As assistant director of Group Therapy Drum Corps it is my job to talk with the members about anything needing talked about. Just recently A person acted very unprofessional in public. We have decided to ask him to leave the corps. The director has kicked him out before but gave him another chance. He didn't fix his attitude so now he's going to be permanantly removed. What I'm asking is if there is anyway to do this without a scene? He beleives we can't go on without him. But to make matters worse He has two friends in the corps and they might leave because of this. Is there any way to try to get them to stay?

May I ask, what did this member do?

We had given the check they gave us for the parade back to them as a donation. In turn they gave us free dinners. While eatng he complained about how we gave his money away and made a real bad scene in front of the general public. He also made another member upset enough to want to quit. All in the same 1/2 hour.

how are you 16 and an assistant director of a line?
sounds shady...as if it weren't much of the line.
Where's the instructors and adults?

Im 16 and assistant director because I know what the heck I'm doing. We are an independant line. I know all the little details of everything we do. The director also beleives I have the right character to deal with the rest of the line. But this isn't about how or why I am in my position, It's about the aforementioned subject.

We don't have "sections" we have a line. We consist of 13 drummers and a colorgaurd. This is off-topic. Please PM me if you want to discuss this further.

This is far from offtopic. I bring this up only because I find it hard to see how a 16 year old could have control over who is in the line or not. It's very much an issue, and relevant to this thread.

I don't have complete control. But I do get together with the director and make decisions pertaining to the line. And I don't see how age matters. Whether 16 or 61 as long as the person has the ability to handle the requirements they are eligible. A person is a person, and each one has a knack for certain things.

what groups is this? that's not really important but anway...
if you need to get rid of this kid, just do it behind closed doors. take him and the staff and just tell him how it is.
before hand, make sure he has all his crap, you don't want to give him the chance to go back and talk to anybody about what was said in the little meeting. if he wants to share it with any of them, they can do it on their own time.
pretty much just handle it like he's an employee being fired. clean out the desk before and have security make sure he gets do the door without stealing or shooting.

---what experience do you have as a 16y.o. that would make a person so inclined to give you such a big responsibility?

----Group Therapy Drum Corps....that is what you said, is that your title, the name of the group? if that's in indoor line, yes this sounds shady, but hey, i'm sure you can fill me in

1. Thanks for the help

2. It wasn't really a position requiring experience, it required knowledge, good personality, and ability to play all that we play.

3. Group Therapy would be our name. We play at parades almost every weekend. That's all, free entertainment for people and a chance for someone to play outside of a band or drum and bugle corps. I sound like a freakin' advertisement.

yeah, word to that. depending on the ages of those involved the age thing may play an issue when it comes to respect and things of that nature

Everyone in the line except 3 of us is over 22. It still works.

I call B.S.

I call everyone should chill out.

Crescent Battleline has fallen under new management...mine. I'm 18 and the oldest on the line. His age isn't relevant. Give his some advice and be done with it.

This guy sounds like a jerk, Quintman, and doesn't need to be on your line. If he takes two members with him, so be it. I would rather have a line of 10 dedicated people than 13 jerks. Don't worry about him, and just keep worrying about your line.

There needs to be seriousness, not matter how informal the line is. The last thing I want to do is drive to a drumline practice, even though I am not paying for it, and just going to have fun, to chaos. Chaos isn't fun. Sounding like junk isn't fun. To be a leader means to be serious.

Just be careful what bridges you burn...There was a really good freshman snare player that tried out last year, and had great hands and a great audition. I wrote his name on the results board as making the snare line. However, during rehearsals it became evident that he had a bad attitude, and didn't know some of the more basic pieces (fight song etc..) I tried to move him to tenors, but he didn't want to play them. Nor did he want to play bass. He ended up flubbing his way through some cymbal parts and holding cymbal music for other players while displaying a most spectacular "poopy face"

At the end of the day he asked me if there was still a spot for him on the line, and I told him "no" and did it in a very blunt manner. At that point I was tired of dealing with the stress, especially when there were other kids who were willing to do what I told them, even if they didn't have the hands.

Anyway, long story short, His mom called the percussion professor, and he in turn called the band director, and I almost lost my job...I had to apologize, and I felt really bad. So basically, try not to cut anyone, just let them cut themselves, because people get pissed if they feel like some young punk instructor is abusing their power at the expense of their son/daughter.

Honestly, there is a major difference in you (muggle) being 18 and the oldest one in the line being in a position of authority and a 16 year old having to deal with people that are 22 and older. No 16 year old should be put into that position. It makes everything awkward and I personally wouldn't listen to a thing they said.

Now on to the question. Since you are a member of the line....stay out of it. If the person is going to be let go, the director should be the one to do it....you shouldn't even be in the room. That will just strain relations between you and his friends.

my 7 year old sister is the percussion director for my mom's percussion ensemble.

I think that I must jump in here in the defense of quintman on this, and say that his age has nothing to do with his title. Without knowing anything more about his line, at 16, he could be the oldest member of his line, in which case his title would make perfect sense, but his title and age have nothing to do with the question that he asked to start this topic. I've seen drummers half my age, that have shown the ability and personality to justify putting them in different positions.

As far as getting rid of problem players, I must also agree with Demonllama and say that getting rid of him behind closed doors would not only be the best way to do it and keep him from making a scene, but would also be the most proffesional way to do it. When goes on behind closed doors is his business and the directors, and no one elses. If there are other players that will walk off the line if he goes, then let them go, if they want to follow him out after he has been booted for misconduct/ unproffesionalism, then chances are that their attitudes aren't going to differ all that much from his, and they will probably being doing favor in the long run. Look at it in a possitive way, this will open up slots for up to 3 other drummers with a much better attitude, which will in turn be better for everyone.

Quintman I was in almost the same position as you. We had a junior snare player who we had been having problems with since last season. He wasn't very good and had a very bad attitude. All he would do was mess around and then try to tell everyone what to do. And if things didn't go his way he would make a scene even at games. All he ever did was disrupt any activity the band was doing.

Finally our captains got tired of him and after talking to the director he was warned that if he messed up again he would be out. It didn't take him long to screw up again. So the director's took him into the office and let him go. He came back and apologized so they gave him one more chance but he still didn't last. They finally had to let him go for good. I think we actually lost a few other band members with him but none were in percussion. But we were better off without them.

So I would have to say from experience to just let the directors handle it all. Don't even be in the room when they let him go. That way nothing will come back on you. If some people do leave with him, let them. They must not really care about the line that much if they are going to leave over that. But anyways, I hope things work out for you.