Ep. 1 - Culture Comes First

In this kickoff episode, Doug Bush, Patricia Islas, and Zach Scheer dive into why building a strong culture is the foundation of any successful percussion program. We talk about what “culture” really means, how to start shaping it from day one, and why it matters more than gear or technique. Whether you’re starting a brand-new program or looking to level up your existing one, this episode offers practical steps you can take today.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Greetings and salutations, friends, and welcome back to the Team Islas podcast. Podcast episode number one. My name is Doug Bush, and today I'm joined by Patricia Eastless and Zach Shearer. And this podcast is for anyone looking to better themselves in percussion education. Today's Episode is all about culture. What are we talking about here today, Mr. Scheer?

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Great question, Mr. Bush. I think I can answer that by sort of explaining why we wanted episode one to be about culture. So as we were discussing the plethora of episodes we could talk about, should your beginners tap your foot? Should the vibes use Burton grip? Should the snares play traditional grip? All these things. We had some great conversations about how to implement all of these techniques or systems or whatever. But then we agreed that focusing on those things before you have a strong culture in your program, it's like putting the cart before the horse. You are going to put in a dollar and get out a nickel if you're not careful. And the opposite is true if you have a really great, really strong culture of excellence in your program. You're going to be able to put in a nickel and get out a dollar. I know that we were talking about, we've all seen programs maybe at one time or another that had, you name it, less money or less time or less opportunity or less parent involvement or something than ours, but seem to be getting better results. And I think that culture is one of the reasons why. So we wanted to lay this out first, sort of as the prerequisite to make sure that everything else we're going to talk about really gets maximum effect for your program.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Absolutely. Absolutely. And this is such a deep topic. You know, we could spend literal hours talking about it. So we're going to be breaking it up into multiple episodes. And today's is really about kind of three actionable points that we're hoping you can apply regardless your situation, effective immediately. And so those three points are going to be culture begins on day one. More is caught than taught. And finally, culture should be aligned with your goals for the program. So Mr. Shearer, when we say culture begins on day one, day one's a lot earlier than you think it is, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Amen, Mr. Bush. Yes. So that was kind of the heading for this one. Yes, culture begins on day one. And day one is earlier than you think it is for the students. And it's even earlier than that for you as a teacher and any other instructional team, private lesson teachers, band directors, whatever that you have with you. So just to give a concrete example here, something I think we all do is screen beginners. This probably happens in the spring semester, maybe as early as February, maybe as late as April. And we're all guilty of kind of the week of going like, okay, screen in some beginners. How's this gonna work this Saturday? However, I would suggest to you that day one of screening beginners should start much, much earlier than that. Once you decide what you want out of that day, that probably requires some in-depth conversations with those middle school band directors that you're going to be partnering with on that day, or some in-depth conversations about what the calendar should look like if you're doing multiple screenings after that. These are all just examples of why you should start quite a bit earlier than you think you should to get prepared for something adequately. I think the other example is drumline auditions. The drumline season, I would say, the marching band season, whatever your marching band season looks like, it begins with when and how you introduce the season. That could be the day you introduce the drumline auditions. That could be the day you introduce your band show, your drumline show. But when and how you do that, that's when you're starting. And And whatever this is, whether it's beginners, whether it's drumline season or marching band season, what you do on day one has to be intentional. It has to be intentional. There can't be any accidents. We can't do anything by mistake. And that intentionality should come from thinking about what you want the end result of that thing to be. And we're not calling any balls or strikes here right now. Whatever you want that end result to be. If you say, okay, I want my beginners to play Yellow After the Rain and Grid Flam Drags. Okay, great. That's awesome. You, I strongly suggest that you tailor everything you do from the moment you meet that kid in fifth grade and you meet their parents, you better hand them Yellow After the Rain right then. They better start working on it. I strongly suggest that you tailor everything you're doing towards that goal. So intentionality, starting sooner than you think you should, all these things go into the culture you're going to develop.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Yeah, and along those lines is I think will be a reoccurring theme throughout all the podcasts is tailoring the educational experience to you as the educator with your goals here and what this looks like for you. If any of you have read Rick Rubin's book You know the title of it? Missy Sloss will look that up for us. We happen to highly recommend it. Super successful producer that is able to draw... We got it.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Yeah. It's called the creative act,

