The past two years, Stanford has played in the Rose Bowl and the Stanford Band has frolicked it’s way down the parade route showing everyone “the fun side” of marching band.  To my eyes, their attitude is that they are “too cool to care” about doing things right.  Why work toward excellence or true artistry when you could be having fun instead?

Of course, I can see the allure of marching in a major college bowl game performing by banging on a street sign.  This “devil may care” attitude is one that young people relish and there may in fact be something healthy about flaunting society’s conventions.  However, I’m old enough to think that there are appropriate times and places for such flaunting.

For those of us who spend our lives working very hard in an activity that we consider an “art form,” this thumbing of the nose does not sit so well.  We understand that great things come from hard work, great design, playing and performing well.  There is true merit and value in sounding good, performing with precision, creating artistic and effective moments in motion and music.  And we understand that trusting and abiding by the basic constructs of our activity in the marching arts allows these things to happen.

Structure is good, and true art requires amazing discipline.  The great innovations almost always come after years of struggle and work following rules.  One cannot learn to bend or break the basic rules until one truly knows how they work.

Sadly, the Stanford band serves as an example of doing things the wrong way.  It’s baffling to me that they are allowed to perform and represent their school, although many will try to tell you they are not an official group.  Hard to swallow this when they wander out onto a field at a major bowl game.

So if you want to challenge the world’s constructs, learn all about them first.  And don’t applaud laziness which pretends to be coolness.  It’s simply insulting to those of us who do care and work so hard.

(Photo from HERE)