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Band Parenting and the Internet
Band Internet Newsgroups
The Internet has turned the world into a "Global Village". Band
people everywhere and anywhere now exchange messages in band-related public
Internet Newsgroups like rec.arts.marching.band.high-school and
alt.marching-band.texas. This is a powerful information-sharing tool.
Unfounded and unlikely band rumors that once wouldn't have gotten beyond the
school cafeteria can spread worldwide at the speed of light. Insignificant band
happenings can become national brouhahas. Ill-tempered band members can trade
sophomoric insults with other ill-tempered band members in distant states the
names of which they don't even know how to spell.
Truly, computer technology is a marvelous thing.
The world of newsgroups can seem alien at first. Be of good
cheer. In this, as in all aspects of modern band parenting, Band Parenting
in the '00's is here to help. After analyzing thousands of band newsgroup
posts, Band Parenting in the '00's has ten suggestions to help band
parents write effective band newsgroup posts. These are listed here in the
order that they occurred to us.
1- Ignore capitalization and punctuation rules. This will give
your postings an appearance that says, "This message is too important for me
to waste time with non-essentials!".
2- Spell difficult words phonetically. This will help your
posts blend in with the others in the newsgroup and make them easier to read.
3- Adopt a clever nom-de-plume in place of your real name.
Examples- "Oboe-Nabob" or "supertrumpetgod". If you post something that you
later learn was hopelessly stupid, at least you will have the comfort of
knowing that no one knows it was you.
4- Respect the attention spans of the other Newsgroup users.
Keep your messages under 15 words in length.
5- Attract attention to your posts by using the word "six" in
the title regardless of the actual subject matter. Example- "SIX Schedule for
Bands of America Contest SIX" (It is not clear why the word "six" is so
interesting to band members. Perhaps it is because it sounds similar to
"sax".)
6- You can prolong worthless threads indefinitely by adding a
post saying, "You're way wrong!" about once a week.
7- Avoid abbreviations. Band Newsgroup readers often assume
that abbreviations they do not understand are somehow insulting. Example- "IN
bands" meaning "bands from Indiana" will be misinterpreted as "in-bands"
having a meaning similar to "in-crowd".
8- Eschew profanity. Traditional "four letter words" have been
so over-used on band newsgroups that they have lost their power to offend.
Instead, simply ignore the poster with whom you are angry. They hate that.
9- Lurk before you leap. Read a large number of posts on a
Newsgroup to get the feel of the place before you post a message. If you lurk
long enough you may discover that you don't want to post a message after all.
10- The golden rule of Internet Newsgroups seems to be- If it
feels good, post it.
An Easy 1-2-3, Idiot's Guide to Band Websites for Dummies
In the 3rd Millennium any band that is a band needs its own
information-and-graphics-packed website. These days if you aren't on the Web you
just aren't. It will probably not come as any surprise that most band websites
are created and maintained by band parents. Some band parents have years of
computer training and high-tech jobs at firms like Microsoft or Dell. This
chapter is not for them. Most band parents consider that programming their VCRs
is a challenge. This chapter is for them.
If your band does not already have a website then all you have to do to
become the website committee chair is to volunteer. If you are too shy to
volunteer then, at the next BPO meeting, just suggest that the band should have
a website. Someone, or more likely several people, will immediately volunteer
you. The motion confirming you as Official Website Chair will be made, seconded
and passed before you can sit down.
Now all you have to do is create your band's new website. Relax, fear not, be
unabashed and various other words of encouragement. You already know more than
you think you know. You have some familiarity with the World Wide Web or else
you could not be reading this. This, Band Parenting in the '00's, is an
example of a band-related website. Take a good look at Band Parenting in the
'00's. Don't you find yourself thinking, "Even I could do better than
this!"? Of course you do.
Finding a Website Host
Unless you want to operate your own server, (which you don't, trust me) you
must first find someone to host your band's website. There are thousands of
website hosting services. Some charge money. Some are free. As a band parent,
you will be interested in the free ones. The most obvious one of these is
Geocities (it is obvious because
it is the host of Band Parenting in the '00's). Some other free
website hosting services that are available to all are Crosswinds, MSN, Tripod,
Yahoo, IntelCities, Angelfire and hundreds more.
