The President's Corner
Why Everyone Can Be Proud To Be a WASBE Member
In November each year, we in the United States celebrate a holiday called “Thanksgiving”. The general practice is to stop and give thanks for the many blessings of our life. Certainly this is something that should be done everyday but you know us Americans, never enough time so we have to make it a holiday. Thanksgiving is a day set aside for family to gather and give pause for the many gifts we often take for granted. It is one of my favorite holidays although a strict diet must ensue to shed the pounds from a bountiful harvest at the dinner table. As I pondered this upcoming holiday, my thoughts turned to the many varied and wonderful benefits of this organization we call WASBE. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me give you my list.
I am extremely thankful for the many friends I have gathered through this organization. WASBE has allowed me the opportunity to meet people from virtually every continent, and I can proudly state that a vast majority can be labeled “my friends”. Recent trips to Singapore, Japan and Australia provided me the occasion to not only renew these friendships, but to expand the list as well. I got to listen to WASBE members voice their appreciation and to learn of their specific desires for WASBE’s growth and influence in their area of the world. We are indeed fortunate to have some extremely dedicated individuals working daily to promote the aims of this organization. Time and again I witnessed the thirst that is evident for connection between members and the value of sharing information. This only served to renew my faith in what we are trying to do as an organization and where our future lies. I can keenly remember discussions among WASBE Council members in the not too distant past as they wrestled with the reality and likelihood of making a world organization truly serve the needs of a world community. Not only am I now convinced it can be possible, I am totally committed to making it work. We are the only organization devoted to the welfare of the global wind band community, and it is vital that we continue to grow, learn, serve and communicate. The mantel is ours now, and we must not fail.
I am thankful to WASBE for the truly universal outlook I now possess. There was a time when I felt very comfortable in my local, state and national organizations providing all that was required to succeed and progress in this business. Living in the United States meant for me that I was already entrenched in the “hub” of the wind band community; therefore, there was little need to seek outside information, opinion, or experiences. How utterly wrong I was. At the Boston Conference in 1987 (my first WASBE conference), I was determined each day to meet new people from different areas of the world and to learn of their life and of their wind band affiliation. What an eye opener for me as I met wind band professionals, artists on many instruments, composers, conductors and even those who were there to simply enjoy the music we produced. I met the gamut of musicians; from famous international figures to a young man just beginning a program in South Africa. It was only then that I realized how truly ignorant I was about the world’s wind band scene. My eyes were opened to a global perspective that has continued to fuel the curiosity within me to this day. Thanks to electronic communication and my involvement in WASBE, I have a burning desire to keep these contacts and to constantly make new ones. Through the designs and efforts of this organization, we can (and must) build a global network which will connect the peoples of the world for a better understanding of who we are and what we do. All the technology and ingredients are at our feet, it is taking those first few steps that presents the difficulty. We must fuel the creativity and curiosity within ourselves and avoid becoming sedentary. We must volunteer, create, communicate, write, invent, contribute and share so that we shall never fall to apathy or intellectual decay.
I thank WASBE for allowing me to be a part of building something to which there is no model or historical genre. How many organizations do you belong to where they periodically install new officers and carry on with the “business as usual” doctrine year after year? I am reminded of the Indiana Jones movie where the hero is required to step out into an abyss where there is visibly no support or steps. His courage and faith gave him the strength to take that first step and then the path was revealed. This is exactly where we are in WASBE. The path forward is not always visible, but we must continue to step. We create our history with each bold stride forward and each new step into the uncharted frontier. Do we stumble at times? Of course, but we cannot retreat, and this must not prevent us from taking more steps in the direction of our destiny. We have no world wind band association models, and that is why what we do and how we do it is so important. I penned in one of my articles that WASBE has now outgrown its adolescence. We are beyond the period of trial and error, the times of questioning, the era of resistance and the years of uncertainty. We are officially twenty-three years old now and that means our conviction is now resolute, and we can proceed with the vigor and curiosity of relative youth while employing the wisdom of experience and the courage of faith.
I thank WASBE for the opportunity to serve. I can think of having served no other organization that (daily) gives back as much as I put into it. I am blessed to have wonderful and dedicated officers, council and executive. The men and women that now lead WASBE are as qualified and responsible as any that I have seen over my last 14 years. I am blessed that I have been able to see this organization finally become truly international in scope and purpose. In our recent meetings in Singapore, each decision we made as to the content of the conference had the international mantra as its base, and you will see that in each day’s offerings. Some of our presenters will travel great distances to share their knowledge and expertise with us, and all at their own expense. Fourteen of the finest wind bands in the world will travel to perform and again, all at their own expense. We expect over 800 delegates to visit, share, participate and enjoy in the week’s activities. We are in Singapore because they want us there. This is not a Singapore Conference, rather it is the world wind band community gathering in Singapore. Will it be expensive? Possibly, but how expensive is it to not be there?
Best wishes, and may you always cherish a Thanksgiving in your part of the world.