SPEAKER_02 6:03

a way of being. Absolutely. And he's able to draw the best from artists all the way from whatever DMX to Slayer, right? You know, I mean, multiple genres and multiple fields, and that is by meeting them at where they are with what their goals are. But what we're trying to say here is there must be some thought before the action. Don't just show up day one, looking to wing it. So for some of you there were maybe a That's fine. Or if you're one of the younger teachers that I see nowadays that suffer from the affliction a lot of us do with just being so absorbed by our phones and you're constantly tired, you're constantly constantly exhausted, and you just want to scroll a little bit before a thing, just put the phone down for five minutes before you walk in a room, even if that's all you have. Those five minutes of clarity and thought before you walk into the room to screen the beginners could be the seed to a single idea that helps you pick the right student at the very beginning that then stays through the program the entire time that you might have missed if you hadn't took even just those five minutes. So again, that's what we're trying to say is not that everybody's preparation for day one needs to be the same, but that everybody does need to have some form of preparation before they walk in the room. Mr. Shearer, I think, do you wanna, Oh, help us out here with that second actionable action that is more is caught than taught. What does that mean, more is caught than taught?

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Bush. Morris Cotland taught kind of the subheading here, I would say, is lead by example and recognize that your example is contagious. I think another way I could say that is you are leading by example. Whatever you're doing, you are leading by example, and your example is contagious. So whether it's intentional or not, your example is what the students are going to follow, and it's the direction that the program is going to be steered in. And I would add to that that this cannot be faked. Period. You cannot fake it. Students, especially teenagers, but I would say any age, 6 through 12, somehow have this uncanny ability to, I don't know if this is the right phrase, but sniff out a rat. They just know when you are not bought into what you're doing. So I would encourage you to make sure the things you're doing are things that you genuinely believe in and things that you enjoy. And, uh, to find ways to, uh, make that contagious to your students. So, um, there are two points, two stories here that come to mind that I think illustrate this point really well. They are like exactly the same story and they're, they're like 20 years apart. Um, uh, actually, okay, here I am. I think I mentioned this, um, wonderful educator in our first episode. And here he comes again, my sixth grade percussion instructor, Mr. Charles Bartrug, Charlie I vividly remember a student getting in trouble in the class one day and the punishment being not getting to play. And him making the point that... That's the way it should be. And I think maybe there was another class that the opposite had happened. Like they did something well, so they got to pack up early or something, you know? And, and it was like, he made the point and it, and it hit me even as a sixth grader, like, oh yeah, like getting to have class, getting to learn from him is the reward. That's what we want, you know? So, you know, flash forward 20 years later, this was when I was teaching at Coppell along with Mr. Bush and Ms. Islas. Um, we had, uh, Paul Renick come work with the group. Uh, this was probably late in the season, like October

SPEAKER_01 10:23

ish, you know?

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Um, there was really nothing super special about this day. It wasn't like we were, you know, the day before PASIC and had a crowd of people there to watch us or we were recording or we had a bunch of like sponsors there or anything. It was just like a normal Tuesday. Um, but we hired Paul to come out that day. Uh, the group that year, um, worked hard and did a lot of great things, but was not one of the absolute strongest groups we ever had at Coppell. Certainly not one of the strongest drumlines Paul Rennick has ever stood in front of. No question about that. But Paul gets out in front of the group and we introduce him. We sort of start rehearsal. And from the moment he took over, first of all, I'll say that he took over with confidence and with authority, like a great teacher does. But from the moment he took over, it was clear to everyone involved uh that he was genuinely enjoying what he was doing it was almost like watching someone uh just have a great time just just do yeah just i

SPEAKER_00 11:28

think kind of what this is supposed to be right yes it's like what's supposed to be that's why we all got into this in the first place amen

SPEAKER_03 11:35

yeah um and and so this just to like drive that point home we got to the end of the night It's dark. The lights in the stadium, we're in the stadium. The lights in the stadium are not on. I probably forgot to get them turned on. And we know they're not coming on. And we're sort of at the end of rehearsal. The time that we have paid Paul to be there has passed. The time that I told the students we would be done has passed. And Paul, without any of us prompting him to do this, was like, okay, here we go before we're out. We're going to run it. I think maybe run it twice, probably. And everybody body you know from center snare all the way down to like the least experienced freshman student in the group staff involved staff included too was like yes and amen let's go let's run it i would run it five times if you wanted to

