1So how are you getting on with your teaching practice at the High School, Joe?
2Well I've been put in charge of the school marching band, and it's quite a responsibility.
3I'd like to talk it over with you.
4Go ahead.
5You'd better start by giving me a bit of background.
6OK.
7Well the band has students in it from all years,
8so they're aged 11 to 18, and there are about 50 of them altogether.
9It's quite a popular activity within the school.
10I've never worked with a band of more than 20 before, and this is very different.
11I can imagine.
12They aren't really good enough to enter national band competitions,
13but they're in a regional one later in the term.
14Even if they don't win, and I don't expect them to,
15hopefully it'll be an incentive for them to try and improve.
16Yes, hopefully.
17Well, now the town council's organising a carnival in the summer,
18and the band has been asked to perform.
19If you ask me, they aren't really up to it yet,
20and I need to get them functioning better as a band, and in a very short time.
21Have you been doing anything with them?
22Apart from practising the music, I mean.
23I played a recording I came across,
24of a drummer talking about how playing in a band had changed his life.
25I think it was an after-dinner speech.
26I thought it was pretty inspiring,
27because being in the band had stopped him from getting involved in crime.
28The students seemed to find it interesting, too.
29That's good.
30I'm planning to show them that old film from the 1940s 'Strike Up the Band',
31and talk about it with the students.
32What do you think?
33Good idea.
34As it's about a school band, it might make the students realise how much they can achieve if they work together.
35That's what I've got in mind.
36I'm hoping I can take some of the band to a parade that's going to take place next month.
37A couple of marching bands will be performing, and the atmosphere should be quite exciting.
38It depends on whether I can persuade the school to hire a coach or two to take us there.
39They sound like good ideas to me.
40Thanks.
41Can I tell you about a few people in the band who I'm finding it quite difficult to cope with?
42I'm sure you'll have some ideas about what I can do.
43Go ahead.
44There's a flautist who says she loves playing in the band.
45We rehearse twice a week after school, but she's hardly ever there.
46Then she looks for me the next day and gives me a very plausible reason -
47she says she had to help her mother, or she's been ill,
48but to be honest, I don't believe her.
49Oh dear!
50Any more students with difficulties?
51Plenty!
52There's a trumpeter who thinks she's the best musician in the band, though she certainly isn't.
53She's always saying what she thinks other people should do, which makes my job pretty difficult.
54She sounds a bit of a nightmare!
55You can say that again.
56Uh... one of the trombonists has got an impressive sense of rhythm,
57and could be an excellent musician -
58except that he has breathing difficulties,
59and he doesn't really have enough breath for the trombone.
60He'd be much better off playing percussion, for instance, but he refuses to give up.
61So he ends up only playing half the notes.
62I suppose you have to admire his determination.
63Maybe.
64One of the percussionists isn't too bad,
65but he never seems to interact with other people,
66and he always rushes off as soon as the rehearsal ends.
67I don't know if there are family reasons, or what.
68But it isn't good in a band, where people really need to feel they're part of a group.
69There are others too, but at least that gives you an idea of what I'm up against.
70Do you have any thoughts about what I can do, Lizzie?