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- LIBRARY
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This is to certify that the
thesis entitled

BAND TRIPS: BENEFITS AND LIABILITIES

presented by

JAMIE MARIE HOLCOMB

has been accepted towards fulfilment
of the requirements for the

MASTER OF degree in MUSIC EDUCATION
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BAND TRIPS: BENEFITS AND LIABILITIES
By

Jamie Marie Holcomb

A THESIS

Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC EDUCATION
Arts and Letters

2003

 

 

 

 

 

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ABSTRACT
BAND TRIPS: BENEFITS AND LIABILITIES
By

Jamie Marie Holcomb

The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits and liabilities associated
with high school bands participating in major trips for which extended overnight stay is
required. This study included five high school band programs, in Michigan, that regularly
participate in trip taking. It employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. At each
of the schools, one band director, one administrator and one high school band parent were
interviewed, and a written survey was administered to high school band students who had
participated in the trips. Also interviewed was one educational travel agent.

The results indicated that recruitment and retention strongly benefited from trip
taking, according to the participants. The results also divulged that student motivation for
participating in trips and adult motivation for arranging trips was quite different. Adult
motivation for planning the trips was mostly for recruitment, retention and educational
purposes while student motivation for participating was mostly recreational and social.

The implications for music education are important. Band trips can be very
educational if well planned as well as enjoyable and recreational. Band programs may
also benefit in their recruiting efforts from taking trips. Therefore, band directors may be

able to educate students while helping their overall numbers.

 

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DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my husband and son... the two most important people in my

life. Without them, none of this would be worth anything.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would very much like to thank Dr. Judy Palac for her guidance, support and
understanding on this long journey; my thesis committee for their assistance; all the
participants of this study, and Marcus Neiman for his endless support, guidance and ear

throughout this endeavor.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................ viii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION
Purpose ................................................................................ 3
Personal Orientation ................................................................. 3
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................... 5
Newspaper and Magazine Accounts of Trips and Trip Issues ................. 5
Research of Factors Relating to Trips ............................................. 8
Music Education Resources ......................................................... 9
CHAPTER 3
METHOD ...................................................................................... 11
Overview .............................................................................. 11
Consent ................................................................................ 11
Interviews .............................................................................. 12
Coding ................................................................................. 15
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS ...................................................................................... 17
Student Survey ....................................................................... 17
Question 1 ................................................................... 17
Questions 2 & 5 ............................................................. 21
Questions 3 & 4 ............................................................. 22
Question 7 .................................................................... 23
Question 6 .................................................................... 23
Question 8 .................................................................... 24
Band Director Interviews ........................................................... 25
Frequency, Duration & Cost of Travel .................................. 26
Criteria for Selecting Location ........................................... 26
Fundraising and Affordability ............................................. 27
Participation Levels ......................................................... 28
Legal Issues .................................................................. 28
School, Class & Teacher Time ............................................ 29
Trip Activities, Educational and Recreational/Entertaining
Rankings ...................................................................... 30

Director Opinion on the Ways in Which the Trip is Educational. 32

Recruitment and Retention ................................................ 34

Administrator Concerns .................................................... 34
Band Directors’ Thoughts on the Band Trip Phenomenon ............ 34
Top 3 Reasons for Traveling and Disadvantages of Travel ........... 36
Travel Agent .......................................................................... 38
Com ........................................................................... 39
Quantity and Type of Activities .......................................... 39
Educational and Recreational/Entertaining Rankings .................. 39
Factor Determining Travel and Frequency .............................. 40
Band Parent Interviews ............................................................. 40
Feelings Toward Band Travel ............................................. 41
Feelings Toward Selected Location ....................................... 41
Fundraising and Affordability ............................................. 42
Foreign Legal and Safety Issues .......................................... 42
Benefits and Disadvantages ................................................ 43
Class Time ................................................................... 45
Recruitment and Retention ................................................ 45
Educational Ranking and Why, Recreational/Entertaining
Ranking ...................................................................... 46
High School Administrators ....................................................... 47
How Administrators Feel about Band Trips and the Location
Selected ...................................................................... 48
Affordability and Plans for Helping Students in Need ................ 49
Foreign Legal Issues, School Policy and Safety Concerns ............ 49
Benefits and Disadvantages ................................................ 50
Class Time ................................................................... 51
Recruitment and Retention ................................................ 52
Educational and Recreational/Entertaining Rankings .................. 52
Considerations for Permission and Location & Opinion on
Value to Program ............................................................ 53
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................. 55
Conclusions ........................................................................... 55
Student and Band Director Reasons for Trip Participation ........... 55
Educational Value ........................................................... 56
Recreation and Entertainment Value ...................................... 57
Benefits versus Liabilities .................................................. 58
Implications ........................................................................... 58
Implications for Education ................................................. 58
Implications for Research .................................................. 61
APPENDICES ................................................................................ 63
Appendix A: Form for Requesting Signature and Assent of
Adult Participants ................................................................... 64

Appendix B: Informed Consent Form and Script for Requesting

vi

Informed Consent for Minors ...................................................... 65
Appendix C: Form for Requesting Signature and Assent of

Minor Participants ................................................................... 66
Appendix D: Interview Questions — Travel Agent .............................. 67
Appendix E: Interview Questions — Band Directors ........................... 68
Appendix F: Interview Questions — Parents .................................... 71
Appendix G: Interview Questions — Administrators ........................... 72
Appendix H: Student Survey ...................................................... 73

Appendix 1: Student Qualitative Responses: Questions 1 & 8 76

Bibliography ................................................................................... 77

vii

 

Table l -
Title I -
Table 3 —
Table 4 -

Table 5 — l
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Table 7 — 1

Table 8 — P
Table 9 — [1
Table 10 4 ]
Table 11 -1
Table I: - j
Table 13 a j
Table 14 E I

Table 15 T.

LIST OF TABLES

Table I - Questions Present in Most or All Interviews ................................... 13
Table 2 - School Percentages ................................................................ 19
Table 3 — School Destination and Price .................................................... 20
Table 4 — Student Percentages on Recruiting/Retention and Joining Band ............ 21

Table 5 — Educational & Recreational/Entertaining Mean Scores and

Standard Deviation ............................................................... 22
Table 6 — Affordability Percentages for Each School .................................... 23
Table 7 — Individual Schools’ Combined Categories Percentages ..................... 25
Table 8 — Percentages of Student Participation ........................................... 28
Table 9 — Directors’ Educational Ranking of Trips ................ i ...................... 31

Table 10 -— Band Director Ranking on Recreation & Entertainment Level of Trips. 32

Table 11 — Parent Educational Ranking ................................................... 46
Table 12 -— Parent Recreational/Entertaining Ranking ................................... 47
Table 13 — Principal Educational Ranking ................................................ 52
Table 14 — Principal Recreational/Entertaining Ranking ................................ 53
Table 15 — Ideal Trip Scenario .............................................................. 60

viii

 

 

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 — Top Student Reasons for Travel ............................................... 18
Figure 2 — Combined Categories ............................................................ 18
Figure 3 — Favorite Thing About Going On Band Trips ................................. 24
Figure 4 — Favorite Things About Going On Band Trips: Categorized ............... 25

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

"... forcing friends to Sit through Slides of your trip to Florida - painful for everyone but
the host."

-Steve G. Steinberg (www.quoteland.com/author.asp?Author_ID=46)

Band trips have become a trend in many music programs today. “Band trips”,
defined as excursions to destinations requiring multiple overnight stay, are usually at a
cost to student, parents, and the music program, and tend to be highly sought after by all.
Recently, bands have become more extravagant in their travel destinations. For example,
at my most recent place of employment, the high school band had just been approved for
a trip to Hawaii! This is not an isolated incident. Many more schools have begun taking
trips to countries such as Great Britain and China, just to give a few additional locations
mentioned in newspaper articles (Bauza, 2001; Carlton, 1996; Hall, 2001).

Certain questions begin to arise with the consideration of this information. What
is the benefit of offering such trips and participating in them? Are band trips a means to
recruit new members to a performing ensemble? William F redrickson (1997) in his
article Social Influence and Effects on Student Perception and Participation in Music
discusses good vs. real reasons for participating in ensembles. “Good” reasons refer to
educational outcomes, while “real” reasons are reasons based on the students’ social or

everyday decisions. In this article, one of the “real” reasons listed by a middle school

 

 

 

 

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student, was getting out of class for rehearsals and music trips. This could be a reason for
older students as well.

Are these trips 3 financial burden to parents? In a North Marion (Oregon) School
Board meeting, the school board voted to reschedule the band’s trip to an every other
year interval instead of every year (North Marion School District Board Meeting
Minutes, 2001). The North Marion board meeting minutes stated, “after much
consideration, the feeling was that raising that much money in such a short time was a bit
ambitious and that it would benefit the program to schedule the trip every two years”
(North Marion School District Board Meeting minutes, 2001, Business and Operations).
Roderick Booker (2000) in his article Free Trips for Students with Stunning Sub Sales
explains how a high school band in Pennsylvania raised enough money to pay for each
student’s band trip by making and selling sub sandwiches. In order to achieve this goal,
however, the band director had to plan, have students fundraise, and coordinate parent
efforts ten different times throughout the year. I have to wonder how much time was
taken from making music to make sub sandwiches to cover the costs of the trip?

Another aspect of taking band trips is the musical activities. How many times do
students perform on their trip? The Chicago Daily Herald did an article on the Wauconda
High School Band, which traveled to Florida to perform in a parade and participate in a
music seminar (Chicago Daily Herald, 2001, News Briefs). The Augusta Chronicle ran an
article by Melissa Hall (2001) about the Evans High School Band taking a trip to London
to perform in a parade. What the articles did not tell the reader was what else these bands
did while traveling to distant places. Going to London is a long and expensive trip

especially if only to march in a single parade.

 

 

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Why do many high school bands now travel on such frequent basis? Why do band
directors feel compelled to take hundreds of kids to distant places both nationally and
internationally? Is it because trip taking offers a means of educating their students in a
way they could not educate them in school? Is it because everyone else is taking these
extended trips? Do band directors feel pressured into traveling because of perceived
expectations? Is it because band trips are a recruitment and retention tool? Do band
directors take their bands on trips for the social rewards they offer? This topic has
received little researched prior to this study, and because of its contemporary nature,

many questions such as those listed above.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to discover the benefits and liabilities associated
with band trips. It is my hOpe that this research will provide some insight as to why the

band trip has become so popular in today’s high school band programs.

Personal Orientation

My high school experience in band included trip taking. In retrospect, I cannot
determine the director’s intent of that travel. However, at that time, the band was
approximately 150 students. Today, eight years later, the band boasts approximately 400
students. I do not recall overly educational experiences, numerous performances, or

musically challenging experiences from those trips. The band marched in a parade at

Disney World in Florida, went to the amusement parks and to the beach. It was fun, and
I remember looking forward to taking the trip for many personal reasons. That was,
however, before the educational tour/travel company market that has emerged for today’s
traveling bands was prominent. The travel companies that assist directors may now be
able to offer more for the high school band trip than band directors years ago could offer

alone.

From my own experiences, I suspect that band trips may not be educational and
are scheduled to reap the recruitment benefits they offer directors. However, I realize all
schools are different, and I’ve kept an open mind during data collection and analysis. My
perspective on this topic is that band trips are here to stay, and they can either be
successfully done and accomplish many things, or they can be exclusive, inaccessible,

and non-educational.

