Absences: Excused vs. Unexcused

[Devon]

So I realize that since marching band is an organization, one that takes participation from everyone 99% of the time... attendance at every rehearsal, practice, class, lesson, sectional, whatever... is absolutely necessary. But what do you think can be considered as an excused absense, and what is just BS that people try to use to get out of going to rehearsal?

I think that if you have someone or something close to you die [[family member or pet]], then it should be excused. Everyone knows that a death in the family is excused... but what about the death of a pet...? I consider my pets my family. My two dogs mean the world to me. And this past Saturday [[October 14]], while I was at a competition, my baby girl died. Now I know that people will be like "Dude... it's just a dog...", but she was my best friend. So should that be excused or not...? And what about a last minute thing. Like... if your mother calls you and you are like "I'm coming to get you right now" and you have no say in it. Should the director get pissed off at you and tell you that you can't go? Cause I know that happened to me as well... my grandmother was sick. And my mom called me and said she was coming to get me cause my grandma was in the hospital... and then my director started bitching at me telling me that I couldn't go cause I was needed... but it's not like they ever seemed to give a crap about me unless I'm not there. And since I am in the third band at school [[shut up... it's not that I suck... it's that I don't care]]... nobody seems to think we matter. It is only Wind Symphony that matters at my school. But if you aren't in the top band, you don't mean crap. And Wind Symphony gets special priveleges too. I would like to see them try to march a show with their beloved freaking wind symphony and see how they do. Ugh... so... now that I have pretty much rambled on about nothing... it's your turn.

[bored2damax]

To tell you the truth, my band has alot of people that are always gone. We are "suppose" to make up for the hours that we missed, but our BD never really get on to us about it.

[TRtrumpet]

We have certian people that miss for no reason, but it's only like the same 2 all the time so it's not a huge deal.

[Salesmonkey]

We miss practice and we lose points on our grade for that day if we dont talk to the directors before not showing up. They take an attendance every day during fundmental block. We still end up with people missing without anyones knowledge though. Generally if we talk to directors beforehand its cool so long as we show up again as soon as we can.

[rsb3]

I feel that there are several very legitimate excuses that can be used for band. I'm a member of a very successful program, with some reasonable directors. I make a point to look at future conflicts with band, and let the directors know ahead of time. Being sick, church, college visits, family things, etc... are perfectly normal things that come up throughout the year, and constitute as excused abesences. On the other hand, these excuses can only be made by certain people. Everyone can testify that there are those students who could care less about the program as a whole, and just want a p.e. credit. These undedicated students are the ones who use legitimate excuses until they become completely annoying. It just depends on what type of kid you are and the image you project. If you're a trustworthy, dependable student who's honest and up front about your conflicts (which have to be reasonable to begin with), you'll generally be just fine missing a rehearsal or two. But if you're just lazy and slack off all the time, just count on ruining it for yourself and the rest of the band.

 

(when I mean "you", I'm not actually aiming these statements at anyone here at all! )

[Arabella]

I think your dog dying is a perfectly reasonable excuse. I wouldn't be able to concentrate at practice if my dog died and I was stuck miles away from home.

 

I think your director is kind of unreasonable for saying you can't leave when your grandmother is sick in the hospital. Family emergencies should always come first, no matter what.

[t3hZm4n]

The whole excused/unexcused absence system we have at Westwood is like a total failure... We have people constantly missing without an excuse, and yet even though they're supposed to not be able to participate in our show at the football games and whatnot, they always do anyway, and the directors don't really do anything about it... so in all honesty, in our band it just doesn't seem to matter what is and isn't excused

[Skippy]

If you're breathing, you're at rehearsal. You miss one, and you've got an alternate in your spot. I don't remember anyone ever missing rehearsal for anything.

[hebrontuba08]

they make us run if its not excused

[xraidercutiex]

If you're breathing, you're at rehearsal.  You miss one, and you've got an alternate in your spot.  I don't remember anyone ever missing rehearsal for anything.

i never miss practice...except for freshman year when i didn`t care at all about band during marching season [i wasn`t thinking back then] + my band director lectured me + yelled at me so much, i cried my eyes out + went to practice after that...so iDk but i do know that from the past two years that i`ve marched, i only missed ONE + it was because my mom was in the hospital.