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High School Horn Numbers

August 3, 2008 by John Ericson 1 Comment

My son starts high school next week. As a preparation for this they had an event for incoming freshmen at his school yesterday. It looks like a great school but this visit again makes me reflect on the size of high school band programs and horn numbers in Arizona.

I grew up in Emporia, KS. Looking at the enrollment figure they list online, as of now EHS has around 1,500 students. In that band program when I was in school we had at any given time five or six horn players who were mostly recent trumpet converts. This number is what I grew up with and it seemed pretty normal. When I was in Tennessee and New York the numbers of horns I saw in schools tended to line up with what I experienced growing up.

Then I came to Arizona. I knew that horn numbers were low in the state but it was not for several years after my arrival that I realized how low they really were. The school my son will attend has nearly 3,000 students and is of comparable size to any other high school in the Phoenix area. Knowing the schools to be twice as large I would expect them to have band programs that were also twice as large as the one I grew up in. But in reality they are almost all smaller, several being much smaller. Hardly any schools in Arizona in fact have even one full horn section.

I have pondered why this is for some time. The problem involves several of the following factors:

  • Not enough beginners on horn
  • Not enough converts to the horn
  • Mellophone/marching issues
  • Few players taking private lessons
  • Directors who are cautious about teaching the horn to younger students
  • A weak feeder system, with many junior high schools and high schools not in the same district

A goal of mine this year is to make an impact toward increasing the numbers of horn players in Arizona. I am working directly with several beginners right now and will be using my new publications and more aggressive contacts with band directors. I would like to see more players get a good start on the horn and to see raw numbers of good horn players go up. It will be a long road but I hope to see Arizona over time develop a reputation as a top state for young hornists.

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