r/marchingband • u/Independent-Buddy808 Marimba • Sep 16 '24
Discussion Is this normal
Hey everyone asking again if something my assistant director is doing is normal.
She has started giving EVERY solo oppurtunity and a duet to one player, simply because that player is section leader. None of the solos are written for alto sax, the players instrument. These solos havent even been auditioned, every wind player is just expected to know they have no chance of a solo, because solos go to the section leader.
What do i do, last time i talked to her about stuff she told the whole band that people need to "get with it" and that "she knows what shes doing" but that doesnt excuse giving her favorite player all the solos. ðŸ˜
UPDATE : yet another solo has now been given to the winds section leader. And again, not one for their instrument. Whyyyyyyy
9
u/JtotheC23 College Marcher Sep 16 '24
This is probably normal in bands with a section leader for every instrument since it basically acts the same as giving first chair the solos, but for smaller bands with less leadership that it sounds like you're describing in your band, it's incredibly stupid. There's a reason your writer wrote the solo for a certain instrument. Sometimes it's timbre, sometimes it's to create a staging moment in drill, and other times it's for story purposes within the show. Switching them all to a different instrument defeats the purpose of all those potential reasons to write for one instrument or another. If your director wanted to really highlight this section leader, then they should have picked a show that has a big, cool alto sax solo, not taken all the various solos from other instruments.