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All Stafford high schools earned the designation of Blue Ribbon Schools for the county's music program Date published: 4/28/2004
MAKING beautiful music isn't easy. Just ask Brooke Point High School Band Director Doug Armstrong. "It has to be a 100 percent unified effort, especially marching band," Armstrong said recently. "We can't call a time out and substitute a trumpet player." For Armstrong and Colonial Forge Band Director Andrew Loft, this marks the second year in a row that the schools' music programs have earned Blue Ribbon honors. That means that marching band, concert bands and chorus have all received superior ratings. Stafford Senior High's Chuck Hite and Joe Tornello, first-year band director at North Stafford High School, also led their charges to that honor. "I'm more than happy with the way my first year has gone," he said. "I'm so fortunate I can't even think straight most of the time." The four band directors--Armstrong, Loft, Tornello and Hite--gathered at Colonial Forge recently to discuss the county's music program, which is threatened by budget cuts. The band directors said the only way it was possible for their schools to earn Blue Ribbon status was through the excellent work done by the music teachers and band directors in the middle schools. Cutting back middle-school music is one of the options the School Board is considering to close a proposed budget deficit. Having the students come up through the same system provides unique opportunities, the directors said. "We are competitive but we aren't competing," said Armstrong, who has been with Stafford schools for eight years. "I don't want [the band] to do better than anybody else, but I don't want anyone to be better than us." On the surface, that can be a contradictory statement. But the directors explained that in the band festivals, the group is competing against the ideal, not other groups. "You don't have a scoreboard," said Payne. "You have people who are subjective." "It's not sport, it's art," Armstrong said. "It's a continual process. We all have the same goals. It's not about winning." That sentiment was echoed by Hite. "If you concentrate on the competitive aspect, you are setting yourself up for failure." Armstrong, who was Virginia Teacher of the Year in 2003, said the competitive aspect is not something he focuses on with students.
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