Chap 6 Budget

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Band Parenting on a Limited Budget

Some people have suggested, none too politely, that the section on Band Expen$e$ is too discouraging. The inference is that it may actually stop some parents who do not have a lot of money (currently the fastest growing segment of the population) from becoming band parents. That was not the intention. It is not exaggerated. But perhaps dollar signs with large numbers after them are just inherently distressing. Do not get the wrong idea. You can be a great band parent without (much) money. Sure money is nice. Bill Gates, the Sultan of Brunei and the Queen of England aren't trying to get rid of theirs. But money isn't everything. Band is everything.

Its Actually Better Not to Have Too Much Money
Study the lives of great American musicians. You will discover that most of them grew up poor. Rich people don't become great musicians. They are too busy eating expensive foods, taking expensive trips and shopping in expensive stores. They have no time for music practice. Have you ever seen a Kennedy with a trombone, a Rockefeller with a clarinet, a Vanderbilt with a saxophone, a Du Pont with a drum? No! It was poor students who built our American musical life. They had the time to practice. The future of American music depends on poor students continuing to studying music. You can't depend on rich people for something this important.

This is a good place for an upbeat true-life anecdote. Serge Koussevitsky ,the legendary conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, (A group so identified with "old money" that at one time you had to prove your ancestors came over on the Mayflower just to buy a ticket.) as a boy in Russia was poor, not American style poor, really poor, cabbage water and potatoes poor! But he had musical talent. He studied, he scrimped and eventually he made his way to St. Petersburg to audition for a scholarship to the conservatory.

Poor boys can't afford to travel first class. The Russian railway system was never known for on-time performance even in first class. Koussevitsky's journey took much longer than he had planned. By the time he got to St. Petersburg all the scholarships had already been awarded except one for the double bass (more properly known in bands as the "string bass" as opposed to the tuba which is the only true bass). Koussey (The nickname Boston musicians called him. It may have been an affectionate term. Some of the adjectives with which they prefaced it could lead you to suspect otherwise.) had never played a double bass but that double bass scholarship was all that was left. He passed the scholarship audition on the strength of general musicianship and became a double bassist.

He practiced, a lot. Eventually he became Europe's leading double bassist. He used that as a springboard to conducting. He went on to become the music director of a world class orchestra and never drank cabbage water again. (Have you ever noticed that no matter what their nationality famous orchestra conductors always seem to have long impressive names like Serge Koussevitsky (Russia), Dimitri Mitropolous (Greece), Arturo Toscanini (Italy), Wilhelm Furtwaengler (Germany), Otto Klemperer (Germany), Christoph Eschenbach (Germany), Herbert von Karajan (Austria), Leopold Stokowski (England, believe it or not), or Stanislav Skrowaczewski (USA)? Where are all the conductors just named Smith?)

Your student can have a good band experience and you can be a good band parent without spending a lot. You don't even have to like boiled cranberries.

Helpful Hints
You don't need to own an instrument. Your student just needs to have the use of an instrument. Your child can play one of the big costly instruments. These are so incredibly expensive that schools loan them to students. Even wealthy parents blanch at the cost of owning them. Consider tuba, euphonium, baritone saxophone, tuba, bass clarinet, percussion, tuba, etc. All of the great tuba players grew up poor. It was poverty that caused them select tuba in the first place. Don't fear that these instruments may hold your child back compared to "melody" instruments like trumpets or flutes. Nothing could be further from the truth. If your child has a little talent and the will to practice then the choice of instrument matters not one bit.

That pesky section on Band Expen$e$ notwithstanding band necessities do not need to cost very much. Some of them you can put to non-band use. Band socks, T-shirts, even shoes can be worn on non-band days saving you the cost of regular socks, T-shirts and shoes. Music can be borrowed. Instead of owning your own tuner your student can just use their ears. That's what they're supposed to do anyway. A functional metronome can be made from a piece of string and a small weight. Some band luxuries do cost a lot. Band Expen$e$ can not be denied completely. Heavy participation in band fundraising can provide for whichever of these your band member thinks are most important.

It may take time. If they have their heart set on a band jacket it may take a year to earn the money selling pickled kumquats door-to-door. But they will get the jacket in the end. When the author......... (Do you know that it is really a very strange practice to refer to oneself in the third person. It is as if there were something improper about telling a story about oneself. You try to disguise the fact by writing it as if it was about someone else. But that's getting things all backwards. A few paragraphs ago I told a story from Koussevitsky's life without bothering to get permission from his estate. I gave no thought as to whether his family would have wanted that story told. It was not my story. I had no real right to tell it. I just did it. Now I am telling a story from my life. Its my story. Telling it can't bother anybody else. Yet I hide behind the third person as if it were somehow wrong. I suppose it is a question of literary style. OK, I guess I'll bow to peer pressure and do it in the third person. You all know that I am the author anyway.)

When the author was in high school he wanted to have his very own tuba. What fifteen year-old doesn't? He wanted a tuba more than anything else he could think of and he had a considerable imagination and thought of all sorts of things. His parents had no money for tubas. Eating came first. Cranberries may be cheap but they aren't free. So he found an after school job working for minimum wage in a delicatessen. Do you have any idea how much pastrami you have to slice at minimum wage to pay for a tuba? Tons and tons and tons and tons. Do you know how boring it is to hand slice pastrami, back and forth, back and forth, hour after hour, day after day, night after night, week after week, weekends and summers too? Mind bogglingly boring. Do you know how disagreeable many of the people are who buy pastrami? Surprisingly disagreeable considering that it was very good pastrami. Much better than you can get now. He stuck with it. Finally he got his tuba. If pastrami can get you a tuba then anything is possible.

Private lessons ,though not essential, are nice to have. Your child doesn't actually have to take private lessons to be in most school bands. But they should. They really really should. Some schools pay for lessons but if you could afford to live in one of those districts you could have skipped this chapter. There are alternatives. You may be able to get cheap lessons from local college students or even talented high school upperclasspersons. Any good band director will manage somehow to provide lessons for a hard working serious student. There may be an appropriately trained band parent willing to help out. Or you could try to arrange for group lessons. There is usually a way.

Now what about band parenting on a budget? The fee to join most BPO's is nominal, about $3.00. Sure they will ask for more. Let them ask. For the rest, just show up.