 

 

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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Few studies on band travel were found which made me to realize my topic was
untraditional in the research world. It is, however, a current issue for school band
programs. Current issues and sources proved to be more fruitful in terms of literature. I
have classified what I found into three categories: newspaper and magazine accounts of

trips and trip issues, research of factors relating to trips, and music education resources.

Newspaper and Magazine Accounts of Trips and Trip Issues

The first section of related literature includes article abstracts from newspapers
around the country giving small, but insightful bits of information. These articles are not
research studies, but merely present information and incidents related to band trips.

The Chicago Daily Herald reported that the Wauconda High School Band
Boosters used a sock hop as a fundraiser to take their band to Disney World to perform in
a parade and participate in a music seminar. (Chicago Daily Herald, 2001 , News Briefs).
This source is relevant to my research because it discusses issues such as fundraising for
band boosters, location and musical activities taken on that trip.

Melissa Hall (2001) reported in her article, Band ’3 London Trip is in Peril, that
the Evans High School Band’s trip to perform in a New Year’s Day parade in London
(England) was questionable due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. This source
illustrates one of the things that can happen when planning a trip, as far as cancellations

are concerned, due to events beyond one’s control. It also gives a band trip location that

is in a foreign country and the music activity in which it was to participate. It is probably
safe to assume, due to the sheer destination of this trip, that it was expensive.

Likewise, in John Carlton’s article (1996), British Beef Scare Worries School
Taking Band Trip, the Webster Grove (Missouri) band trip to Great Britain for two weeks
might well have been successfully planned, adequately funded through fundraising
activities, yet'was jeopardized by fears of health issues. This article is important because,
again, it establishes that things out of our control need to be taken into consideration
when planning trips. Spending two weeks in Europe also makes me suspect that this trip
was very costly to the students and could have taken them out of class for a lengthy
amount of time.

Band students from Ann Arbor Pioneer High School found their trip canceled, not
due to terrorist acts, lack of fundraising, or health concerns, but by political events
(Bauza, 2001). The 101 students and 63 parents hoped to travel to China, but when the
Chinese on an unclaimed island captured an American plane, the trip was in jeopardy.
This article is important as it mentions another type of event that could cancel a trip. It
also mentions how many chaperones were planned to watch a certain number of students.
This is very useful information that led to the development of interview questions. Again,
this article established another distant location, China, which could be very expensive for
travel.

Steven Watson (2001) reports that three students were arrested for shoplifting
while on a band trip in Disneyland. Charges against the students were dropped once
goods were returned. This article is important because it raises the issue of chaperoning

ensembles on trips. It demonstrates another one of the things of which directors need to

 

 

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be aware because the success or failure of a band trip could be laid waste due to the
improper behavior of a few band members.

Justin Martin (2001) reports in another newspaper account that a band student had
to be taken to a hospital after experiencing hazing while 24 members of the band
watched. Members of the percussion section took turns hitting the student and others with
wooden paddles as a sort of initiation. The article points to the need for appropriate
chaperoning, pro-planning and expectation setting for student behavior.

Bill Hethcock (2000) in his article for The Gazette newspaper reports that eight
students had been expelled from school for drinking while on a band trip. The school had
adopted a zero tolerance policy that called for the expulsion of those students. This
article also reinforces that students need to be closely supervised on trips.

Even if all things go as planned, student health concerns ofien pose unique
challenges. Marja Mills (1991) reports that 150 students, after returning from Hawaii,
needed to be checked for meningitis because one of the students required hospitalization
after being diagnosed with a serious form of the disease. No amount of pre-planning
could have prevented the student contracting meningitis; however, the fact that the
student did encourages me to consider the need for pre-planned emergency procedures,
medical forms, and policies and practices to insure the health of those traveling with the
band.

Bella English (2002) reports in her article for the Boston Globe that four middle
school students died on a band trip, due to a bus accident. The risk identified in this story
is not necessarily limited to middle school students. It is fair to assume that instances like

this one might happen to high school bands. This article raises the question of safety

while participating in band trips. It also makes me consider the liability issue and the
potential for legal action against the band, the school district, the tour company, and
others in the event of serious injury and or death of students or parents.

The Marion School District Board (Oregon) meeting minutes’ (2001) business
and operations section discussed its decision to limit the band trip schedule to every other
year versus every year due to funding issues. These minutes highlight the fact that some
groups travel as often as every year, and for those that do travel that fiequently, funding
might become burdensome and too much for some groups to handle when under that kind
of pressure.

Roderick Booker (2000) discusses the fundraising tactic of a band in preparation
for its trip. In his article he reports that a band in Pennsylvania raised enough money to
pay for every student’s trip. Participants had to fund raise ten times throughout the year to
earn enough money to accomplish that goal. This article demonstrates the process by
which some bands raise funds for trips and also raises questions as to how much class

time is being used to coordinate these efforts.

Research of F actors Relating to Band Trips

Akiko Tanika (2000) in his master’s thesis states that students are motivated to
continue in band because their friends are in band and they meet new people. Band trips
foster both those motivators.

William E. Fredrickson in his 1997 review of literature discusses the good and
real reasons for joining ensembles. He explained that good reasons, such as wanting to

learn, are more educational, and real reasons are based on social considerations. For

 

 

 

 

 

 

instance, one middle school student that was quoted in his article said that missing school
for rehearsals and music trips was a reason why he/she joined the ensemble. This is
important because it is possible that this statement might apply to high school students as

well, which would have big implications for band trips and recruiting.

Music Education Resources

Lloyd Schwartz (1997) in his article Trial by Touring, describes the events the
members of the New England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO)
experienced during their trip to Brazil. The YPO orchestra is composed of students
between the ages of 13-18 outside of any school system. The YPO orchestra put on many
performances during its stay in Brazil and there was much cultural exchange between the
students of America and Brazil such as spending time with students from Brazil and
discussing music with them. This article is important because it shows how good trip
planning can lead to educational experiences.

Mark Reimer (2001) in his article Networking Through International Tours
discusses procedures of planning a tour such as having goals and objectives for an
educational experience (Reimer 2001), and also the possible benefits. Trips can, “enhance
the education of music students by providing them with additional performance
experiences, strengthening their sense of independence, increasing their understanding of
differing societies and cultures, and heightening their self-reliance” (Reimer, 2001, p. 34-
8, 65-6). Reimer further discusses the issues of affordability to students, time needed and

spent by the band directors in coordinating the tour, and benefits to recruiting fostered by

band trips. This article is very useful because it provides a source of questions for the
present study.

Charles Hoffer (1992) created a hypothetical interview between a band director
and a school principal. Through this interview he brings to light many issues associated
with taking band trips including educational issues, funding and fundraising, student cost,
financial aid to students, time associated with the trip planning versus classroom time,
school days, motivation of students, student goals, recruiting new students and
competition of the ensemble. This hypothetical interview gives much insight into this

topic while helping me to develop a set of interview questions for this study.

This reference is important because it highlights a very different point of view
from that of most authors. Richard Colwell and Thomas Goolsby briefly address trips in
their book, The Teaching of Instrumental Music (1992). They refer to trips as a negative
recruitment tool. They also indirectly make reference to trips as having short-term effects
on recruitment.

This literature is undeniably plagued With gaps in information regarding why
students travel, why directors plan trips, what parents and adrrrinistrators think of trips
and how educational and recreational/entertaining trips are. I asked many participants
these very questions to help find the missing pieces to this puzzle. This literature is the
frame upon which I have built my research. It is not complete because of its
contemporary nature, and it is my hope to add to the picture and fill in gaps on this

particular topic.

10

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

METHOD

Overview

I conducted this study over several months and included interviewing in person,
over the phone, via email and facsimile; and written surveying as primary data collection
tools. Interviews were administered to high school band directors, high school
administrators, high school band parents, and one music group travel agent/guide, and
provided both quantitative and the more varied qualitative data. High school band
students were also given a brief written survey to attain simple quantitative and some
qualitative data.

Criteria for selecting schools were rather simple. First, schools had to have band
programs that traveled on major trips regularly. Second, I chose a pool of schools that
traveled to diverse locations. In other words, I did not select schools that all traveled to
Florida as their only destination. Last, a variety of trip price ranges was identified for

optimal diversity in this particular study.

Consent

Prior to completing any interviews or surveys, informed consent forms were given
to the participants. The consent forms were given in person, administered by the band
director (for students and parents only), read over the phone or sent via email. They

included an adult informed consent form (see Appendix A), one requesting consent for

11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

minors (see Appendix B) and a form requesting the signature and assent of minor

participants (see Appendix C).

Interviews
Questions for the interviews were developed by using the related literature on this
topic and from personal experience and understanding of ensemble travel. The very first

interview to be completed was with the music travel agent/ guide and was completed over

the phone. This interview was designed to be very simple and gather basic factual
information along with a few personal opinions (see Appendix D). The reason behind
including a travel agent/guide was to gather good general information on the travel habits
of many groups for purpose of comparison. Factual questions asked included, “How often
do schools normally schedule a band trip?” An example of an opinion question in this
interview would be, “What do you think is the single most important factor determining
travel destinations for schools today?”

The first interviews to be administered for each school were to the band directors
(see Appendix E). Interviews were either completed in person, or through electronic mail
as requested by the director. The interview questions were standardized so that each
interview would provide the same categories of information for ease of analysis. Band
directors were asked thirty-two questions. Questions varied in complexity. Some
questions asked for simple factual information such as, “How often do you take your
band on major trips?” Other questions asked directors for their opinions such as,

“Describe the ways in which you feel your trips are educational.” Several questions were

12

placed in the band director interview that were asked of all the participants in order to

glean various points of view, and to insure trustworthiness of data (see Table 1)

Table 1 - Questions Present in Most or All of the Interviews

 

On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how educational do you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

feel these trips are?
I=nterviewee Present/Not Preser=rt
Travel Agent Present
Band Director Present
Band Parent Present
Administrator Present
Student (Survey) Present
On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how recreation/entertaining
do you feel these trips are?
Qerviewee Present/Not Present
Travel Agent Present
Band Director . Present
Band Parent Present
Administrator Present
Student (Survey) Present

 

(for the band?) (for your classmates?)

Do you feel taking trips is a strong recmitment/retention tool? (for your band program?)

 

1_r_rterviewee

Present/Not Present

 

Travel Agent

Not Present

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Band Director Present
Band Parent Present
Administrator Present
Student (Survey) Present
What are the disadvantages to taking trips? (What do you feel are the disadvantages to
taking band trips?)
I_r_rterviewee Present/Not Present
Travel Agent Not Present
Band Director Present
Band Parent Present
Administrator Present
Student (Survey) Not Present

 

 

Band parents were also interviewed for this study (see Appendix F). I considered

the value a parent places on trip taking to be very important to understanding this

“A

particular trend in music education, and that is why interviewing was necessary. Parents
were asked only thirteen standardized questions with emphasis on obtaining more
personal opinions. Questions such as, “How do you feel about the band program taking
trips?” and, “How do you feel about students traveling to foreign countries where the
country’s laws, in terms of drinking age and other activities normally limited by age, are
different from the United States?” were asked.

Similar in design to the interview for the band parent were those questions
designed for the high school administrator (see Appendix G). The standardized questions
for this interview were mostly focused on gathering opinion. An example of such a
question would be, “What do you feel are some important factors to take into
consideration when selecting a destination for the trip?” Factual information was also
requested and included questions such as, “Does the school have any policies regarding
foreign travel?” All high school administrators were asked to participate; however, only
four of the possible five chose to do so.

