NEA Education Spotlight: Harrisburg High School Band Directors Have Big Goals That Extend Beyond the Classroom

HARRISBURG, Ark. — Adam Hartness, the band director at Harrisburg High School, stepped straight out of a college classroom at Arkansas State University into a challenge as the post-COVID band director in the rural community of Harrisburg.

“People knew of the band. It was of good quality and did great things,” Hartness reflected. “But the community didn’t recognize them as much as sports and other things.”

Hartness took the position as band director at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. His Arkansas State classmate, Eric Watson, joined him as assistant band director two years ago.

Their positions did not come without challenges.

“It’s sad to say, but a lot of them come from backgrounds that might not be the best, and some of them, just from experience, might have a hard time going home,” Watson said of the students in the band program.

Together, Watson and Hartness have embarked on a mission.

Speaking of the band program, Hartness said, “It provides students with an opportunity to learn in an environment and in a way they don’t get to in any of the other classes.”

Hartness described traditional teaching techniques, which involve training students via oral, visual, or hands-on instruction, but he said the band program deviates from that tradition.

“You have to visually read music that is on the page. You have to orally hear that what you’re playing is accurate and how it is supposed to be, not just by yourself, but with everybody else, and, of course, you are hands-on performing with the instrument in order to get the result,” said Hartness.

Both Hartness and Watson want the benefits of band to extend far beyond the classroom.

“In general music, we see how kids just listen to music, kind of in the background, and not really thinking about it. They are learning how to truly use music as a way to cope with emotions to comprehension of what they are hearing,” Watson described.

Hartness emphasized the importance of leveling the playing field for students.

“With learning a musical instrument, they don’t have another class like that before they get up here to Harrisburg High School, so all the kids start on the same level,” Harness explained.

He continued with a description of why this is such an important life lesson for his students.

“It’s like a hard reset written for every kid who wants to find their identity. You come in here, and you work hard. You follow directions, and you do what we’re asking you to do,” he began. “You do it consistently, and you are going to be successful.”

Another challenge the band director duo faces is the size of the band in this rural high school.

Hartness lamented, “Sometimes I have to rewrite parts. Sometimes there are songs the students can play, but we can’t because we don’t have the kids to fulfill the parts.”

Despite the challenges, both men agreed that the community recognition for their small but mighty band program is changing.

Speaking about rebuilding the band after COVID, Watson said, “They really do respect the things we’ve been doing with the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Hartness said the rebuilding process comes with two goals for the future of the Harrisburg High School band program, both involving his students.

“The small goal is that I want them to sound the very best they can every single day,” he started.

Then, Hartness went on to explain the importance of that goal because it teaches a life lesson.

“Your day cannot affect the success and the performance of other people who are depending on you to make a good performance because one person’s performance, or lack thereof, can determine the result for everybody else in the room,” Hartness explained.

The long-term goal: “The big goal is that I want people who walk through this band program, or parents who sent their kids through this band program, to say, ‘My child is better educated and prepared for the 21st century life because they were part of the Harrisburg band program,’” Hartness concluded.