Words Like Knives

[Duke Nukem]

Actually, I'm pretty sure Bennet and Dunnavant are getting ready to torch him for that debacle. His shit is cooked.

[Duke Nukem]

By the way, nice site thar Katie. Ima mandolin hero.

[Anthony G]

Someone said that the unnammed kid did it on purpose, and then he was bragging about how he's done it before.

[wolvy]

Colleen quit because of Academics (she couldn't take her classes/homework and marching band). She said it was really stressing her out (her workload). She did not quit band, just marching for more time.

If Unnamed kid really did that, shame on him, but if ti was a cover-up to turn his embarrassment into something else, it is almost understandable (but lying is never good).

[Duke Nukem]

Mysterious Mote-victim is just trying to make this whole situation less crushingly embarrassing. Seriously, this kind of thing scars a kid for life, not to mention he has to live down this incident for the next four years. You really think he's not going to catch some shit for this? There are jerks out there who will give him hell for this, just because they can. This is one of those times, much like in Derrick's case, where the band needs to rally around its wounded. I pity that poor bastard...

[Duke Nukem]

Colleen would have found a way to stay in marching band if Mote wasn't such a frustrating person.

[Mass]

I agree with Lucco we should support The Unnamed student. High school is harsh on even little things. The covering up thing is a likely possibility.

Mr. Mote is to frustrating but you might want to stick to the 500 dollar commitment.

[wolvy]

I believe Colleen. It has happened before (except they just didn't join marching band). If you take all AP classes, I can see how it can add up quickly, plus there could have been other commitments/things inher life that would have drained time to the point where she might not have gotten much rest and was stressed out.

Of course we should support Him no matter what really happened, for he is a part of the family.

[Mass]

Even if he did do it on purpose, he'll still get picked on for it.

[Justice Bringer]

Sept 3, 2008 20:12:24 GMT -5 Duke Nukem said:

Mysterious Mote-victim is just trying to make this whole situation less crushingly embarrassing. Seriously, this kind of thing scars a kid for life, not to mention he has to live down this incident for the next four years. You really think he's not going to catch some shit for this? There are jerks out there who will give him hell for this, just because they can. This is one of those times, much like in Derrick's case, where the band needs to rally around its wounded. I pity that poor bastard...

nah i think everyone is to pissed at mote to think of him right now
plus ill stick up for him if i see anyone messing with him

@what makes you think dunnevent and bennet is going to cook his goose

[Mizagium]

He did it on purpose.

Well, 40% on purpose. He did tell Mark Armstrong and I that he did it before...in 8th grade! I don't think he is scarred at all.

I said before that Mote told Mark and I to tell the kid to clean it up. That hasn't changed. Yesterday Mote "apologized" to Mark and I about the day before. What he said was that he meant for the kid to clean HIMSELF up, no the mess. I don't think that's what he said. Mark and I BOTH heard him say that the kid was to clean up the mess.

Besides, there's no way in hell he didn't see the kid walking around the back of the band with wet paper towels. TWICE. I think he just said that to avoid another complaint. It's not going to work.

Anyone notice how Mote didn't give out progress reports? He's not allowed to do that. My mom just complained t the office today about that. He HAS to give out progress reports on the day set by the County Board of Education.

He is going to get in trouble.

[Duke Nukem]

The progress report thing is not going to get Mote in nearly enough trouble as the pants incident. The kid's parents could sue the school if they wanted to, and they'd win. Mote was totally wrong here. That's why Dunnavant is going to torch Mote, because as if the gravity of the incident wasn't bad enough, there's a potential law suit. That means that there's almost no chance Dunnavant will not get involved.

When I said the kid's going to get made fun of for this, I didn't mean anyone in the band. They're definitely blaming the whole thing on Mote. I meant kids outside the band who have nothing better to do but make other kids feel like shit. This kid's got to live this down for 4 years. That is NOT going to be pleasant for him.

