The Brownell band
– the center of a controversy over whether students should play
a concert after eight critical musicians were declared ineligible –
performed last weekend despite being 11 members short.
Gilroy – The Brownell band – the center of a controversy over whether students should play a concert after eight critical musicians were declared ineligible – performed last weekend despite being 11 members short.
Forty-seven members of the 55-student Brownell Middle School symphonic band were originally not going to play at Disney’s Magic Music Days – a three-day, invitation-only trip at the Anaheim theme park – because band director Tom Brozene said the group would not be fit to perform without the eight musicians. However, when parents objected, the trip was reinstated. Last week, despite 11 members absent and lingering doubts from Brozene, the band went on the trip to Disneyland, capping more than a month of controversy.
“Every band has its ups and downs,” he said. “This was just a very unique thing that happened this time.”
Parents were enraged when Brozene cancelled the band trip in late March after finding out six students in the key brass section were ineligible because of poor grades and an additional two were ineligible because of behavioral problems.
Spurred by principal Joe DiSalvo, Brozene and the school’s academic counselors drafted contracts with the six struggling students to raise their grades by the trip date.
However, only two of the six students were able to attain the 2.0-grade point average needed for the trip. In the week before the trip, with six key musicians still ineligible for academic and behavior reasons, an additional five students dropped out because of illness or family emergencies. Despite just 44 members, the band already paid for its hotel and bus and made a promise to Disneyland.
“If I were to cancel, that really hurts our chances for next year,” Brozene said.
Although Brozene ultimately acquiesced to the clamoring parents, his prediction that the band – without two tubas and one baritone horn – would sound flat, came true.
“To me, it was obvious that we were lacking in sound,” he said.
However, the performing students made up for it with effort, he added.
“The kids played their heart out,” he said.
The trip marks the 16th time the school has taken part in the event in 18 years. Brozene has always required students maintain a C average and not have been suspended. He has also reserved the right to cancel the trip if he believes the band is not fit to perform. However, after the heated debate this year he will make sure all parents are aware of his policies next year.
“I’m just going to point it out clearly from the beginning, kids have to have good grades and good behavior,” he said.
A former three-sport athlete in high school, Brozene envisions the band as akin to any sports team. All members of the band are liable for the performance of any member of that team.
“You’re as strong as your weakest player,” he said.
While Brozene will not be publicizing the band trip policy again until next year, his students have already learned the lesson.
Brozene has always been fair about what he expects from musicians, said 12-year old Kade Pourroy, a seventh-grader who plays the French horn.
“Everybody has to work together to make a good band,” he said.