Finally, a simple eight-question written survey was administered to high school
band students who had traveled with the band (see Appendix H). I administered the
survey to students during the school day at a time scheduled by the directors. Most often,
surveys were administered during the band’s rehearsal hour. This survey asked students
to give their top reasons for wanting to travel and required them to rank how educational
and recreational they felt their trips were. Many of the student survey questions had been
included in all of the interviews as well. There were various numbers of participants at

each school. Participation seemed to depend on what group/class I had access to in which

14

to give the survey. Schools had as few as eight participants to as many as thirty-four

participants.

Coding

Once the data had been collected, I began to process it for analysis.

Transcriptions were made of all the interviews. Each participant was given a unique
identification number. Code sheets were developed for each of the interviews and for the
student survey.

Data was coded by question number for the written survey. I developed the codes
for the qualitative written section of the survey by collecting all written answers and
looking for trends. Once I found trends I categorized them and created numerical codes.
Questions that requested numerical data were coded by question using the actual number
given by the participant. Questions with yes/no responses on the survey were coded by
question number with yes equaling one and no equaling two. All data was entered into a
Microsoft Excel program for firture analysis.

I approached coding for the interviews much differently. Since there was a
maximum of five participants in each group I could leave long opinion answers intact and
reference them by question number or question subject. For example, a question referring
to how a person feels about the band traveling would be a category itself, because that
was the easiest way to identify that particular information. Responses were then placed in
a table next to the unique identification number of the participant. For questions that
requested quantitative data, answers were entered either with the actual number or word

used. For example, one question was, “Do you feel band trips are a strong

15

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recruitment/retention tool?” The answer would either be yes or no. Yes or No were
entered as words into a table under the question number. This particular style of coding

for the interviews made both quantitative and qualitative data very easy to reference.

16

Chapter 4

RESULTS

The results of this study will be presented in sections. The first section will report
results for the student questionnaire, followed by interviews of the high school band

directors, travel agent, high school band parents and finally, high school administrators.

Student Survey

This study included 105 high school band students from 5 different schools in
Michigan. Students were given a short eight-question written survey to complete (see
Appendix H). The student written survey results are presented by question. I have
reported the results of question one, then two and five together, three and four together,

and six, seven and eight separately because of the subject of the questions.

Question 1

The first question asked students to list their top three reasons for wanting to go
on a band trip. There were many responses to this question, and I created categories that
included social, travel, music, school and education, personal, and financial reasons. I
did not rank responses but analyzed them as being equally important. For a complete list
of response codes see Student Code Sheet Appendix I. This particular question was vital

to discovering student motivation for band travel. Results are shown in Figure I.

17

 

Figure 1- Top Student Reasons for Travel

 

Student Reasons for Travel

    

Financial No
Personal 13% Response
20.6% 1.0% .
Socral
School & 26.0%
Educafion
3.8%
MUSIC Travel
9-5% 37.8%

 

 

 

As one can see in the figure above, the two most prominent reasons for students
wanting to go on band trips were travel and social reasons. These statistics become even
more interesting when combining the categories to forrrr Non-Music/Non-Education,
Music and Education, and No Response (see Figure 2). It can easily be seen that students
mostly want to travel for Non-Music/Non-Education reasons while only a small

percentage want to go on band trips for musical and educational reasons.

Figure 2 - Combined Categories

 

Combined Student Reasons

 

No
Musics. R6322”
Education '
13.3%
Non-Music/
Non-
Educafion
85.7%

 

 

 

18

 

 

GWE

 

 

/

Breaking this information down by school, and calculating percentages for the various

categories, I came up with different values that may vary widely from school to school

(see Table 2). However, if categories are combined and percentages calculated, there are

minimal changes in percentages for Music and Education, and Non-Music/Non-

Education, with one exception. School 5 had a much higher percentage of students who

listed music and or education as reasons for wanting to go on the trip; School 5 also had

the smallest number of participants in the study, totaling eight which may make it more

unreliable. In addition, School 5 also took the most expensive trip and was the only

school to recently travel abroad to Europe (see Table 3).

Table 2- School Percentages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Music/Non- Music & N_o
School 1 Education Education Response
Social 28.4% 85.3% 13.7% 1.0%

Travel 35.3%
Music 9.8%
School & Education 3.9%
Personal 1 8.6%
Financial 2.9%
No Response 1.0%

 

 

 

 

School 1 Number of Participants = 34

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Music/Non- Music &
School 2 Education Education No Res onse
Social 23.7% 86.0% 1 1.8% 2.2%

Travel 47.3%
Music 8.6%
School & Education 3.2%
Personal 1 5. 1 %
Financial 0.0%
No Response 2.2%

 

 

 

 

School 2 Number of Participants = 31

 

 

 

 

Non-Music/Non- Music &
School 3 Education Education No Response
Social 30.8% 89.7% 10.3% 0.0%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l9

 

Fm“

 

 

 

Table 2 (Cont’d)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travel 35.9%
Music 7.7%
School & Education 2.6%
Personal 20.5%
Financial 2.6%
No Response 0.0%

 

 

 

 

 

School 3 Number of Participants = 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Music/Non- Music &

:School 4 Education Education No Respfl
Social 21.1% 87.7% 12.3% 0.0%
Travel 31.6%

Music 8.8%
School & Education 3.5%
Personal 35.1%

Financial 0.0%

No Response 0.0%

 

 

 

 

School 4 Number of Participants = 19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Music/Non- Music &
__School 5 Ed_ucation Education No Response
Social 29.2% 75.0% 25.0% 0.0%
Travel 29.2%
Music 16.7%
School & Education 8.3%
Personal 1 6.7%
Financial 0.0%
No Response 0.0%
School 5 Number of Participants = 8
Table 3 - School Destination and Price
School Price/ Price Range Destinations Recent
Destimgn
School 1 $900-$1,300 Hawaii, Great Hawaii
Britain, Texas,
Florida, Washington
DC.
School 2 Less Than $500 Washington DC, Florida

 

 

Florida, Montreal,
Toronto

 

 

20

 

 

Table 3 (cont’d)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School 3 $600-$800 Washington DC, Florida
Florida, New
Orleans, Canada

School 4 $600-$800 Florida, New York, Florida
Toronto, Virginia
Beach,
Williamsburg

School 5 $2,300 Tour of Europe Europe

Question 2 & 5

 

Another very important and insightful piece of information retrieved from the
student survey was that 82.9% of the 105 student participants felt that band trips were a
strong recruitment/retention tool. Along the same lines, 53.3% of the students indicated
that they knew someone who joined band just to go on a trip. Percentages differed
among schools (see Table 4). These percentages may be related to price range and
destination depicted in Table 3. Table 4 indicated that School 1 and School 5 have the
highest percentage of students who feel that taking trips are a strong recruitment/retention
tool. These same schools also took the most expensive trips to the most “exotic”

locations, or destinations outside the continental United States.

Table 4 - Student Percentages on Recruitment/Retention and Joining Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Recruitment/Retention Joining Band
(Question 2) (Question 5)
School 1 91.2% 47.1%
School 2 80.7% 54.8%
School 3 69.2% 46.15%
School 4 73.7% 21.1%
School 5 100% 75%

 

 

 

 

 

21

Questions 3 & 4
Students were asked to rank their trip educationally on a scale of one to five, with
five being the most, and one being the least educational, and then how
recreational/entertaining they felt their trips were using the same ranking (see Appendix
H). For question 3, the lowest obtained educational ranking was a one and the highest
obtained ranking was a five. For question 4 the lowest obtained recreational/entertaining 1
ranking was a two and the highest obtained was a five. The Mean scores for these two “‘I

categories were 3.25 for educational and 4.65 for recreational/entertaining. The standard

 

deviation for Question 3 was .94. The standard deviation for question 4 was .59. There
was very little differentiation in Mean scores among schools. However, School 5, the
school that traveled to Europe, had a very high score in the educational category and is
the exception. School 3, one of the schools that traveled to Florida, had the lowest score
in the educational category. The mean scores and standard deviation for each school are

represented below (see Table 5).

Table 5 - Educational & Recreational/Entertaining Mean Scores and Standard Deviation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Educational Educational Recreational/ Recreational/
Mean Score Standard Entertaining Entertaining
Deviation Mean Score Standard
Dawson
School 1 3.0 .89 4.71 .52
School 2 3.35 .84 4.55 .72
School 3 2.69 1.11 4.85 .38
School 4 3.47 .77 4.58 .51
School 5 4.25 .71 4.63 .74
22

Question 7

Another aspect of travel for school band programs today is affordability and
accessibility for students and their families. I asked the students whether they felt that
their trips were affordable for everyone in the band. Of the 105 students who responded,
52.38% said that they did feel the band trips were affordable for everyone, leaving
47.62% who said they did not feel this way. What is unusual about this particular set of
data is that when broken down in individual school percentages, as seen in Table 6, there

appears to be no correlation between cost of trip and student opinion (see Table 3).

 

Table 6 - Affordability Percentages for Each School

 

 

 

 

 

131g
School Affordable Affordable ‘
School 1 47.06% 52.94%
School 2 48.39% 51.61%
School 3 53.85% 46.15%
School 4 63.16% 36.84%
School 5 62.50% 37.50%

 

 

 

 

 

Question 6

This survey included only one school that traveled abroad. When traveling
abroad schools are confronted with issues of varying laws, especially in countries that
allow drinking alcoholic beverages at a much younger age than does the United States. I
asked students if they knew anyone who had taken advantage of those laws while
traveling abroad with the band. In School 5, which traveled outside the United States,

100% of the students said they did not. School I traveled outside the continental United

23

States. Even though the laws in Hawaii are the same, many students from that school

chose to answer that question with a “yes”.

Question 8

The final question asked of students requested them to list their single most
favorite thing about going on band trips. I used the same categories for responses as I did
for Question 1 because many answers were the same or similar. Categories included
social, travel, music, school and education, personal, and financial reasons. The total

percentages for each category are depicted in Figure 3.

 

Figure 3 - Favorite Thing About Going On Band Trips

 

Favorite Thing About Going On Band Trips I

School& Personal

Educatio 16%

2%

I Music
I 3%

   

I
Financial I
0% I

     
 
 

Social
44%

35% ‘

 

Grouping these as in question 1 (Figure 2), by Music and Education, and Non-Music and
Non-Education reasons, the results are similar, however more extreme, as indicated in

Figure 4.

24

Figure 4 - Favorite Thing About Going On Band Trips: Categorized

 

Favorite Thing About Going On Band
Trips: Music 8. Education, Non-Music 8.
Non-Education Categories

 

Mudc&
Educafion
4L896
Non-Music
&lVon-
Educafion
95.2%

 

 

Each of the schools’ individual scores was relatively close to the total participant analysis

above (see Table 7).

Table 7 - Individual Schools’ Combined Categories Percentages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schools Music & Non-Music &
Education Non-@cation
School 1 5.9% 94.1%
School 2 3.2% 96.8%
School 3 7.7% 92.3%
School 4 0% 100%
School 5 0% 100%

 

 

 

Band Director Interviews

 

Interviews for the band directors were designed to gather both basic factual
information as well as personal opinion. Both types of data were necessary in order to
gain a trustworthy and accurate perspective on trip taking. Thirty-two questions were

asked of each of the directors and are presented grouped by related topic for ease of

analysis and discussion (see Appendix E).

25

Frequency, Duration & Cost of Travel

First, band directors took their students on trips anywhere from every year to
every three to four years. School 4 is the only school to travel every year. The majority of
the schools travel every three years, and School 5 travels every four years. All the
directors interviewed used a travel agent to set up accommodations. Some band directors
were quite adamant about this. The School 4 band director, when asked if he used a
travel agent, emphatically replied, “Always. Always. Always.”