This kid can claim to have wet himself on purpose all he wants, but it doesn't make it true. No kid that isn't in a mental institution wets himself in high school with a classroom full of kids there on purpose. He's trying to alleviate a crushingly embarassing situation, and I say let him. Just remember: this is the kind of thing that devastates people for years and years. People have transferred schools for less, and this kid's sticking it out here. Kudos to him for having the courage to face the people he wet himself in front of a few days before. I respect that, and you guys should to. He's toughing it out, but don't forget to support this kid. The band rallies around its wounded. That's what makes this institution so great. That's one of the reasons I love band so much.

[Mizagium]

No, he kept saying he was going to do it. It wasn't an accident. He did it to piss Mote off. No pun intended.

[Duke Nukem]

I doubt that. He probably just meant that he REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. Nobody PLANS to piss themselves.

[wolvy]

It could be he craves attention (racecar incident) or does not get enough attention somewhere in his life, making him seek a way of drawing some to himself. None of know unless we are The Guy. None of this speculation will lead to anywhere. All that matters is that what transpired was not very good, for any party.

[Mizagium]

Ask Mark, he'll tell you the same thing. HE DID IT ON PURPOSE!

[Mass]

Even if he did it on purpose words will be twisted and corrupted and it will make trouble for those not involved.

[Duke Nukem]

Whatever. I think we should do Mystery Kid a favor and stop discussing it.

[Mass]

We can't change what already happened anyway.

[Anthony G]

But if we keep talking about it, then the ignorant will question us.

Besides, there's no point to keep discussing it anyways.

[Duke Nukem]

Seriously, it's over. He quit. End of story.

[Mizagium]

Still, it's a shame to loose another band member.

[Duke Nukem]

We know. By the way, I don't think Mote's going to get torched after all. The kid's parents just want the situation to go away, and if Dunnavant makes a big deal out of it, it won't. Dammit...

[Xero]

Okay, this is the first time I've looked at this thread, and I'm still reading it, so I don't know everything everyone's said yet, but I just have to say this about Mote ruining the band.

When I first moved here, my attitude was that of "Yes! High school! This band is going to be even better than middle school! And I'm going to get to do marching band!" .... Then I met Mote and Stallings. For those of you who don't remember, I came to Etowah to register for school the first day of band camp. Stallings had me play a scale for him and Mote in their office when I came to sign up for marching band. They said I sounded good, but it would be better if I didn't do marching band because you had already started learning all your sets and music... It was the first day of band camp! How much could you have gotten done? Because of that, I missed my entire first year of marching band, and the best show I've had a chance to be a part of: Blues Brothers. Our freshmen (us) were good that year. I don't know anything about what happened with marching band, but from what I heard and saw in class, we had a lot of really good individuals.

Then came the first day of school. I still thought high school band was going to be great, even though I wasn't doing marching band. I couldn't wait for band. Then class started, and my hopes were crushed. I came from a middle school with a great director who can be strict and funny at the same time, one who knows how to teach semi-beginning band members. I started band in fifth grade and caught up to the other fifth graders, who had been playing for at least a year already, within a week. My middle school band was amazing because of my director. Those of you who have heard recordings of my middle school band know that already. But when I came to Etowah, Stallings' and Mote's methods of teaching were so different from what I was used to that I didn't like band that much for a while. And I thought the band sounded horrible compared to what I'd heard before. I thought the band would never improve. But it did. We got better, and some of us showed a lot of potential and proved ourselves to everyone. Marshall, Raguel, and Anthony made it to Wind Symphony, I got first chair, and Katie got second. But I could still tell that the Etowah band would never be as good as I had hoped. Yes, we had some "prodigies" like Robert and Lucco on clarinet, Angela on flute (now oboe), Jacob Throop (....well, he was a senior in Wind Symphony, but he still counts), Chris Oglesby (also a senior in WS), etc. But we also had a lot of people who struggled. And there was always Stallings' and Mote's teaching. I just couldn't get used to it. "Don't play unless everyone is playing together"? That was a foreign idea to me. Everyone always practiced music in band before the director came out to start playing. He would stay in his office for a few minutes to work on something, just like Mote and Stallings always do, so we would play until he came into the band room. This was a good way to get warmed up and a good way to work on some parts that confused you. You could ask other band members how to play something if you didn't know. But Mote and Stallings don't care about us improving. They just care about themselves and their peace and quiet. They try to discuss things but they can't hear each other because everyone is playing something different at the same time? CLOSE THE DOOR!! I don't see why that was so hard for them.

