Gifford:
It's a pleasure to have with us today. Dr. Jim daughters, who is the Director of Bands at the University at Southeast. And I believe this is your second year at the University, isn’t it?
Daughters:
It’s my second year.
Gifford:
Well, I know time flies so fast when we're having fun, but I thought that was probably about right. Tell us, Jim, or tell the listeners, a little something about the program now at Southeast.
Daughters:
Sure. Well, this is, this is my second spring here at SEMO, and we are growing considerably, especially marching band. You know, my first year, Dr. Kenny worked really hard the summer before I arrived on campus to get students in band. We were about 150 in Marching Band. This upcoming year, we've got about 120 returning, and if we have the same number of freshmen as we typically have, which is 60 to 70, we're all of a sudden exploding near that 200-student point in the Marching Band, which is great. And then, of course, we're in the middle of Show Band right now with the basketball teams. And the Wind Symphony is getting stronger and starting to play really well. We just got back at the end of last semester from performing in Paducah. We went to three high schools—Paducah Tilghman, Mayfield, and McCracken County to perform. So, students are working really hard, and things are on the up and up.
Gifford:
Well, that's great to hear. And, of course, I have a vested interest in this having been here for a number of years. I'm so pleased to see what you and the students are doing. Is there something about the program here that you're the most proud?
Daughters:
I'm really proud of the culture that we're creating. I'll tell you, Bob, moving in the middle of the pandemic, I think I was slightly crazy to uproot my life and, you know, move six hours away from where I was. I think what's really hard starting a job in the middle of a pandemic, is understanding what's sort of that COVID culture versus what the culture was before the pandemic. And that's really, really hard to sort through. I think every public school teacher right now will tell you that it's hard getting kids back in that go mode, in that work mode after the pandemic. And we're certainly not immune to that at all. The kids are working really hard. They're performing really, really well, and they're buying in to just those expectations of excellence in everything we do with greatness. I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of our students.
Gifford:
Well, this, this doesn't surprise me that you said this. I guess our entire culture has really been blown up, so to speak, by COVID. Let’s hope when the next one comes around, we'll be prepared, and we'll know what to do that situation or let’s hope there’s not another one.
Daughters:
Yeah, absolutely. I even find it in myself, you know. I know I'm a little different after the pandemic. I don't know that I can say what exactly. I think we all sort of valued that free time for a little bit and took a moment to re-adjust to life, and maybe we realized we didn't have to work so hard. Maybe we need to work smarter, not harder. I think that's probably what we've taken from that pandemic.
Gifford:
Well, listening to what you've said, a thought comes to my mind. What do you foresee yourself, or what do you think is the future of bands in our country? All kinds of bands, of course, including university programs.
Daughters:
Sure. I think there's no substitute for live music. I don't think that will ever go away. Even teaching, you know, I taught public school in Kentucky for 16 years. And as much as, you know, technology can change things—you know, we're all addicted to our iPads and our iPhones and whatnot—but we still get a thrill from performing live music and watching a sixth grader pick up that clarinet or trumpet for the first time in learning how to play it. That thrill and that investment and that excitement, when I look at kids, is no different than it was 20 years ago when I started teaching. In some ways, you know, they're so connected to those electronics that when they get away from them, it's even more exciting because they realize there's different things to do. Band, of course, will keep evolving in different ways. I think our challenge is how to reach audiences on a different level, because we are competing with electronics and, you know, sound systems are things now that…I can sit in my living room and, you know, with the technology and updates to speakers and digital music and that stuff, create atmospheres that sound almost as good as live music, but it's still not the same. And I don't think that there's ever going to be a substitute for live music. We're going to continue to grow. Kids are going to continue to be in band, you know, whether it be sixth grade or seventh grade. Heck, in our city, look at Jackson and Cape Central—two huge band programs, and they just keep getting bigger and stronger. Kids just love playing instruments, and I don't think that's going anywhere.
Gifford:
Well, I agree. And it's exciting to think that we do have a future ahead of us, because it's so important. Do you have any upcoming concerts that you would like to plug?