Length of stay varied from five days to two weeks. Price seemed to have a

 

positive correlation with length of stay and destination, with trips costing anywhere from
less than $500.00 for the shortest to $2,300 for the longest (for a complete list of
destinations see Table 3). Note that the European tour taken by School 5 was the most
expensive trip and the trip to Florida for five days taken by School 2 was the cheapest

trip.

Criteria for Selecting Location

Criteria for selecting locations varied, but many of the directors mentioned
performance venue. This was particularly important when taking a large group.
School 3’s director stated, “I don’t take one select group, I take the entire group/groups
together which is about two hundred students, and so I have to have a venue where they
can all perform.” Some directors have curriculum criteria. For example, School 5’s
director stated, “educational match up of curriculum content,” as his criterion for
selection of location. Yet another director, at School 1, listed many things in addition to

performance venue. His list included, “Cultural value, attractiveness to students, sell-

26

ability to administration, enthusiasm level of parents, weather, cost, performance

opportunities.” Criteria seem to vary widely according to individual director.

F undraising and A flordability

In order to make these trips accessible to students, each of the directors and their
booster organizations offered fundraisers in which the students could participate. The
number of fundraisers offered ranged from two a year, to a continual fundraising
program. In reference to fundraising, I asked directors how many students were able to
fully pay for their trips through fundraising. Responses varied from zero to just under
fifty percent. These results seem to be closely related to the cost of the trip. For
example, school 5 took the most expensive trip; it was also the school with zero students
able to completely pay for the trip through fundraising. School 1 took the second most
expensive trip, to Hawaii. School 1 only had 4 students able to pay for the trip entirely
through fundraising. School 3 took a moderately priced trip to Florida, and had just
fewer than 50% of its students able to pay for their trip through fundraising.

Along the same lines, I asked directors what they did if a student could not afford
to go on the trip. Four of the five directors worked to help their students go on the trip.
They worked with booster organizations, asked for community sponsors and donors,
asked for student donors, and set up scholarship funds. In addition, those students
needing help were often required to participate in fundraisers and requested to help the
director with trip preparation. Only in one school did the director not assist those
students who could not afford to participate. The School 4 director responded to this

question by stating, “Too bad.” His program is also the only one to travel yearly.

27

 

Participation Levels

Another important question asked of directors referred to what percentage of their
students participated in the band trips. Most directors answered that question with a range
of percentages. Percentages ranged from a low of 70% to a high of just fewer than 100%.

Full lists of percentages are listed on Table 8 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 8 - Percentages of Student Participation on Band Trips #4.
Schools Percentage
Range
School 1 80-95 V '
School 2 85-90
School 3 Almost 100
School 4 70-85
School 5 84-96

 

 

 

 

When looking at this table, most schools seem to be close in percentages except for

school 4, with the low of 70 percent.

Legal Issues

1 also wanted to find out how directors handled the differences between foreign
and US. laws when traveling abroad. Even though only one director had traveled abroad
recently, other directors had taken students to Canada prior to their most recent trip. All
the directors expressed that, since it was a school-sanctioned trip, school rules applied
along with school consequences should those rules be broken, even if the local law was
more liberal. Some band directors also emphasized that it is not an issue if the trip is
properly chaperoned, and some directors even give out Special trip handbooks that cover

this very topic. The School 1 director covered all of this in his response when he stated,

28

The laws of the selected destination, if more strict, are followed. Michigan law
and school student policies are followed if they are more strict. These are
discussed with students in advance, published in the trip handbook, emphasized at
the student/parent trip meeting and discussed in advance at the student/chaperone
small group meetings. All students and parents Sign a document promising to
abide by school rules while on the trip. Progressively more severe consequences
for rule violations are listed in the trip handbook.

School, Class & Teacher Time
The next aspect of trip taking investigated was time, which included school, class,
and teacher time. First, I asked about time students were out of school. Four of the five

bands had students excused from school to participate in travel. The School 1 director

 

wrote that,
I have found that missing three days of school will encourage the greatest number
of participants, all other things being equal. (more days will discourage some who
are concerned about their academics, and less days will discourage some who
want to miss more school to get their ‘money’s worth.’).
School 5 was the only school that did not excuse students from class; its trip took place in
the summer.

All the directors used some class time for the trip. However, when asked if they
felt trip planning took away from class time, only two said yes. Teacher time is important
to this topic as well. I asked directors if they felt trip planning took away from time they
normally distributed to other teacher duties. Again, only two directors responded with a
yes. The School 1 director stated,

Yes — this is true even if a large, experienced, savvy parent group is handling the

trip. The director simply must be involved. Communication is the number one

time theft (communication with parent committee heads, students, other parents,
contacts on the ground at the destination venue, etc.)

29

Related to teacher time is the timetable for planning the trip. When do these
directors begin planning for their trips? Four of the five directors gave an answer to this
question. Three of the four directors said one year before the trip; the director of School
3 said it took three years. The director stated,

Every three years we go on trips, so the minute the first one is done we have a

meeting and decide what to do to make things better for the next one and then we

start organizing what we’d like to do next and meet with travel agents and have
them bid on it.

Trip Activities, Educational and RecreationaI/Entertaining Rankings

After all their planning, what exactly do directors schedule for these trips? Some
of the activities scheduled for these trips are indeed very educationally and very
musically oriented. For example, some groups gave several performances and
participated in music seminars and clinics geared toward student learning. School 3
participated in a special recording session and seminar in Disney World. School 4
participated in a seminar on Broadway musicals in New York. The director of School 2
geared one of her trips to Washington DC. entirely around music careers exploration.
She states,

We had people from the National Endowment for the Arts ...speak with us, we

went to the Smithsonian and had a jazz historian or jazz archivist and a music

historian talk with us. We went to the Navy Yard and learned about military

opportunities in music. We went to Kennedy Center and had an arts management
person talk to us, and we toured all these places on top of it all.

Other educational activities included cultural exploration. This could be a simple dining
experience such as a Polynesian Luau that School I participated in, or it could be more
complex such as touring a historically preserved German city, as School 5 did. On other

trips bands give a minimal number of performances and spend a good amount of time in

30

 

recreational activities such as amusement parks and sightseeing. Some of these trips have
students perform marching band activities such as parades and halftime shows that seem
to be of lesser musical value.

The next area of trip taking concerned number of performances, educational
ranking, and recreational/entertaining ranking. I asked directors how many performances
they gave on their band trips. Answers ranged anywhere from one to nine. Most of the
bands performed anywhere from two to four times during their trip. School 5 was the one
that gave nine performances. That school’s band also traveled for a period of two weeks
touring several countries in Europe.

In terms of how educational band directors felt their trips were, I asked them to
rank their trip on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most and one being the least

educational (see Table 9).

Table 9 - Directors’ Educational Ranking of Trips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S_cl_rool Ranking
School 1 4
School 2 4 or 5
School 3 5
School 4 2/2.5 to 5
School 5 5

 

 

 

The table indicates that the lowest ranking is from the School 4 director giving one of his
trips a two-and-a-half. Here is what he had to say:

It really varies by the trip. . .for instance, the Outback Bowl I would give like a
two maybe a two point five because really it was a marching band trip. We did a
parade, we did a little festival that was crazy to do, and then we did a big
halftime...experience being the value, a large venue with. . .I think they said,
3,500 people playing. That’s a great experience. Musically sound? No. ...And

31

 

I’m not sure how you could separate the educational value from ...an
experience. . .

In terms of recreation and entertainment ranking, directors were asked to rank
their band trips on a scale of one to five, with five being the most and one being the least.

Most directors seemed to rank their trips moderate to high (see Table 10).

Table 10 - Band Director Ranking on Recreation and Entertainment Level of Trips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Ranking
School] 5
School 2 4 or 5
School 3 4 or 5
School 4 3 to 4
School 5 2 to 5

 

 

 

The only ranking on this table that seems to stand out is the one listed for School
5. That school’s director listed its low as two. This is also the school that gave nine
performances on its fourteen-day tour of Europe, which is noticeably higher then the

number of performances other schools gave.

Director Opinion on the Ways in Which the Trip is Educational

In order to truly understand why the directors gave the educational ranking that
they did, I asked them to describe the ways in which they felt their trip was educational.
Answers varied and are listed below.

School 1 Director:

Understanding the thrill of Sharing one's music with people who are strangers.

Learning how to perform well in an unfamiliar environment (acoustics, borrowed

equipment, limited rehearsal time, foreign audiences, etc.) Learning how to give

and take when traveling. Learning how to compromise with new friends who
may not be your first choice as roommates. Practicing the courtesies of travel

32

 

(service personnel, hotel staffs, chaperones, etc.) Learning the responsibilities of
traveling with a group: always on time, never hold up the bus, etc. The ins and
outs of passports, phone cards, foreign currency, etc. Understanding geography,
time changes, jet lag. Airport security etiquette, etc.

School 2 Director:

The fact that, for example, when we did an exploration in music careers thing.
That gave kids an opportunity to see what they could do with music other than
teach or play ...in the case of the Disney thing ...the clinics drove home their
responsibilities as a performer and reinforced a lot of the things we talk about
everyday in class. Same with the festival we went to in Toronto... Montreal was
not a performing trip. We went to a musical; we went to an opera and went to
hear a symphony when we were there.

School 3 Director:

Well, take for example, the recording situation. Kids will never get that
experience any other place. ...They go into a studio; they see what its like to be a
professional player; they learn to sight-read. They’re explained to them how you
put a piece of music in from of them, and they have to play it perfect the first time
...they spend about an hour-and-a-half explaining that to them, and then for the
final performance they... pass something out they’ve never seen. They record
it right then and put the music to a movie... They give them a final product,
which is the movie, with them playing the background so it is very, very good.

School 4 Director:

Well again, using New York, . . .the lecture opportunity. We’re visiting world-
class entertainment ...and we really talk about it, especially on the bus, ...where
we have lots of time ...what did you like the best. This will be my fourth New
York trip, and we always have great conversations after going to museums ...so
really, you can kind of see the wheels turning, and ...that process of just talking,
having conversation about art, even musical or visual.

School 5 Director:

All of the composers hometowns, all of the community music groups we see, all
of the historical sites we see, all of the performances of for European audiences of
American and European music.

The director responses Show the different interpretations of “educational”.

33

 

 

Recruitment and Retention

Another question I asked band directors was whether they felt band trips were a
strong recruitment/retention tool or not. The band director from school 5 answered,
“Absolutely,” while the band director from school 4 stated, “I think it has a positive
effect on keeping kids interested in the program.” Four of the five directors said they did
feel it was a strong recruitment/retention tool. In contrast, when asked if they saw an
increase in the number of students participating in band during the years that they

traveled, only one director said “yes”.

Administrator Concerns

I also wanted to know if the band directors’ administrators expressed any
concerns to them about taking the band on a trip. The band director from School 2
responded, “No, not at all, she encourages it.” Again, four of the five directors answered
this question with a no. The only director to respond with a yes was the director from

School 1. He stated, “only in terms of missed days of school.”

Band Directors’ Thoughts on the Band Trip Phenomenon

When the band directors were asked whether they felt that many schools had
begun to travel, four of the five said they did. The band director at School 5 did not say
yes to this question; this particular director did not know of other schools that traveled.
When asked why they felt many schools were traveling, reasons ranged from recruitment
reasons to school bands being a new market in the travel industry. Responses from each

of the four directors are listed below.