SPEAKER_01 12:23

and

SPEAKER_03 12:23

it's just such an example of like him having that contagious uh enthusiasm for what he's doing infusing out to the rest of the group so i think those things illustrate the example of what it's like to have a situation where more is caught than taught

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, I agree. And I think it's important to be really thoughtful about what kinds of things you as an educator find valuable, whether it was when you were in a really great percussion program like myself and the things that you enjoyed the most out of that or things that you've seen other groups do that you would like to try or things that just get you excited about. You know, a perfect example for Doug and I is, you know, we're composers and arrangers, and we have been doing that for so long that we see a huge value in practicing that activity in other areas of music, whether it be in our own performing or even in teaching. And so because of that, we have spent a lot of effort to, at all levels, from, you Also with the sixth graders and even infusing it into the beginner book, which I'm sure is a totally other topic we could discuss in another podcast. But encouraging them and giving them opportunities to compose, even if it's very, very simple exercises, has led to... of our own students composing their own solos and percussion ensembles and arranging percussion ensembles, which then they get to prepare for percussion concerts. And man, some of the most rewarding experiences I've had is standing backstage watching a student watch their percussion ensemble being performed and that experience is so incredible because I know what it feels like when I hear other people play my music and put a lot of effort into it and how special that is and to get to walk through that process with a student is so incredible but also for the realization you know in one on one conversations throughout the process of like oh I put these dynamics on the page and I spent so much time deciding This was going to be a crescendo or an accent. And then we get in rehearsal and nobody's doing them at

SPEAKER_01 14:52

all.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And it's like, yes, you see, that's exactly what we've been saying your whole musical career here. But there's so much value in that. And I think it's clear that this is... something that is important to myself and Mr. Bush in the way that we talk to the students about arrangements for drumline. I will personally explain this phrase was intended for this reason, whether it's an emotional idea or a transitional phrase, or it was constructed in a certain way so that not only do they understand that as performers, but when they go to create their own music, they have a better sense of what works and what tools they can use.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, Ms. Cecil, I think that segues beautifully into the final bullet point here of the culture should be aligned with your goals for the program. And, you know, that's a big goal of ours, right? But real quick. Before pivoting there to kind of close up on a little bit of the s'mores caught and taught and go back to one of the first things that Mr. Shearer was talking about, I really want to reiterate the point that, you know, it really doesn't matter what you're saying. It really doesn't. What matters is what you do. You can't tell the kids that... whatever region is important, and then not have any region clinicians, not spend any time in class on region, not have your lesson teachers reinforce region, and then get mad at them when they don't do well at region, right? If you make a statement, you have to back that statement up. And again, that goes into this final bullet point of the culture should be aligned with your goals for the program. You don't want to be caught in a situation where every is a non-negotiable life or death because that's impossible right but if you have a really strong idea of the goals then you will know those things that you can be more flexible on and then the other things that you're putting your foot down like okay if our goal for example if i look at the program right now and let's say a weakness is the drum line then okay i want to start with simple things in which any uh child is able to achieve okay showing up at rehearsal on time uh setting the stands up the same way the carriers right and then And once you have made that commitment, you've made that commitment to yourself to understand, I will lose rehearsal time because they will not automatically do it. Telling them to set the stands up and showing them to set the stands up a certain way, whatever you want that to be, is not enough, right? The kids are, in any given school day, they can retain, learn and retain maybe about six things. And their first period teacher has already given them 20, right? So by the time they get to you and you're like, this is how I want the carriers, right? It's unreasonable for you to expect that they are flawlessly done the next day. But after a week of reinforcing it and holding them to a high standard, now we're starting to get in here. But again, this all just kind of comes once you've really kind of established what your goals for the program are. And so, Zach, that's our final bullet point here. Culture should be aligned with your goals for the program. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Yeah, absolutely. So I think the first question there is, do you have goals? And that's a great question to ask yourself. Again, this is something we mentioned in the first episode. There's no class as a music education major in college that's like, how to develop your goals for your percussion program. It's tough.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Wait, wait, wait. Shouldn't your goal just be to win everything? Isn't that the goal? Why else are you doing this if not to win everything?

