[01:01.11]LIZZIE:So how are you getting on with your teaching practice at the High School, Joe?
[01:06.05]JOE:Well I've been put in charge of the school marching band, and it's quite a responsibility.
[01:11.75]I'd like to talk it over with you.
[01:14.11]LIZZIE:Go ahead. You'd better start by giving me a bit of background.
[01:18.15]JOE:OK. Well the band has students in it from all years, so they're aged 11 to 18, and there are about 50 of them altogether.
[01:29.19]It's quite a popular activity within the school.
[01:32.37]I've never worked with a band of more than 20 before, and this is very different.
[01:36.95]LIZZIE:I can imagine.
[01:38.11]JOE:They aren't really good enough to enter national band competitions, but they're in a regional one later in the term.
[01:46.11]Even if they don't win, and I don't expect them to, hopefully it'll be an incentive for them to try and improve.
[01:53.18]LIZZIE:Yes, hopefully.
[01:54.94]JOE:Well, now the town council's organising a carnival in the summer, and the band has been asked to perform.
[02:02.89]If you ask me, they aren't really up to it yet, and I need to get them functioning better as a band, and in a very short time.
[02:10.99]LIZZIE:Have you been doing anything with them? Apart from practising the music, I mean.
[02:15.88]JOE:I played a recording I came across, of a drummer talking about how playing in a band had changed his life.
[02:23.12]I think it was an after-dinner speech.
[02:25.66]I thought it was pretty inspiring because being in the band had stopped him from getting involved in crime.
[02:31.78]The students seemed to find it interesting, too.
[02:34.50]LIZZIE:That's good.
[02:35.64]JOE:I'm planning to show them that old film from the 1940s 'Strike Up the Band', and talk about it with the students. What do you think?
[02:44.28]LIZZIE:Good idea. As it's about a school band, it might make the students realise how much they can achieve if they work together.
[02:52.64]JOE:That's what I've got in mind.
[02:54.55]I'm hoping I can take some of the band to a parade that's going to take place next month.
[03:00.58]A couple of marching bands will be performing, and the atmosphere should be quite exciting.
[03:05.35]It depends on whether I can persuade the school to hire a coach or two to take us there.
[03:10.29]LIZZIE:Mmm. They sound like good ideas to me.
[03:13.26]JOE:Thanks.
[03:51.80]JOE:Can I tell you about a few people in the band who I'm finding it quite difficult to cope with?
[03:57.23]I'm sure you'll have some ideas about what I can do.
[04:00.67]LIZZIE:Go ahead.
[04:01.69]JOE:There's a flautist who says she loves playing in the band.
[04:06.17]We rehearse twice a week after school, but she's hardly ever there.
[04:10.79]Then she looks for me the next day and gives me a very plausible reason - she says she had to help her mother, or she's been ill, but to be honest, I don't believe her.
[04:22.22]LIZZIE:Oh dear! Any more students with difficulties?
[04:26.36]JOE:Plenty! There's a trumpeter who thinks she's the best musician in the band, though she certainly isn't.
[04:34.18]She's always saying what she thinks other people should do, which makes my job pretty difficult.
[04:39.54]LIZZIE:She sounds a bit of a nightmare!
[04:41.56]JOE:You can say that again.
[04:43.01]One of the trombonists has got an impressive sense of rhythm, and could be an excellent musician - except that he has breathing difficulties, and he doesn't really have enough breath for the trombone.
[04:55.05]He'd be much better off playing percussion, for instance, but he refuses to give up.
[05:00.39]So he ends up only playing half the notes.
[05:03.18]LIZZIE:I suppose you have to admire his determination.
[05:06.41]JOE:Maybe. One of the percussionists isn't too bad, but he never seems to interact with other people, and he always rushes off as soon as the rehearsal ends.
[05:16.85]I don't know if there are family reasons, or what.
[05:19.99]But it isn't good in a band, where people really need to feel they're part of a group.
[05:25.73]LIZZIE:Hmm.
[05:26.81]JOE:There are others too, but at least that gives you an idea of what I'm up against.
[05:32.15]Do you have any thoughts about what I can do, Lizzie?
