don't have this).

It used to be that we'd have a teaching test, where they'd watch us teach music and a marching test, where they'd watch us march and command others.

Now, they watch you for all three days of mini band camp to see how you interact with your section. They see how you help out with freshmen when learning the new music.

In the afternoon on the first day they have a seminar for section leader wannabe's. They refresh you on marching and teach you how to teach marching and give you a chance to call commands and fix people.

On the second afternoon it's the freshmen and us. We have to help teach them marching basics. They really watch us then.

On the third afternoon everyone gets a refresher on marching basics and they continue watching how we interact with the freshmen or others that need help.

So basically anyone who wants to try out gets to be a pretend section leader for three days, and the directors pick the best one for each section. However, experience is also considered.