SPEAKER_03 18:36

All joking aside, Mr. Bush. All joking aside, as a young teacher... maybe not quite as young as I would like to admit when I did this, but I think I still have it. I could show you the list I made of like, okay, as a percussion educator, here is what I want to do. And it was a list. um, of like, I want to win this and this and this and this and this and this and this. And it was just a list of things I wanted to win. Like the, the, the list just could have been win everything. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

And that's a much shorter list, easier to follow,

SPEAKER_03 19:14

easier to follow, but also it really makes you realize like, oh, so I actually don't have any, I actually don't have any goals. I just think winning everything is the goal. And if, if everything is your goal, nothing is your goal. Right. Um, now contrast that with... Here's an example of the wisdom that comes with experience. So contrast that with an experience I had when I walked into my interview when I applied for the job at Coppell High School. I sat down with Scott Mason, who'd been winning trophies as a band director for probably longer than I'd been alive at that point. And without hesitation, without having to think about it, he looked right at me and he said, here are the goals of our program. Here is Number one is the individual musician, period. That is the most important thing here. Number two is the concert ensembles. Number three is marching band. And it was like, if you want to come on board and do what we do, here is what it is. Okay, those are his goals. Great. Right or wrong, that is not the point right now. But yeah. That was not just something he said. I walked out of his office and covering the walls. Mr. Bush, Ms. Islas, you know what I'm going to say, right? Covering the walls outside of his office. And I mean covering floor to ceiling were hundreds of professional photographs framed with a plaque on each one of every student in Coppell, every Coppell band student that had made the Allstate band going all the way back to when my wife was in high school. Because she was up there multiple times. Great job, sweetheart.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

But

SPEAKER_03 20:54

that's an example of the culture and the goals being aligned in this program. And so often, I know I have been in this situation, but I've heard educators, my friends, teachers say, man, I just want X, Y, and Z for my kids. Or I wish they would do X, Y, and Z. But then I spend some time in their programs, or again, there's mistakes that I've made. And it's like, well, your culture tells me that you're emphasizing A, B, and C, but you want X, Y, and Z. And that's where we get a lot of frustration and wires start to get crossed is when the culture and the goals are rowing in two separate directions.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah. I think not all the goals have to be music-oriented

SPEAKER_01 21:36

to

SPEAKER_00 21:37

have impact. One of my goals a few years ago with the front ensemble was I had noticed the previous year there had been some tensions involving personalities for a number of different reasons, a number of different factors, and had gotten a little, not a little, more out of control than I would have liked. And we got to the end of the season, and that's just kind of what it was. But I knew after that I did not want to go through that experience again. So I was very mindful. I mean, speaking back to it begins earlier than you think it does. I was very mindful in the spring semester to encourage some of the upperclassmen to... interact with some of the younger kids in a way that was very positive and very respectful. And also down to the language that I used with the students when I was talking with one student about another student. It was always very positive. I would intentionally highlight their strengths. I would talk very complimentary about them. And then with the students themselves, I would try to encourage them to recognize their own strengths and they might not necessarily be music related like technique or their musicianship, maybe on how caring they were or how cool they were or how approachable they were. And so there was a lot of of that social encouragement that I was trying to foster when we weren't doing these big group activities so that when we did come back in the fall, together again in a period of time when we're all together way too much and tensions can get high, the dialogue that they would use on each other was different than it was in the past. And that, among some other things, resulted in having a group where there was maybe no very strong, very independent leaders in that second group, but because they approached it with more respect for each other and because many of them had experienced the previous year and they didn't want that to happen again either. It ended up being a much stronger performing group than I had anticipated because they work together better. But that didn't just happen overnight. And it was something that I had to start establishing much earlier than when we got to drumline season.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So my friends, I hope you find a moment today to think about how culture begins on day one, and what does that really mean, what does day one really look like, how more is caught than taught, how consistent you can be and disciplined you can be with your actions in front of the students, and that culture should be aligned with your goals for the program, that you have a clear idea of what those goals are, and some thought into how you'd like to achieve them. Thanks again for hanging with us today. If you have any questions for the podcast, send them to teamislas at gmail.com. That's teamislas, T-E-A-M-I-S-L-A-S at gmail.com. Shout out to all the great percussion companies that support Team Islas. We got Mapex, Majestic Percussion, Remo, Drumheads, Promark, Sticks and Mallets. Oh, I love those Optima bass mallets. We got Sabian Cymbals, Beatle Percussion, and Lot Riot Apparel Don't forget to like, subscribe. And if you can play green at 220 in all minor skills, then give us that five-star review. Remember, friends, step one is time, step two is sound, and step three is subscribing to the Team East Lost podcast.

UNKNOWN 25:31

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