34

 

School 1 Band Director:

1 think it is because it continues to become increasingly more difficult to retain
students as the years go by. I feel this is because there are so many more options
for students than there used to be, and band directors are searching for ways to
make their programs more attractive. In the past 25 years we have added or
increased dramatically: personal computers, the intemet, compact discs, cable
TV, DVD'S, mini-discs, MPS'S, girls’ Interscholastic sports, cheer "teams"
(formerly cheer "leaders"), youth soccer, state-wide academic achievement
testing, and in some schools such additional sports as lacrosse, hockey, and water

polo.

School 2 Band Director:

...Two fold. . .keeping up with the Jones’ ...if everybody in the area is doing it,
maybe you feel compelled, but I think more than that it’s there are so many tour
companies now. I can throw away a dozen brochures in the mail that I get in one
day on travel. There are so many of these travel companies popping and making
it easy ...they’ll design and plan the whole trip and do this and monitor kids
accounts paying for the trip and all that, that it makes it so easy. I think a lot of
people are compelled to try it, and so I think that’s actually. . .Well for example,
we take trips and we try to take a major one every four year ...I have no intention
of going overseas, I don’t have no intention of getting on an airplane. ...I don’t
have any. First of all, the cost is a lot more, and I’m not willing to take that kind
of risk with other people’s kids. And I, at this point in time, do not take a kid
overseas. Even though I’ve been to Europe twice with kids, once as a student and
once as an assistant conductor with Blue Lake, but I myself I wouldn’t take that
kind of responsibility...

School 3 Band Director:

Because it gives kids something to do that other classes don’t offer.
School 4 Band Director:

Well I think music education is being looked at as an industry and the travel
people say, ya’ know there’s a whole medium that I can latch on to ....if you read
our journals, and stuff like that, those are the people that are advertising right
along with uniform companies and instrument companies, there’s travel
companies. It’s a big market. . .and ...quite frankly, band directors do extra things
all the time, and this is just one other extra I think that most band directors are
kind of into.

35

 

These responses vary somewhat, however, there is one element that is mentioned twice.
The travel industry, in the opinion of some of the directors, has found a new market in
large ensemble travel, making it easy for directors to take their groups to various
locations. All opinions give food for thought. Recruitment, peer pressure from other
directors, and something that is uniquely offered only by band are plausible motivations

for increase in band travel.

Top 3 Reasons for Traveling and Disadvantages of Travel

In order to fully understand the motivation for directors to want to travel with
their students, I asked each of the directors what their top three reasons for travel were.
Answers varied. Many of the directors mentioned recruitment/retention, while others
mentioned student exposure to new things. The School 1 director wrote,

1) Student recruiting and retention — there Simply are very few things that
compete with a succession of well—planned, interesting, educational, and fun trips.
2) Development of a strong sense of unity and family within the band — there are
few activities that can compete with group travel that create the strong Shared
experience which builds bonds among the students and bonds among the parents.
3) Reward for the work and sacrifice which is inherent in long-term band
membership.

The School 2 director mentioned some of the same things as the School 1 director, but
she also added musical reasons. Here is what she had to say.

...Give kids an opportunity to go someplace and let them see what they can do
musically in these places that they may have already been. And number two, to
some degree a recruiting too] although, I don’t see kids clamoring to be in band
just so they can take a trip. So, I’m not sure it’s as much of a reward for those
that are here as it is. . .its more that, than it is maybe a recruiting thing, and I guess
that would be the second and the third.

36

The School 3 director also mentioned recruiting, but he elaborated more, delving into his
own personal experience. He stated,
I think, well for example, when I came to this program there were forty-seven
kids in high school band 9-12, and the first year I was here we went on a trip and
it went up from 47 kids the first year, ...when I left there were ninety that first
year, and now there’s over two hundred 10-12 and we’ve got over 700 in the
program, and its been twelve years now. But it helps build, when the younger
kids see that the older kids are doing, are really involved in doing a lot of things,
it really promotes the program. . .when I do a trip I try to go places they normally
wouldn’t go if they were out of school.
The director from School 4 focused his response on travel and exposure. He replied,
I think it gives kids, students exposure to other cities, other performance
opportunities; ...it gets them out of town. It also creates a nice social opportunity
for them to be together with their friends in a safe environment and ...again get
out of town. A lot of our kids don’t travel, so this gives them a chance.
The director from School 5 seemed to be the most oriented to music education. He
responded,
Making connections to the historical value of music and culture. Building interest
in foreign composers, and an opportunity to truly broaden a small community’s
vision of the world. And discover some of the places where the greatest
composers have come from.
Interestingly, School 5 students ranked their trip the highest in terms of education in
comparison to the other participating schools in this study.
The disadvantages to trip taking are important to this research as well.
Disadvantages help paint a more complete picture of what trip taking actually entails.
Disadvantages ranged anywhere from no disadvantages at all to the risks of student

injury. The director from School 1 listed several disadvantages when he wrote,

1) Allocation of time and money to trips rather than purely musical endeavors. 2)
Risk of alienation of a segment of the band who chooses not to go on the trip, for

37

whatever reason. 3) Perception on the part of the students, and/or parents and/or

school and/or community that the band's main emphasis is trips, not music.

The School 2 director did not list any disadvantages, while, in contrast, School 5 director
wrote, “The physical labor of moving a large band across the world, and dealing with
customs, but we have it down to a science by doing our homework in advance.” In
addition, School 3’s director felt the loss of personal time was a disadvantage while the
School 4 director’s response focused on liability, student injury, and financial risk due to
lower student. participation.

After presenting the disadvantages, one can clearly see that each disadvantage
listed is unique to the director. There seems to be a rich diversity of response based
mostly on personal opinion here. In terms of disadvantage, there seems to be no
relationship to any other factor of travel with one exception. School 4’s director listed
financial risk in terms of not enough student participation. This director also has his band

traveling every year.

Travel Agent

Part of the research for this study also included a brief phone interview with a
travel agent/ guide who was experienced with music ensemble travel. The reason this
interview was included was to gain specific information about prices, time of travel, and

to gain an outsider’s perspective on this topic.

38

Cost

The first area I wanted to investigate was cost. I asked what the average cost for a
trip was per student. In his response, the agent included durations from short weekend
trips all the way up to European trips. He answered, “about five hundred dollars.” I also
wanted to know what the average cost was of a trip to a foreign country. This dollar
amount was much higher at $2,500, similar to the cost of School 5’s trip to Europe at
$2,300 per student. Then I wanted to check the average cost of a domestic band trip. In
this estimate be included short weekend trips all the way through trips to Florida over a

period of five to six days. He gave $350 as the average price.

Quantity and Type of A ctivities

After determining various prices, I wanted to find out how many musical and non-
musical activities groups scheduled during typical trips. His response for musical
activities was, “Typically on a week-long trip we try to schedule three music activities
being either clinic or concert or festivals.” When asked about non-music activities, his
response was, “basically the balance of the trip uh. . .aside from the musical activities the

balance of it would be sightseeing and things like amusement parks.”

Educational and Recreational/Entertaining Rankings

Along the same lines, I wanted him to rank trips on how educational and how
recreational/entertaining he felt they were. For these questions, the scale was from one to
five, with five being the most, and one being the least. In terms of how educational he

felt these trips were, he replied,

39

Well, most of the trips that we take I would say are four, four to five. There are
some that are taking trips that are just doing it for fun and probably put that
around two, but in general, I would say maybe a four.

His ranking for recreation and entertainment was a three.

Factor Determining Travel and Frequency

Next, I asked what he felt was the single most important factor determining travel
destinations for schools today. His response was, “. . .it should be the educational factor in
terms of what the students will get out of it that they would not get if they were back at
school.” Along the same lines, I questioned frequency of travel. In response he said that
schools normally travel every two years. According to him, this is an increase in
scheduling. Previously, schools scheduled every three to four years. Also, he has noticed
an increase in the numbers of schools that choose to travel abroad. In terms of time of
year when travel occurs most frequently, he said that Spring was the top travel season

with late summer and early fall being the least traveled.

Band Parent Interviews

This study included one high school band parent from each of the participating
school districts, for a total of five. Interviews were completed over the phone or via
email. Parents were asked 13 questions about band trips (see Appendix F). Many of the
questions were quantitative in nature, while a few of the questions asked parents to give
their opinions and feelings on this topic. For ease of reading, I will present data by topic

similar to those in the other interviews.

40

 

 

 

Feelings Toward Band Travel

The first question in the band parent interview asked parents how they felt about
the band program taking trips. Answers for this question varied. Many of the parents said
they felt it was educational. For example, the School 1 band parent stated, “I think it is
part of the education, “ while, School 2 band parent replied, “I think it is very
educational. I would go for it. I have no problems.” School 3 band parent also mentioned
education but elaborated in her answer by responding,

I think it is an important part of the band program. I think that it shouldn’t be

every year as far as a long trip goes south to Florida or something. I don’t think

that it should be every year; I think it should be worked out ...so that once during

a student’s high school career. ...I think if you do it too often, one, you wouldn’t

be able to afford it, you wouldn’t have enough people going ...Two, the kids

wouldn’t think it was something important and ...a good educational experience

for them... have fun and a chance for them to travel.
In accordance with the parents from Schools 1, 2, and 3, the School 5 band parent, again,
listed education in her response. She stated, “I think trips serve a very useful, education
purpose. It gives incentive for kids to stay in band, helps bond them as a group, and
provides a learning experience outside of the classroom.” Finally, the School 4 parent just
expressed her pleasure with trip taking by replying, “I think it’s wonderful.” Even though

answers vary, all the parents seem supportive of the travel in which their programs

participate.

Feelings Toward Selected Location
I wanted to find out how parents felt about the location selected for the trip. All
of the parents were very supportive when responding to this question. Many of them also

mentioned education in their answer. The School 5 band parent replied, “Washington

41

DC. is a great place with lots of learning opportunities.” Along the same lines, the
School 2 band parent responded, “I think they’re fine. Last time they went to Florida, and

it was a very educational trip. It was nice.”

F undraising and A flordabil ity

Financial issues in trip taking were also brought up with parents. These questions
were much more quantitative in nature. I asked parents if they felt everyone in the band
could afford to go on the band trip. Four of the five parents, or 80%, interviewed
responded with no. Only one parent said yes to that question. That parent was from
School].

I also asked parents if they felt enough fundraising opportunities were provided
for students to earn money toward their trip. Four of the five parents answered this
question specifically with a clear yes or no. The parent from School 1 included the
answer to this question in his response to question three when he stated, “There are ways
for everybody to get to go. We have a lot of fundraising opportunities. If you want to go,
you can go.” Four of the five parents responded with “yes” to this question. The parent
that answered with “no” was from School 5. She stated, “No, we have problems coming
up with fundraisers that can draw in large dollars.” Interestingly, she is fiom the school

that had the most expensive trip.

Foreign Legal and Safety Issues

Foreign travel is addressed through questions conceming legal and safety issues. I

asked parents what they felt about students traveling to foreign countries, where the

42

country’s laws, in terms of drinking age and other activities normally limited by age,
were different from the United States’ laws. There were only three parents, of the four
that were eligible, that were experienced enough with the band program to enable them to
answer this question. Those schools were School 1, School 4, and School 5. All three of
those parents expressed that they either had no concerns, or were very comfortable with
that type of travel. For example, the school 1 band parent said, “No concerns
whatsoever,” while the School 5 band parent wrote, “This is not a problem. The students
are chaperoned and counseled ahead of time of school expectations. This is also part of
their learning experience (to know other cultures are different than ours).”

In terms of safety, I asked parents if they felt there were more, less or equal safety
concerns when traveling outside the United States versus within our own country. The

three participating parents from School 1, 4, & 5 all gave “more” as their response.