The problem with most of these is that they put advertisements on your
website. Imagine someone coming to your band website and being greeted by a
cheerful animated advertisement for some unwholesome product or service. It is
not a pretty thought. On the other hand, suppose the advertisement is for
something wonderful. Something that happens to be the very thing your web-surfer
has been looking for. They will click on the ad and never look at your site.
What your band needs is a free and advertisement-free web host. Look close to
home first. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may already provide you with
web space included in its exorbitant monthly fee. You could already have 2, 5,
10 or more megabytes of web space that you didn't even realize you had. One of
your band parents that runs their own business may be able to give you space on
their server. A local ISP might give you space to help foster good community
relations. You might even be able to get space on your school district's server.
The Internet is vast beyond human comprehension. Somewhere there is a bit of it
for your band.
Your URL
A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator or web address. This is the string of
characters that people will type into their browsers where it says "address" to
get to your band website. For example the URL of this page of Band Parenting
in the '00's is
http://www.bandparenting.net/chap10.html. The RSS Band Website's URL
is
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5763/index.html.
You will note that the first part of the RSS Band URL is the URL of
Geocities. RSS Band is but one of thousands of insignificant sub-pages on
the giant Geocities site. Why doesn't RSS Band have a nice short URL like
Band Parenting in the '00's? Domain names (the part between "www"
and "net") cost money. RSS Band considers itself lucky to have a URL as
short as it is. Most RSS band members and parents have difficulty
remembering that URL. However, we get the space for free, so that's just the way
it is.
By the way, "http" stands for "HyperText Transfer Protocol". Don't worry, you
don't need to remember that.
Making Web Pages
Once you have a site, you are ready to create your pages. This is the fun
part where you can exercise your creativity, reveal your latent artistic talent
and otherwise act like a little kid with a new box of crayons (a nice big box of
64 Crayola Crayons).
OK, forget the crayons. Webpages are written in a computer language called "HyperText
Markup Language" or "HTML" for short. If you knew HTML you probably wouldn't be
reading this. Luckily, some people who do know HTML have made easy-to-use
webpage editors that take care of the HTML part while you just type in what you
want on your page. More luckily, some of these editors are free. If you use a
full-service web-host like Crosswinds or Geocities then you can use their
on-line editors. In that case, you should be there, reading about how to use
their editor instead of here. If your web-hosting service does not have an
editor then you need to get one.
Exciting news! You may already have one. Microsoft FrontPage Express comes
with Windows 98. The FrontPage icon may be sitting on your desktop at this very
moment just waiting for you to click on it. Some Netscape browsers can be used
as webpage editors. Many word-processors like MS WORD can create webpages. If
all else fails then there is an old but functional editor available free called
AOLPress. Also, there
are many webpage editors available for sale in any computer store if you want to
buy one. The advantage of buying one is that it will come with an instruction
book.
Once you have an editor, you are ready to create your pages. (I know that
three paragraphs up I said that you were ready to make your pages once you had a
site but now you are really ready.)
Band Website Content
There are about 10 billion pages on the World Wide Web. Much has been learned
about what makes a good webpage. The people who have learned this now command
big fees helping wealthy companies create and manage their websites.
Regrettably, Band Parenting in the '00's does not have many secrets of
effective website design to share with you. Nevertheless, here are a few
suggestions to get you started.
Name
Start with the name of your band. That way people looking for your site
will know right away that they have found it. Give the whole name and
location. Write it in fine big letters right at the top of the page something
like-
THE ROSS S. STERLING HIGH SCHOOL
BAND
BAYTOWN, TEXAS
In this case, just writing "Sterling Band" would get the site erroneously
listed in the Jewelry section of search engines. Just writing "ROSS S.
STERLING HIGH SCHOOL BAND" would be confusing because there is a Ross S.
Sterling High School in Houston not 20 miles from the one in Baytown. (If you
live in one of those obscure states that nobody ever talks much about, you
might want to add "USA".)
Band Information
Now your web visitors know who you are. You must consider what kind of
information about your band will interest them. First, you must figure out who
is going to surf to your site. There are already hundreds, if not thousands,
of band websites. The chances of any random surfer finding your site are very
small. Most visitors to your website will be your band members, parents,
directors and alumni. What will they want? They will want the information that
was sent home by the band director with the band members but which miscarried
before the parents ever saw it. If you provide no other content whatsoever,
your band website will be a success if you provide this information. Before
you can provide it, you have to get it. Make frequent trips to the band hall
and get it. As likely as not, your band member will forget or lose this
information before you see it.