Daughters:
Sure, as a matter of fact, we've got 200…actually, I did this this morning. We’ve got 216 high school students coming to campus on Monday, February 27, and that's our second Southeast High School Honor Band Festival, where band directors from all across the state, and not just Missouri, of course, but Illinois and Kentucky can nominate high school students to come to our campus to perform in an Honor Band. We just made the selection of all of those students, and we'll have 216 of them with us on that Monday and we rehearse during the day. I'm doing one of the bands of about 100 students, and we have a guest conductor, Mr. Abe Barr, who is a longtime friend of mine from the University of Kentucky, coming to conduct the second group. The concert will be that evening. Last year, when we did this concert, and believe it or not, Bedell was standing room only. It was packed, and it is a free concert. So, all of those Honor Band students, their parents can come, their band directors will be there. Both of those bands perform, and then the Wind Symphony will actually perform at the end.
And then the very next evening, our Wind Symphony and Concert Band will have our concert. That's Tuesday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. And you know it's kind of funny, Bob. We were supposed to do a heroes and villains concert, and we called it KHAN! Well, we played on that a little bit. I'm a big Star Trek nerd, and so I was going for, “KHANNN!!!”, you know from the movie, but there's also a piece for band called “Khan” which is about Genghis Khan. So, we were going from both perspectives. But what's interesting, and this is sort of a product of where we are in our country right now, but all the music we ordered for that—and the majority of it is backordered, and it has been backordered for eight to nine months. The only thing we did get was “Khan”, but we're going to put a different spin on it because it is still heroes and villains. We're going to…we took music that we had in our library and still molded it to that idea. It’s not the music that we originally had planned, but we're still going to hold to the idea of heroes and villains. I think we're doing actually something that might even be more interesting than the original idea. So, that will be Tuesday night, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Bedell on the River Campus.
Gifford:
And the whole event, thank you so much for reviving this on the campus. It's been, I think you said 20 years or so, something like that, since we used to have those festivals. What a wonderful experience for the students.
Daughters:
Oh, absolutely. And it helps us with recruiting. You know, the goal is…you know, research says if you can get students on campus at least twice, they have a much better probability of coming to college here, of course. That's one of the ways that we get kids on campus, and they meet with all of our faculty for master classes. And the most important thing, in my opinion of course, is they get to rub elbows with all of our students, and they make those connections and that matters a lot with recruiting students here on campus.
Gifford:
It really does, and sometimes I think we forget how much it means that our own students, most of whom are studying to be music teachers, band directors themselves, and it really gives them this opportunity to be involved and so forth. Well, and I don't think the average person realizes how much work there is involved. How many did you say? 217 students?
Daughters:
Yeah, about 216 students and our students. I think the coolest thing about this event, of course, is our SEMO students run the event that day. So, everything from registration to helping students with parts, or filling in, or just everything you can think of…hey, here's where you go to lunch, what you need, you know, our students do a good job of taking care of those high school students. And it really is a great, great way for our students to get their feet wet in terms of this is what you're going to be doing as a teacher. And that's fantastic for our students.
Gifford:
That's right, and the high school students who are there and they're directors notice this going on. So, they're aware, and it makes a great impression.
Well, I want to thank you, Jim, for all that you've done since you've come here to the University. In fact, for your entire career, working with young people and young musicians, and I know you had a great career with middle school age students, and I'm sure you took a lot of…
Daughters:
That’s where I got all my gray hair.
Gifford:
I was going to say I'm sure you took a lot of aspirin for the headaches about halfway through the day with those kids because they're so alive.
Daughters:
Seventh graders. It was mostly seventh graders. Seventh graders give you the gray hair. Sixth graders and eighth graders are great.
Gifford:
Well, as I said, thank you so much for this dedication. I think the average listener doesn't realize. They just go into the concert, there it is, and it's on the stage or the kids are playing in the gym or whatever, and they don't realize the hours and hours of work that's behind this.
Daughters:
Sure. And Bob, I’ll tell you the cool thing about being a college band director right now is I spent 16 years from the beginning, and you know, I always started students in sixth grade. But looking where they play in sixth grade to where most of our students are now in college, it's just really cool to watch those kids grow up and to see their progress and how, you know, they go through life, and they learn life skills through music. That's what it really is. And it's cool to watch them and see where they're at.
Gifford:
It's been an honor for us to have Dr. Daughters with us today. Thank you, so much, and good luck on the upcoming festivals, concerts, and everything else you're doing.
Daughters:
Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