Benefits and Disadvantages of Band Trips

The benefits and disadvantages of band trips are addressed through questions six
and seven. First, I asked parents what they felt were the benefits to taking band trips.
Many answers included education, social and travel benefits. The School 1 band parent
replied, “I think that the more interesting the more different places you get to visit the
better experience you can have culturally to understand that the world is a small place but
a big place at the same time I think to get to look outside (Name) County here.” School 2
band parent responded, “Educational part of it. Urn. . .getting to know each band member
better,” while the School 3 band parent commented,

The educational benefits. Sometimes, ...students would not be able to be away at
all out of the state of Michigan, or even out of our county. Some students don’t

43

even get a chance to travel that far. ...They get to see and meet different people
...to be able to do other things ...and to do it in a supervised manner ...they just
aren’t’ left to go helter skelter. ...They’re supervised and they have different
opportunities like dinner shows for them to see and ...and yes, ...they have a fun
day after we’ve been on the bus all day, usually at a water park, and they get to do
that kind of stuff. And they have to learn responsibility. They have time where
they have to be at certain places, and surprisingly enough, most of them make it
there ...that was a pleasant surprise for me.
The band parent from School 4 expressed her consideration of social and education
benefits when She stated, “I think it brings the members of the band much closer together,
and it’s fun and ...it makes wonderful memories together and individually and
...educational.” Similarly, the School 5 band parent replied, “Bonding, keep kids in band,
learn things outside of the classroom.” What I find particularly interesting about these
responses is that even though they are varied, four of the five responses referred to either
learning or education.
In contrast, I asked parents what they felt were the disadvantages to trip taking.
Again, responses varied, but included things such as affordability and students
participating for the “wrong reasons.” The School 1 band parent replied, “I don’t know
that there are any. It puts a lot of burden on the band as well as the parents who organize
it. As long as we can find folks who are willing to step up, it can be very enjoyable for
those who do that I think there are no drawbacks. It’s purely an educational thing.” In
contrast the School 2 and School 4 parents simply responded with the issue of cost and
affordability. The band parent from School 3 also mentioned cost but included more
when she commented,
It’s that some of the kids can’t afford to at the time. ...and some of the parents
think it’s an unnecessary thing. We had one parent who thought it was like a
senior trip, that it was a fun type of thing and there was no educational value, and

we said, ‘no, there is.’ So, I think that the disadvantage is also one, they can’t
afford it.

44

Finally, the School 5 band parent mentioned new disadvantages when she wrote, “Not all
students can go. Also, students may stay in band for the wrong reason (the trip, not the
music)” In sum, four of the five participants stated affordability or cost as disadvantages

to travel. Only one participant felt there were no disadvantages.

Class Time

The use of class time for trip planning through the eyes of the parent was
important to this Study. I asked parents if they felt that much class time was taken up for
trip planning. All of the participants responded ‘no’ to this particular question.

Interestingly, some band directors did feel it took class time.

Recruitment and Retention

I wanted to find out whether parents felt that band trips were a strong
recruitment/retention tool for the program. Three of the five participants said they did feel
this was the case. Two participants did not feel that trips were a strong
recruitment/retention tool. However, of those two, the School 1 parent acknowledged the
fact that it was a recruitment/retention tool but said it was not strong. He stated,

Probably, retention tool in the third and fourth years. I don know of cases where

folks have said, ‘Well, I’ll stay in because we’re going next year.’ But it’s

definitely a factor. Whether its strong or not? I don’t think it’s strong, I think it’s
there.

45

Educational Ranking and Why, Recreational/Entertaining Ranking
I asked parents to rank how educational the band trips were on a scale of one to
five, with five being the most and one being the least. Table 11 depicts the responses of

all five participants.

Table 11 — Parent Educational Ranking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=School Ranking
School 1 5
School 2 4 to 5
School 3 5
School4 5
School 5 3

 

 

 

In this table, the lowest ranking belonged to the parent from School 5. Interestingly
enough, that was the school that had the highest student ranking for this particular
question.
Along the same lines, I wanted to find out why parents gave the scores they did.
Four of the five participants gave responses. First, the lowest ranking given was from the
School 5 band parent. She replied,
When a large group of students gather, they socialize. They get caught up with the
moment with friends rather than the moment of being someplace different. I think
you can only get a ‘5’ when there is a small group with a high ratio of adults to
students (to keep the students focused).
The other parents replied with answers that included being exposed to new things,
cultures, tourist attractions, and because of the education gleaned from travel.
Finally, I asked parents to rank the recreational/entertaining value of the band trip

on the same scale as that of question eleven (educational value). The responses from this

question are listed in Table 12.

46

Table 12 — Parent Recreational/Entertaining Ranking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Ranki g
School 1 Very High
School 2 3 to 4
School 3 3 to 4
School 4 5
SchoolS 4

 

 

 

As one can see, all parents ranked band trips either moderate to high in terms of

recreational/entertainment value.

High School Administrator Interviews

This section of the research included interviewing four high school
administrators. Unfortunately, one administrator was unable to participate. The
participating administrators completed the interview by phone, ‘via email, and by
facsimile.

The interview consisted of 16 questions that requested basic quantitative data and
also more opinion oriented qualitative data. For a complete list of interview questions
see Appendix G. In presenting the results of my data collection, I will refer to the data by

subject. Data of similar topics will be presented together as in the other interviews.

How Administrators Feel About Band Trips and the Location Selected
I asked principals how they felt about the band program taking trips. Answers

ranged from School 2 administrator stating, “Great,” to the School 5

47

administrator replying, “I have no issue with bands taking trips.” The administrators
from School 1 and School 3 gave a little more information. School 1 administrator
stated, “It is an excellent addition to our curriculum offered by the music department.”
The School 3 administrator responded, “Trips are necessary for the band to perform
throughout the community, mid Michigan, band festivals. . .things like that.” These
administrators seem to feel that trips are important and are comfortable with their bands
traveling.

I asked administrators what they thought about the location selected for the trip in
question two. Again, responses varied. The School 1 administrator expressed, “Great care
is taken by the music department faculty members in selecting a location that provides
opportunity for performance, as well as interest and learning for students.” The
administrator from School 2 said, “fine,” while the administrator from School 5 stated,
“Locations of trips Should be decided through a process of input from students, parents,
and instructor. Where they choose to go is no issue with me as long as it is a safe and
secure place to travel.” Finally, the school 3 administrator responded, “. . .They’re pretty
good. ...They take them to Florida every other year where they perform in Walt Disney
World. Kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity for some kids, which I think, is really
neat.” With the responses given, it appears that administrators seem to support the

locations band directors choose for their trips.

Affordability and Plans for Helping Students in Need
I asked administrators whether they felt everyone could afford to go on the trip.

All four of the participating administrators said no to that question. I then asked if there

48

was anything in place to help students who could not afford to go on the trips. Again, all
four of the participating administrators said yes. What is interesting about this data is that
there seems to be no relationship between their responses and cost of trip. For example,
of the participating administrators, School 5 had the most expensive trip, while School 3

had the least expensive trip, yet their answers were the same.

Foreign Legal Issues, School Policy and Safety Concerns

Issues regarding foreign travel are important to this study because many schools
are beginning to travel abroad. Administrator opinion on this topic is very important. The
School 3 administrator responded to these questions even though her band does not travel
to foreign locations, therefore I will include her responses.

I wanted to know how administrators felt about students traveling to foreign
countries where the country’s laws, in terms of drinking age and other activities normally
limited by age, are different from the United States. Answers for this question varied, but
overall there was a sense that the administrators felt comfortable with their students
traveling to foreign destinations. The School 2 administrator replied, “OK,” while the
School 3 administrator elaborated by stating,

Well, I guess there are a couple of things. . .if you’ve got good people

chaperoning, and good supervision you can cut a lot of that stuff way down. I

think it all depends on the people that are going. I think that ...usually the

positives out way the negatives.
The School 5 administrator seemed the most comfortable; he responded, “No issue for

me. It is a school-sponsored trip so school guidelines apply no matter where they travel.”

Lastly, the School 1 administrator responded, “We have a policy for all students traveling

49

abroad that requires them to live by the... High School Disciplinary Code, which
disallows the use of alcohol and other drugs, cigarette smoking etc.”

I also asked administrators if their schools had any policies on foreign travel.
Administrators of three schools that traveled to foreign countries, School 1, School 2 and
School 5, replied “yes” while School 3 answered “no”.

Foreign travel, in terms of safety, was important to this research. I asked whether
administrators felt there were more, less or equal safety concerns when traveling outside
the United States. Again, the administrators of the three schools that traveled to foreign
countries, School 1, School 2 and School 5, replied “more” while School 3 replied
“equal”. What I find interesting about this data is that, again, the administrators of

schools that participate in foreign travel seem to answer questions Similarly.

Benefits and Disadvantages

Information regarding benefits and disadvantages of trip taking was requested
from the participating administrators. I asked administrators what they felt were the
benefits to trip taking. The School 1 administrator wrote, “Opportunities for students to
perform for international audiences. Opportunities to learn and grow as a result of
exposure to other cultural [e].” The School 2 administrator wrote, “Foreign experience,
chance to be with others.” The administrator from School 3 commented, “I think it’s a,
for band trips the benefits are. . . performing and demonstration of skill to audiences that
are not from (school 3) or are not from this part of Michigan or not even from the State.”
Finally, the administrator from School 5 stated, “Experience another culture; perform in

different location and venue. See places some kids may never see. etc.”

50

The disadvantages to trip taking through the eyes of an administrator are
important to gaining a complete perspective on this topic. Answers differed greatly for
this particular question. The School 1 administrator wrote, “Students are stressed to
complete all academic work that is missed as a result of the trip.” The School 2
administrator said briefly, “safety” while the School 3 administrator stated, “Some of the
disadvantages would be interruption of the school day or pulling kids out of instructional
time.” The administrator from School 5’s response was even more different. He wrote,
“Costs, not everybody can go. Liability risks, supervision issues. Same as with any
school sponsored trip.” The administrators brought to light many disadvantages and

there seemed to be no similarities amongst the schools.

Class Time

Class time is an important aspect of travel, especially for principals. I asked
administrators whether they felt much class time was taken up for trip planning. All of
the participating administrators responded no. I think this is significant because it is, yet

again, a unanimous response, and at odd with the responses of the band directors.

Recruitment and Retention

I asked administrators whether they felt that taking trips was a strong
recruitment/retention tool for the band program. Two of the four administrators
responded yes. The School 2 administrator was the only one to say no. The School 3
administrator even elaborated by stating,

I think the Florida trip definitely is. I think ...kids will pass down their
experiences as far as their Florida trip. They’ll tell their brothers and sisters, and

51

 

so forth, that it was a great time and learned a lot, and got to play in front of so
and so, and I think that kind of builds up the common spirit of the band.

The School 1 administrator gave no real definitive answer. He wrote, “I believe that trips

for purposes of performing and learning are a strong component of the music program.”

Educational and Reemotional/Entertaining Rankings

Administrators were asked to rank their band trips on a scale of one to five, with
five being the most and one being the least. First they ranked their trip on how
educational they felt it was. See table 13 below for their responses.

Table 13 — Principal Educational Ranking

 

School Ranki g

 

 

 

 

School] 5
School2 5
School3 4

 

 

 

 

School 5 3.5 to 4

 

It is interesting that the School 5 principal gave his school the lowest score, even though
his students gave the highest ranking of all the participating schools.

Next, administrators were asked to rank their trip on the same scale but in terms
of how recreational/entertaining they felt their trips were. The complete list of results is

shown in Table 14.

