Southside Band Section Class Policy Guidelines

It is expected that each member of the Southside Band Program will make becoming a better musician an important part of their band career.  Although there are many different facets and levels of involvement in our band program, your musical achievement on your concert instrument is still the main determining factor in your overall success and is expected to be your first priority as a member of the Southside Band.  The Instrumental Music Frameworks as mandated by the Arkansas State Department of Education requires an accountability system to measure the achievement and improvement of each band member.  With this requirement in mind, we expect each of our band members to participate in a nine-week course of study especially tailored to their individual instrument.  The resource used in this course of study is the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association All-Region/All-State tryout material for 2008-09 or Set I. 

Each student is given a list of section class dates and assignments by the second week of school each year and these section classes are held at 7:15 am on these dates.  Students are expected to have a regular practice time each day where they spend a minimum of 30 – 60 minutes preparing these assignments in order to realize the benefit of this study.  Here are some guidelines about section classes:

1.                   These section classes are required.  If a student is sick and misses school the day of their section class, this is considered an excused absence and the section class may be made up before the next week’s section class with no penalty.

2.                   If a student misses a section class for any other reason, the section class absence will be considered to be unexcused and will receive a 0. The student may still make up the section class at the 7:15 section class the next day but with a penalty of 25 percentage points deducted from their grade for that assignment.  The directors alone will determine whether an absence is excused or unexcused and will consider each absence individually.

3.                   Each student will be responsible for the preparation of the assignment and will play assigned scales from memory.  The playing of a scale one octave when it is required to be played two octaves and/or using a scale sheet will result in a maximum score of 60% on that scale grade.  The assigned exercise does not need to be memorized but practice, preparation, and improvement should be obvious for a high grade.

4.                   Any student who is in attendance at the section class but refuses to play because of a lack of preparation will receive a 0 but may play the assignment before the next section class with a deduction of 15 percentage points from their grade on that assignment.  Any student who is in attendance at the sectional but can not play because of injury or other extenuating circumstances may play the sectional at no penalty before the next section class.  Again, the directors alone will determine this.

5.                   Section Class grades will be 45% of your semester grade with 45% based on attendance and participation and 10% based on mock tryouts.

6.                   A student may replay any part or all of their section assignment for a new grade before the next sectional.  Assignments must be replayed by 4:00 pm the afternoon before the next section class with the exception of trumpets and saxes who have until 4:00 pm on Monday afternoon.  Grades can be replayed at lunch, during study hall, or after school.  The directors reserve the right to refuse to hear a student who continues to repeatedly replay with no improvement.

7.                   Each section class assignment is worth 300 points.  Scales or rudiments will be averaged together and will be worth 100 points with the exercise worth 200 points.

8.                   Each section will be ranked in chairs based on section class grades every two weeks.  Chairs will not be posted until after the replay period is over.

9.                   The Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and Concert band will be assigned after the 6^th section class based on section ranking points.  Those band assignments will be set through the rest of the semester although rankings will continue through the remaining 5 section class points, mock tryouts points, and all-region tryout points.  The personnel of the bands will be adjusted accordingly based on combined ranking points after all-region tryouts and will be set for the remainder of the school year.  After the initial division of the bands after the fifth section class, chair placement within each band will be based on Mock Tryouts and then All-Region and All-State Tryouts.  The continued running totals based on sectionals, Mock Tryouts, and All-Region Tryouts will be used for band personnel adjustments only.  

10.                Challenges will not begin until after all-region tryouts.