Photos
Band pictures add a lot to a band website. Who doesn't enjoy looking at
pictures of bands? You are a band parent. You already have plenty of band
photos around the house. Before you can use these on your website, you must
convert them to digital form and get them into your computer. If you took the
photos with a digital camera, this is very easy. If you are still using a film
camera, this is not so easy. To make digital copies of photographs you must
use a scanner. If you had a very persuasive salesperson when you bought your
computer, you may already own one. Check the boxes you haven't bothered to
open yet. If not, it is likely that at least one of your band parents has a
scanner. If still not, you may be able to use one at work. Scanner prices have
dropped greatly over the last several years. Someone you know must have one.
Guestbooks
Most hobby or "enthusiast" websites have guestbooks. A guestbook is a place
where visitors to your site can leave friendly greetings and words of praise
and encouragement. (Potential Band Parenting in the '00's guestbook
signers please take special note- that's friendly greetings and words
of praise and encouragement.) A guestbook is also a place where
adolescent band members can engage in sophomoric flame-wars. Be certain to
look at your guestbook very frequently so that you can delete
inappropriate messages before too many people see them. Many sites offer free
guestbook services.
Counters
A counter is another website essential. It will give you a very rough idea
of how often people visit your site. Beware if your site counter stays at 0001
for a month or two. It is likely that you forgot to tell anybody that the site
was there. Many sites offer free counter services.
Cool Graphics
If you are a dab hand at PaintShop Pro or Corel Draw, you can create your
own snazzy customized web artwork such as this-
Otherwise, many websites offer nifty and free clip art that you can use on
your band's website. Be sure to include many pictures of tubas.
Sound files
What could be more appropriate for a band website than files of high
quality digital stereophonic band music? One's ears start to tingle just
thinking about it. This is very easy to do in a variety of ways- *.wav files,
RealAudio files, MP3 files, etc. Unfortunately, there is the unavoidable
matter of copyright. Most of the music your band performs is copyrighted. This
places myriad legal restrictions on what you may do with recordings you make
of your band. Copyright is such an interesting and frustrating subject that it
is worthwhile to take space to discuss it in some detail.
The power of the Federal government to grant copyrights giving authors the
exclusive right to control how their works are used is specifically
established in the U.S. Constitution in language so clear even a lawyer
couldn't misconstrue it. Let's get right to the essence of this complex
subject. The copyright laws say that no matter what you want to do with a
copyrighted work, you aren't allowed do it without paying largish amounts of
money to the copyright owner and sometimes not even then. You may record
performances of your band for your own personal use as long as you have the
permission of the performers. You can not make copies of these recordings and
distribute them to other people even if you do so free of charge unless you
license the music from the copyright holder. The copyright holder is entitled
to royalties in exchange for the license and "royalties" is just a fancy way
of saying "money". It is funny how almost every aspect of band becomes a money
issue if you look closely enough.
(Have you ever wondered what composers get paid for commercial recordings
of their music? Section 115 of the Copyright Act sets the amount. Composers
get 7.55 cents per piece of music or 1.45 cents per minute of music (whichever
is greater) for each copy of the recording. That's pretty good for composers
of million-seller hit songs, about $75,000 a song. However, if your band
performs an 8-minute show at a contest where they make a properly licensed
tape and 20 parents/kids buy the tape, then the composer gets a measly $2.32.
This is why they don't feature band music composers on Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous).
Copyrights eventually expire but this takes a long time. Whether or not an
older work is still copyrighted depends on when and where it was written.
Today's US copyright law is based on the Copyright Acts of 1976 as amended in
1988, which amendment implemented the Berne Convention for the Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works. The old rules of the Copyright Acts of 1909 and
1965 may apply to some older works. In general, for works written after
January 1, 1978, copyright applies for 70 years after the death of the
composer. Copyright applies up to 95 years, from the date of first copyright,
for works written before 1978 except that works written in the United States
before 1922 are in the public domain (except when they are not). Different
rules apply to some works. Works written outside the United States come under
completely different laws, mostly based on the Berne Convention. The course of
least resistance is to assume that all of the music your band plays is
copyrighted and will remain so at least during your lifetime. If you really
want all the details they are at-
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/.