52

Table 14 — Principal Recreational/Entertaining Ranking

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Ranking—
School] 5
School 2 5
School3 3
School 5 3.5 to 4

 

 

 

Considerations for Permission and Location and Opinion on Value to Program

The last three questions of the interview asked the administrators what types of
things they take into consideration when determining whether to allow the band to travel
and whether they feel band trips are an important part of their band program.

I asked administrators what things they take into consideration when determining
whether the band can go on a trip or not. Answers varied for this question. The School 1
administrator wrote, “Things I consider are: opportunity for performance, opportunity
for learning, degree of planning, parental and student involvement in selection of location
and planning.” The School 2 administrator wrote, “Budget enhancement to program,
location, safety, educational experience.” The administrator from school 3 commented,
“What adults are going.” Finally, the school 5 administrator wrote, “Security,
performance opportunities, supervision, cost, educational opportunities of site,
recreational opportunities of site, etc.” This data depicts a wide range of things taken into
consideration. Responses that were repeated by more than one administrator include cost,
location, safety, and education.

I also asked administrators what factors are taken into consideration when
selecting a location for the trip. Many of the responses to this question were similar to

those of question 14. The School 1 administrator wrote, “The opportunity available to

53

students to perform, learn and grow.” The administrator from school 2 wrote, “safety,
educational experience, cost.” The administrator from school 3 stated, “I think ...chances
for performance and demonstration to different audiences.” Lastly, the School 5
administrator included the same responses for question 14 that were, “security,
performance opportunities, supervision, cost, education opportunities of site, recreational
opportunities of site, etc.”

Finally, I wanted to know if administrators felt trip taking was an important part
of their band program. All four of the participating administrators responded to this
question with a, “yes”. This is important because the four participating administrators
represented a wide range of trip taking from simple marching band performances in

Florida to European tours, and yet they all felt it was an important part of their program.

54

 

Chapter 5

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The topic of this study, a current contemporary phenomenon in music,
raised many questions that were previously illustrated. It is my hope that this

research has shed light on some of those questions.

Conclusions

I will discuss the conclusions by t0pic for ease of reference. Topics
include student and band director reasons for trip participation, educational value,

recreational and entertainment value, and benefits versus liabilities.

Student and Band Director Reasons for Trip Participation

First, why do students participate in band trips? From this research study,
students travel mostly for non-music and non-educational reasons (see Figure 2).
Surprisingly, most directors scheduled trips for non—music/non- education reasons
as well. Reasons included recruitment and retention purposes, as a reward, to
precipitate student bonding and to expose students to new places and performance
opportunities. There was only one director who really listed what many would
perceive as traditional educational reasons. That director was from School 5, the

school that traveled to Europe, and he listed, “making connections to the historical

55

value of music and culture,” getting students interested in foreign composures,

seeing where these composers came from and expanding their view of the world.”

Educational Value
Interesting to note, most directors ranked their trip high in terms of

education when they did not schedule their trips for educational purposes. Parents,

 

'P
administrators, and the travel agent also ranked these trips high in terms of
educational value. The travel agent might have ranked these trips high because of ’
personal investment in his position. Also worthy of mention, the mean score of
student educational ranking was 3.25, while that of School 5 students was 4.25. ’

This disparity could be related to the fact that, due to circumstances beyond my
control, there were only 8 participants for School 5. It could also be because the
director’s reasons for planning the trip were focused around student education.
Also important to point out for this particular aspect of the research is that
the lowest educational ranking came from the School 4 director at 2/2.5. He was
referring to his trip to Florida. He ranked it low because it was a marching band
trip and, in his opinion, was not musically sound. It is important to note, four of
the five schools in this study had traveled to Florida at some point in time. Two of
the schools travel to Florida regularly. It is my understanding that Florida is the
travel destination of many traveling ensembles and most often is a marching band
venue with performances in the amusement parks. This is noteworthy because the
lowest educational score came from a director that was referring to his band trip

to Florida and Disney World. It seems reasonable to assume that his trip was

56

typical of many Florida trips in terms of activities and performances as he

scheduled it through a travel agent.

Recreation and Entertainment Value

In contrast to educational value of the trips, I asked all participants to rank
them on how recreational and entertaining they felt trips were. Even though
School 5 had the highest student ranking in education, there was very little
difference in terms of individual school mean scores for recreational and
entertainment rankings. Mean scores ranged from 4.55 to 4.85 (see Table 5). This
indicates that most students felt that trips are very recreational and entertaining.
This was true even if the reason for the trip was based on educational objectives.
Simply put, students seem to have fun while learning something about music.
Most band directors ranked their trips as being very recreational and entertaining
as well. Most scores were 4’s or 5’3 with School 5 being 2 to 5. School 5 also
gave the most performances of any other participating school at 9 performances in
14 days. The travel agent felt that trips were a 3 in terms of recreational and
entertainment value while parents scores ranged from 3 to 5. Administrators also
ranked trips with scores ranging from 3 to 5. Basically, almost all participants feel
that trips are moderate to very recreational and entertaining with a majority

leaning toward very recreational and entertaining.

57

Benefits versus Liabilities

The results of this study indicate that the benefits of trip taking far
outweigh the liabilities. The benefits of trip taking, in the view of the participants,
include recruitment, retention, performance opportunities, education, travel
opportunities, student bonding, and cultural benefits. In contrast, the major
disadvantages of trip taking include teacher time, student affordability, and
liability. Disadvantages not frequently listed also included perception that trips
are only for fun, and student alienation if not participating in the trip. As one can
clearly see, the benefits, which are many, indeed outnumber the few major

disadvantages listed.

Implications

Implications for Music Education.

I have put together a model for trip taking, suggested by my data that, I
believe, will help traveling ensembles reap the maximum benefits. First, trips can
be educational if directors plan their trips around educational experiences.
Educational destinations appear to be those outside of Disney World and
amusement parks. Second, it is my opinion that bands that travel every other year
will most likely see the most benefits for band enrollment. Statements made by
many of the directors, especially that of School 3 reinforce this recruitment idea.
Every year travel, from my interpretation of the director from School 4, cannot

afford students enough fundraising opportunities, takes away from novelty of

58

 

travel, and if students cannot afford to go, can, from my point of view, have
negative effects on enrollment and trip participation. Travel that occurs once
during a student’s high school career, in my opinion, does not seem to provide the
same incentive to stay in a program in order to participate on the trip.

Travel that occurs every other year allows students to have at least two
years worth of fundraising to help alleviate a good portion of the financial burden
that trip taking places on student and family. At least three to five fundraisers are
needed to adequately provide opportunities for students to raise money for their
trips. For the maximum percentage of students being able to pay for their trips
through fundraising, as demonstrated by Schools 2 and 3, the price of trips should
not exceed 500 to 600 dollars per student. Domestic travel that is anywhere from
five to seven days should allow prices to stay within that range. Most schools
travel during the school year over spring break allowing students to miss up to
two days of class. From the data collected, I have surmised that this is the best
time to travel offering an incentive for student participation. As the School 1
director mentioned students feel like they are getting their “money’s worth” when
some school is missed. Many of the directors that participated in travel during the
school year had high participation levels except for School 4, which also traveled
every year. Also, travel agents should be used to set up accommodations and
activities. All the directors interviewed used them and seemed to place great
value on their worth in assisting with travel preparations. There should be about

four music performances for a trip that is five to seven days in length to maximize

59

 

the educational value. This is gleamed from all school data on this topic and leans
toward higher numbers because of the high educational score School 5 received.

The most effective travel, in terms of recruitment and retention, Should
probably occur in the spring, which is when most directors schedule trips. in the
spring for, what seem to me, to be obvious retention reasons. For instance, if a trip
occurred in the fall, what prevents the student that stayed in band for the trip from
dropping out after the trip was taken? If the trip occurs in the spring, most of the
school year has already been completed and dropping band does not seem worth
the effort. Finally, trips must be planned around educational objectives, however,
recreational activities still must be scheduled and time for student socializing
must be provided. This is important because a majority of students do not travel
for music or education reasons. In order to clearly see what I have proposed, I

have created a chart below (see Table 15).

Table 15 — Ideal Trip Scenario

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Destination Destinations that do not include
amusement park and marching band
performances i.e. Disney World

Price Not to exceed $500-$600

Leng of Stay 5 to 7 days

Frequency of Travel Every other year.

Fundraising Oggortunities 3 to 5 every year.

T_rig Obi ectives Educational

Performances Approximately 3-4

Days of missed school No more than 2

Time of Year Spring

Recreational Activities Numerous opportunities for students to
relax and socialize in a safe controlled
environment.

 

 

 

 

60

In essence, my research indicates students will have fun on trips no matter
what is scheduled, provided they have some time to themselves to Spend with
friends. All trips can provide this; therefore trips Should attempt to achieve
educational objectives while assisting their recruitment and retention efforts. Trips
do not have to be expensive and to exotic locations, in order to achieve
educational and recruitment objectives.

Also, most disadvantages to trip taking such as the perception that trips are
only for fun, cost and affordability, and student alienation if not participating can
be avoided by scheduling trips according to Table 15. The perception that trips are
only for fun could be eliminated or reduced if directors plan trips according to
educational objectives. Cost and affordability can be taken care of through many
fundraising opportunities and scheduling trips every other year for prices not to
exceed 500 and 600 dollars. Student alienation if not participating, could be
reduced or eliminated by reducing cost, scheduling every other year, and
providing multiple fundraising opportunities that would enable more student
participation. According to many participants safety can be increased by traveling
with an apprOpriate number of chaperones and by staying within the United
States. Consumption of the director’s personal time is strictly an individual

matter. Some directors feel that trip taking iS taxing in that area, others do not.

Implications for Research

Clearly more research needs to be done on this issue, and l have just

scratched the surface. This topic is a current issue that effects many band

61

 

programs and more information is needed to help directors, administrators, and
parents make educated choices conceming ensemble travel.

The model I created from the data gathered (see Table 15) could be
studied as well to test its feasibility, and to see if it could be applied effectively to
band programs considering, or participating in, ensemble travel. Even small
aspects of the table could be studied such as cost and destination, which would
provide helpful and insightful data.

The effect of ensemble travel on recruitment and retention could be
studied in depth in order to provide data on the actual effects of trip taking on
enrollment in band. In my opinion, this data could be extremely useful to directors

trying to determine whether they want their ensembles to travel.

In conclusion, I have found that everyone involved values trips, albeit for
a variety of reasons, and that most participants believe recruitment and retention
benefit from ensemble travel. If planned well, band trips can be educational to
students in the program. This research has given me much insight into why travel
has become so popular, how it can benefit a program, and how to get the most

from travel with a band program.

62

 

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Band Trips: Benefits and Liabilities
Form for Requesting Signature and Assent of Adult Participants

You are being asked to participate in Jamie Holcomb’s thesis research interview about
Band Trips under the supervision of Dr. Judy Palac. The purpose of this interview is to
gather information about band trips from people closely associated with Band Trips. You
are being asked to participate in an interview that will probably require 30-60 minutes of
your time. Your participation is voluntary, you are free to choose not to participate, and
you may refuse to answer certain questions or withdraw from participating at any time F
without penalty. You will also be asked for permission to make a tape recording of your
interview. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by the law.
Your name will not be identified in the study or the results. If you have any questions
about this study, please contact the investigator, Jamie Holcomb by phone: (517) 323- '

 

6429 or email: holcom40@msu.edu. If you have questions or concerns regarding your
rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study,
you many contact, anonymously if you wish, Ashir Kumar, M.D., Chair of the University
Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone: (517) 355-
2180, fax: (517) 432-4503, email: ucrihs@msu.edu, or regular mail: 202 Olds Hall, East
Lansing, MI. If you choose to participate in an interview in person, by telephone, or by
electronic mail, indicate your voluntary agreement to participate by responding to the
interviewer’s questions.

