Measure by measure

“Prestissimo” is the tempo high school band directors know better than any other.

It’s the fastest speed a musician can play. It’s also the speed at which their school years fly by.

September through June are a blur in the band director world. Their days are jam-packed with classes and lessons. Performances, whether with the pep band, jazz band, drumline or other ensemble, dominate their evenings.

Allen Slater, Flathead High School’s band director, jokes that he and other directors work bankers’ hours.

“The bank closes, but they’re still in there working — it’s like that for a lot of teachers,” he said. “We’re going busy all the time.”

He and other directors already are gearing up for next year. They’re taking stock of this year’s students, figuring out who will return in the fall and who will graduate. They’re planning the music that will be part of the next bands’ repertoires based on each particular group’s strengths and weaknesses.

Meanwhile, they’re in the middle of pep-band season — what most people know as basketball season — and preparing for festivals, concerts and showcases.

“There’s really not a lull,” said Mark McCrady, the band director at Whitefish Middle School and Whitefish High School. “You never put your feet up from the start of the year.”

It’s all music, all the time — and the Flathead’s band directors wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I feel like it’s my calling. This is what I’m supposed to be doing,” McCrady said. “I try to remember that on the bad days.”

For Glacier High band director David Barr, the school day begins at 7:15 a.m. with jazz band. After school, the full band rehearses. In between are classes, including bands with three different proficiency levels, guitar and percussion.

It’s a full schedule, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

“That’s the stuff that’s written down,” Barr said.

Not written down but still important is his involvement with Glacier’s performance hall. He schedules and hosts performances there, with responsibilities ranging from opening the doors to tweaking the sound system to running the whole show.

Barr is also wrapping up a two-year appointment to the Montana Bandmasters Association board. He holds clinics and adjudicates at festivals across the state. And he is the head of Glacier’s music department, which adds responsibilities to his day.

Slater knows the pressure this brings to the job; he is the department head at Flathead. He also has a unique class; he teaches music in the school’s International Baccalaureate program.

IB music integrates music history with music analysis, Slater explained. Students in the class compare and contrast music genres and discuss what they hear structurally, chordally and harmonically in a piece, as well as that song’s historical context.

His other classes are more typical of a band director: three band classes and a percussion class. Jazz band practices after school. That’s also when he gives individual music lessons.

And just about any of the bands he directs could have a performance throughout the week.

“Those are the jugglings you do back and forth,” Slater said.

That juggling includes working with students of all abilities, from those who’ve barely begun to play an instrument, to those who’ve practiced long enough to develop real skill, and every step in between.

Switching gears between these skill levels and classes is a challenge, said Columbia Falls High’s band director, Karen Ulmer.

“The hardest part is to switch gears and remember everybody’s level, what they were working on and where they’re at,” she said.

As a middle school and high school band teacher, the ability levels McCrady works with vary even more. The range might daunt some, but McCrady thrives on it.

“I definitely get a lot of energy from both middle school and high school,” he said.

“Middle school kids are just hilarious; they’re just at a fun age where they’re less inhibited. ... They’re so much fun, they’re teachable, they’re open.

“And at the high school level, it’s a whole different thing, a different excitement level with the music they’re able to do.”

Ulmer said she, too, likes the challenge of working with so many different ability levels.

“My top percussion group is really fun. They’re finally getting into some really challenging stuff,” she said. “But I love watching the younger drummers get all excited about it.”

Ulmer also gets to work with one of the top jazz bands in the state. The Columbians, founded by the legendary Don Lawrence, celebrate their 50th anniversary this year.

They have around 14 or 15 performances a year, all of which Ulmer attends. Her younger band students have five concerts a year. The wind ensemble has several performances throughout the year. Students who performed for this year’s high school musical, “Willy Wonka,” had six or seven performances on their plate.

“Then you throw all the pep band in there” and Ulmer can no longer tally how many performances she heads a year.

There are those who don’t think band directors do enough. Usually these are the people who feel like something is missing from the game if the band isn’t there to perform.

“In their mind, they think the only thing I do is play at football games,” Slater said. “What they don’t see is on average a year I’m at 70 public performances.”

Fans tend to be slightly more forgiving during football season, when chilly Montana autumns can make for miserable nights for musicians. One Glacier halftime performance took place in 10-degree weather.

“Half the kids’ instruments froze so they couldn’t play,” Barr said. “Or they locked in G sharp — that was the only note they could play.”

The kids finished their performance anyway, he added proudly.

Bands used to play at more home games, Slater said, but that was before Title IX required equal boys’ and girls’ events. The law also requires the pep band to play an equal number of boys’ and girls’ games.

With about 10 home games each, that would mean 20 performances just during basketball season, Slater said.

“Pretty soon you have to decide, are you a music department that’s in charge of that, or are you just an extension of the athletic department?” he said.

Flathead schools’ music departments are definitely their own separate, and thriving, entities. Hundreds of students participate in high school music programs every year, and their band directors are there to teach and guide each one.

While they love music, local band directors agree they’re ultimately in the job for the students.

“I love all the little ‘a-ha’ moments when their faces light up, like, ‘Oh, I get it,’” Ulmer said. “I really like that.”

Those moments have kept Slater at Flathead for 22 years.

“It’s the reward of watching that kid come in, watching them grow and watching that light on their face when they say, ‘Hey, I did this,’” he said.

That love is sometimes what keeps them going instead of burning out.

“Even though some days I feel like there’s too large a pile on my desk to get done, I take it one item at a time,” Barr said. “I really do it to see the kids grow.”

Watching his students grow is what McCrady suspects will keep him in the classroom — and at the ball games and in the performance hall — for years to come.

“I just would like to think that every year is new. Hopefully it will continue to be exciting for a while anyway,” he said. “I love what I do.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.