In the real world, no copyright holder is going to sue a band parent
website. If they know anything about school music programs at all, they know
that band parents don't have much money. Moreover, damages in copyright
lawsuits must be proportionate to the actual monetary losses caused to the
copyright holder. Those losses are going to be miniscule in the case of a band
website that logs only 10 hits a week. If you do it, you will get away with
doing it. But should you do it? The answer must be no. Band parents
must always set the best possible example for band kids. What kind of lesson
does it teach if band parents violate the copyright laws? It doesn't matter
that only pennies are involved. This is a matter of principle. If band parents
stray from the path of rightness then civilization is doomed.
When your band kids ask why there is no music on the website, treat it as a
teaching opportunity. Sit them down and explain the history of American
copyright law and the Berne Convention. The details of Section 107 of the 1976
Copyright Act that describe "Fair Use" may be difficult for younger band
members to grasp. However, they should pose few problems for your National
Merit Scholars who then can explain it to you.
Fair Use. You may have heard of an exception to the copyright laws called
"Fair Use". The doctrine of "Fair Use" allows copying of copyrighted works for
some purposes without paying royalties. "Fair Use" is simple in concept but
complex beyond human understanding in practice. "Fair Use" is a set of
narrowly yet murkily defined circumstances when you can legally use short
excerpts of copyrighted works without permission and without paying. The
courts decide whether any given use is "Fair Use" on a case by case basis
depending on all the circumstances in the case. It is not easy to determine,
short of going to court, if a use is "Fair Use". Some general comments are
possible. "Fair Use" allows use of excerpts (which should be no longer than
necessary to accomplish the intended purpose) of copyrighted works for
purposes of illustration, commentary, criticism, or parody. The parody part
wasn't written in the law but is the result of a court decision. There
are also a very few "Fair Uses" (far fewer than most people think)
specifically allowed for educational purposes. These apply to face-to-face
teaching situations and are of no help for band websites.
There it is. If your band plays so badly that any performance it gives is
inherently a parody of the work performed then I suppose you could put a
recording of them on your website without bothering about copyright. In that
case, of course, you might not want to do so. If you do, be sure that they
perform so badly that even a non-musical judge would realize just how bad they
are. A few wrong notes and a little poor ensemble are not going to cut it
here. They must be really awful. If your band is any good, forget putting
music files on the website, unless you get permission from the copyright
holder or unless you only use brief excerpts in the context of commentary or
criticism. Be certain to provide complete attribution. An example-
Excerpt from three measures before letter D to the first second
ending of the 1st movement of Symphony #3, Opus 42 by Stanley Z.
Fingeniboner, arranged for band by Tasha Y. Jones III
Published by Band Parents Publishing, Elkhardt, Indiana, USA
Copyright 1998 by Band Parents Publishing
Performed by the 1998-1999 West Armblastt Senior High School Symphonic Band
(except for Eric, Mary and Fred who were absent)
Conducted by Dr. Q.X. Smith, Head Band Director, West Armblastt Senior High
School, West Armblastt, Texas
Recorded May 4, 1999 at the West Armblastt Senior High School Spring Gala
Band Concert in the West Armblastt Senior High School Auditorium, West
Armblastt Senior High School, West Armblastt, Texas
Recording engineer- Tammy's Mom
Analog to Digital conversion- Zeb's Uncle
Compression- RealEncoder
Timing 0:18 seconds
Webrings
Webrings are systems of links to similar sites maintained by a central
site. You put a graphic on your site from which people can link to the other
sites in the ring. Simple. There are band rings and booster rings, marching
rings, tuba rings, and so on and so forth.
Links
There is one thing that no band website should be without. Every band
website needs a prominently displayed link to Band Parenting in the '00's.
You can just copy the one that we just happen to have right here-
BAND PARENTING IN THE '00's
It is also possible to provide links to any of the other 10 billion pages
on the Web. Look around, explore. Perhaps you will find something interesting
that you want to share with other band parents.
Copyright 1999 by George Yenetchi
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