Do you agree to the procedures and voluntarily consent to participate in this project by
granting an interview?

Yes NO

Do you grant permission for this interview to be tape-recorded?

 

 

Yes NO
Participant’s name, printed:
Interview date: / /
Interview medium direct meeting telephone e-mail

I voluntarily agree to participate in this study.

Participant’s signature, if possible:

 

64

Appendix B

Band Trips: Benefits and Liabilities
Informed Consent Form and Script for Requesting Informed Consent for Minors

You are being asked to give consent for your son or daughter to participate in Jamie
Holcomb’s thesis research survey about Band Trips under the supervision of Dr. Judy
Palac. The purpose of this survey is to gather information about band trips from hand
students. You are being asked to consent to your son or daughter’s participation in a
survey that will probably require 10-15 minutes of your child’s time. Your child’s
participation is voluntary, he or she is free to choose not to participate, and he or she may
refuse to answer certain questions or withdraw from participating at any time without
penalty. Your child’s privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by the
law. Your child will not be identified by name in the study or the results. If you have
any questions about this study, please contact the investigator, Jamie Holcomb by phone:
(517) 323-6429 or email: holcom40@msu.edu. If you have questions or concerns
regarding your child’s rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with
any aspect of this study, you many contact, anonymously if you wish, Ashir Kumar,
M.D., Chair of the University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects
(UCRIHS) by phone: (517) 355-2180, fax: (517) 432-4503, email: ucrihs@msu.edu. or
regular mail: 202 Olds Hall, East Lansing, MI. If you give consent for your child to
participate, your child will still be asked to give his or her verbal assent at the time of the
survey. A form for written consent will also be provided for your child to Sign, and the
survey will not proceed without written consent.

Do you agree to the procedures and voluntarily consent for your child to participate in
this project by completing a survey?

Yes NO

Participant’s name, printed:

 

Interview date: / /
I voluntarily agree for my child to participate in this study

 

 

Parent Signature

65

Appendix C

Band Trips: Benefits and Liabilities
Form for Requesting Signature and Assent of Minor Participants

You are being asked to participate in Jamie Holcomb’s thesis research survey about Band

Trips under the supervision of Dr. Judy Palac. The purpose of this survey is to gather

information about band trips from band students. You are being asked to participate in a

survey that will probably require 10-15 minutes of your time. Your participation is

voluntary, you are free to choose not to participate, and you may refuse to answer certain F
questions or withdraw from participating at any time without penalty. Your privacy will ’
be protected to the maximum extent allowable by the law. You will not be identified by
name in the study or results. If you have any questions about this study, please contact
the investigator, Jamie Holcomb by phone: (517) 323-6429 or email: .
holcom40@fluedu. If you have questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study I
participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you many
contact, anonymously if you wish, Ashir Kumar, M.D., Chair of the University
Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone: (517) 355-
2180, fax: (517)432-4503, email: ucrihs@msu.edu, or regularmail: 202 Olds Hall, East
Lansing, MI. Your parent or guardian has already signed a consent form approving your
participation, but you will not be able to participate unless you also indicate your
willingness to participate by responding to the questions below and signing this form.

 

Do you agree to the procedures and voluntarily consent to participate in this project by
completing a survey?

Yes No

Participant’s name, printed:

 

Interview date: / /
I voluntarily agree to participate in this study.

 

Participant’s Signature:

 

66

10.

11.

12.

13.

Appendix D

Interview Questions - Travel Agent
What is the average cost for a school band trip per student?

What is the average cost for a school band trip to a foreign country per
student?

What is the average cost for a domestic school band trip per student?

Have you noticed an increase in schools traveling abroad for band trips?
How many musical activities are usually scheduled during these trips?
How many non-musical activities are usually scheduled during these trips?

On a scale on 1-5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how educational
do you feel these trips are?

On a scale on 1-5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how
recreational do you feel these trips are?

What do you think is the single most important factor determining travel
destinations for schools today?

What part of the year do most schools travel?
What part of the year is the least traveled by schools?
How often do schools normally schedule a band trip?

Have you noticed an increase in scheduling per school?

67

 

10.

11.

12.

13.

I4.

15.

16.

Appendix E

Interview Questions — Band Directors

. How often do you take your band on major trips?

What is the average length of stay?

What are some of the destinations you will be traveling to or have traveled to
recently?

What criteria do you use in selecting a location?

Do you use a travel agent of some sort to set up accommodations and activities?
What is the cost of the typical trip per person?

Do you or a booster organization provide students with fundraising opportunities
to help pay for their trip?

About how many opportunities do you provide students to fund raise?

About how many students are able to pay for their trip through fund raising?

If a student can’t afford to go on the trip, what do you do?

What percentage of your band participates in a major trip?

If you are traveling to a foreign country, how do you handle their laws regarding
drinking ages and things that are restricted by age in the United States?

What are some of the activities you schedule during a trip?

What time of the year do you normally take trips?

Is your band excused from any days of regular class in order to participate on the
band trip?

How long before you go on the trip do you begin planning for the trip?

68

 

17.

18.

19.

20.

21

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

Is class time used to discuss trip planning, fundraising, or any other trip concerns
with your class?

Do you feel trip-planning takes away from class time?

Do you feel trip-planning takes away from time you normally delineate to other
teacher duties?

What are your top 3 reasons for going on a trip?

. What are the disadvantages of taking trips?

Do you feel taking trips is a strong recruitment/retention tool for your band
program?

Do you see an increase in the number of students participating in band during the
years in which you travel with the band?

What kind of feedback do you get from parents concerning trip taking?

Does your administrator express any concerns about the band participating in
trips?

How many performances do you normally give during a trip?

On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how educational
do you think your trips are?

On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how recreational
and entertaining do you think your trips are?

Describe the ways in which you feel your trip is educational?

What are some of the most important things you take into consideration when

planning a trip?

69

 

31. Do you feel many school band programs have begun taking trips on a regular
basis?

32. In your own opinion, why do you feel this is the case?

 

70

10.

11

l2.

13.

Appendix F

Interview Questions — Parents

. How do you feel about the band program taking trips?

What do you think about the location selected for the trip?

Do you think that everyone in the band can afford to go on the band trips?

Do you think that enough fundraising opportunities are provided for students to
earn money towards their trip?

How do you feel about students traveling to foreign countries where the Country’s
laws, in terms of drinking age and other activities normally limited by age, are
different from the United States?

What do you feel are the benefits to taking band trips?

What do you feel are the disadvantages to taking band trips?

Do you feel that much class time is taken up for trip planning?

Do you feel that the band taking trips is a strong recruitment/retention tool?

Do you think that there are more, less, or equal, safety concerns when traveling

outside the United States versus within our own country?

. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how educational

do you think band trips are for students?
Why?
On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how recreational

and entertaining do you think band trips are for students?

71

 

10.

11.

12.

13.

Appendix G

Interview Questions — Administrator

. How do you feel about the band program taking trips?

What do you think about the location selected for the trip?

Do you think that everyone in the band can afford to go on the band trips?

Is there anything in place to help students who can’t afford to go on trips with the
band?

How do you feel about students traveling to foreign countries where the Country’s
laws, in terms of drinking age and other activities normally limited by age, are
different from the United States?

Does the school have any policies regarding foreign travel?

What do you feel are the benefits to taking band trips?

What do you feel are the disadvantages to taking band trips?

Do you feel that much class time is taken up for trip planning?

Do you feel that the band taking trips is a strong recruitment/retention tool for the
band?

Do you think that there are more, less, or equal, safety concerns when traveling
outside the United States versus within our own country?

On a scale of l to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how educational
do you think band trips are for students?

On a scale of l to 5 with 5 being the most and 1 being the least, how recreational

and entertaining do you think band trips are for students?

72

 

14. As an administrator, what things do you take into consideration when determining
whether the band can go on a trip or not?

15. Do you think taking trips is an important part of the band program at your school?

16. What do you feel are some important factors to take into consideration when

selecting a destination for the trip?

 

73

Appendix H

Student Survey

1. What are your top 3 reasons for wanting to go on a band trip?

 

 

 

2. Do you consider trip taking to be a strong recruiting/retention tool for your
classmates?

A. Yes B. No

3. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 equaling the most and l equaling the least, how

educational do you think your trips are?

4. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 equaling the most and l equaling the least. How

recreational and entertaining do you think your trips are?

5. Do you know of any students in the band who joined just to go on a trip?

A. Yes B. No

6. Do you know of students who take advantage of foreign laws regarding drinking age
and other activities normally restricted by age in the United States, while on the band

trip?

A. Yes B. No

74

 

 

7. Do you think the band trips are affordable for every student?
A. Yes B. No

8. What is your single most favorite thing about going on band trips?

 

 

75

 

Appendix 1

Student Qualitative Responses: Questions 1 & 8

100’s SOCIAL

0100 Spending time with
friends/socializing with friends
0105 Having fun with friends

0110 Bonding with friends/band
members

0115 Spending time with friends
overnight

0120 meeting new people

0130 making new friends

0135 Not being alone

0140 Meeting other musicians
200’s TRAVEL

0200 Seeing new places.

0205 Going on vacation with friends
0210 traveling (going to and from)
0215 Going to a place you wouldn’t
normally go

0220 Change of scenery/something
different

0225 Getting out of town

0230 Sightseeing

0235 The physical act of traveling
0240 Getting away from parents
0250 Getting away from school
0260 Getting out of /missing school
0270 The only opportunity to travel for
student

0280 Location/Destination

0285 Location and Activities

0286 Weather

0287 Traveling with people other than
family

0288 Getting away from daily routine
0289 Vacation

0290 Hotel Rooms

0291 Tourism

0295 Theme Parks

300’s MUSIC

0300 Playing at new location

0305 Playing for new audiences
0310 Vacation with Instrument

76

0315 Playing Music

0320 Growing as a musician

0325 Performing

0330 Improving the Band

0335 Band Unity

0340 Enjoys Band

0345 Having fun while playing music
0350 Playing good music

0355 Good Playing Experience
0360 Playing new music

0365 Enjoys playing instrument
400’s SCHOOL AND EDUCATION
0400 Represent School

0405 Learning about other cultures,
places and people

0410 Learning made fun

0415 Educational

0420 Exposure to culture

0425 Learning in a new environment
0430 Learning Experience

500’s PERSONAL

0500 Relaxation

0505 Independence

0510 Fun

0515 Doing something exciting
0520 Experience

0525 New Experience

0530 Memories

0535 Entertainment

0540 Buying things without having
Identification checked

0545 Personal Reasons

0550 Wanting to contribute

0555 Good Opportunity

0560 Opposite Sex

600’s FINANCIAL

0600 Reduced Cost of Trip

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

77

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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high school band. Masters Abstracts International, 40 (01). Abstract No.
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Brooker, R. (2000). Free trips for students with stunning sub sales.
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Carlton, J. (1996). British beef scare worries school taking band trip. St. Louis
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Trip. Chicago Daily Herald, 1. Abstract obtained from Data Times, Abstract
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Colwell, R. J ., & Goolsby, T. (1992). Recruiting and scheduling. The teaching of
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F redrickson, W. E. (1997). Social influence and effects on student perception and
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AGCR10430324.

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Schwartz, L. (1997). Trial by touring. Symphony, 48, 23-25, 59.

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79