When I first came here, you all know I started as last chair because I hadn't passed anything off. In fact, I had never even heard of pass-offs before I came here. It seemed pointless to me (and it still does). I was used to not being first chair, but I didn't want to be last. So I pushed myself (.... well, not really. I never actually practiced TM or 150. It's not that hard) to learn everything and move up as quickly as possible. So I moved up quickly and Stallings and Mote have kinda favored me the last few years. I'm not saying everyone needs to do that to look good for Mote, because nobody wants to look good for Mote and look bad for the rest of the band. But I AM saying that it's things like that that make people want to improve. You have competition and you'll work harder to improve. This is one reason why we need to have more serious auditions. People will strive to be better than the rest so they can get a higher chair. Being second chair to Jacob Throop made me work hard to be as good as him.

And one last thing about Mote's and Stallings' inefficiency in band. Before I came to Etowah, as surprising as it might sound to all the brass players, I had never gotten tired while playing before. I practiced for about thirty minutes a day (but not every day... I wasn't that dedicated yet), sometimes practicing range and trying to get a high C and beyond, and I never got tired. I played music in the high E to high C range almost every day in band. But I was never forced to continue playing high stuff and holding out a high C while low brass and saxes tried to tune. My director was efficient and understood the limits of third and fourth-year brass players. We would go through a short section with a few high Fs and Gs once or twice, then move on. Mote and Stallings don't understand that brass players get tired. Even Mote, who plays brass, doesn't understand that. And he rarely remembers to let us warm up before playing at practices. That's just about the most harmful thing any brass player can do to himself: playing without warming up. Way to go, Mote! Mote is trying to ruin us.

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I agree with Robert, Anthony, and Justin that we need to have some kind of organized meeting with Mote, but not a full band thing. If we tell Mote we need a full band meeting with him, he'll take it literally, just like he did with the measuring tape, and he'll make us have the meeting in class and cause us to waste time we should be spending playing. Lucco, having a mass band drop-out isn't going to solve anything. Like Robert said, it would only harm the band. If the entire band quits, it'll only give Mr. Dunnavant the impression that nobody wants to do band anymore. He wouldn't necessarily know that everyone quit because of Mote. He'd just assume nobody likes band, not that nobody likes the Etowah band. If we want to solve the problems in the band, we need to keep having meetings like the one at BK yesterday and come up with a good list of things we can discuss with Mote. We need to have everything perfectly prepared. We need to make this like an assignment. A debate project. It's just like the Fed vs Anti-fed debate in APUSH: do some research, discuss it with each other and debate a little, and then have everything planned out for a debate with Mote. Have all our points, counterpoints, counter-counterpoints (for when Mote throws something at us against our points). We need to know Mote's thoughts and plan for every situation. I think we should have meetings every Friday at BK for a few more weeks (maybe three more weeks). We'll discuss the band president some, but we should also focus some more on improving the band, rather than who the president should be and why we need one. We should start a new thread: a Band Amelioration Debate thread (sorry.... Band Improvement Debate thread).... or we could just meet every week, maybe before sectionals and on Fridays after school, and we'll bring up some points and we'll debate those points. We can have mock debates where someone takes Mote's side and tries to think of anything Mote would say in each situation.

[Anthony G]

Good thinking, Michael. This belongs in the OMG WTF Band President thread though. You can move it there if you like.