American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland [Paperback]

Kristen Laine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

In the spirit of Friday Night Lights comes the stirring story of a marching band from small-town middle America.

Every fall, marching bands take to the field in a uniquely American ritual. For millions of kids, band is a rite of passage—a first foray into leadership and adult responsibility, and a chance to learn what it means to be a part of a community. Nowhere is band more serious than at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, where the entire town is involved with the success of its defending state champion band, the Marching Minutemen.

In the place where this tradition may have originated, in the city that became the band instrument capital of the world, band is a religion. But it’s not the only religion—as legendary director Max Jones discovers when conflicting notions of faith and purpose collide during his final year as director. In this intimate chronicle, the band marches through a season that starts in hope and promise, progresses through uncertainty and disappointment, and ends, ultimately, in redemption.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 2004, first-time author Laine immersed herself in Elkhart, Indiana's Concord High School Marching Minutemen, a 240-plus ensemble preparing to defend its state title, and emerges with a detailed and intimate account that delves deep into the rarified world of competitive high school marching and the students, parents and teachers devoted to it. Max Jones is the band's hard-nosed director, in his final season at Concord, and just beginning to fall out of touch with his young charges; students, meanwhile, juggle social and spiritual concerns with their all-consuming commitment to the Minutemen (practicing more hours than even the football players). In the stories of a trumpeter whose mother contracts terminal cancer, a clarinetist who longs for her native California and a drum-line captain who aspires to West Point, Laine finds an intriguing sample of small-town, red-state Middle America's next generation. Her descriptions of field performances-from the earliest planning stages to their in-competition execution-are intricate, but fail to convey their power or majesty; in addition, Laine's emphasis on narrative observation over direct quotes gives the work a magazine feature feel. Still, Laine brings passion, curiosity and affection to her heartland chronicle, ideal for anyone who's ever marked time with an instrument at the ready.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“[A] multilayered account of nearly novel-like richness.”
—The Wall Street Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Gotham; Reprint edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592404006
• ISBN-13: 978-1592404001
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone who has marched in a high school marching band or band parent and more, November 14, 2007

By 

V. Bierlein (Goshen, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland (Hardcover)

I happen to be a parent from this particular program whose son graduated before the book was written. I read initially to open the "mysterious" "how" in the world did this man, Max Jones, consistently get these kids from summer freshman band camp, to marching a complicated show with fabulous, entertaining, difficult, music, marching, color guard, and a total show that always brought the state finals crowd to their feet.

What inspired those kids, how could he chew out the entire band without raising his voice? Why did he command such respect? What were his real goals for these kids? We knew some of them when our son arrived at Taylor University just wanting to audition for the Jazz Band for the love of music, but was majoring in business and computers. Mr. Jones had called ahead unknown to us the Chair of the Music department and told him to keep an eye our for our son as he was a good kid and musician he'd want to have in his program, as a bass trombone player.

This book shows how an excellent music program is not just about music, it's about making kids who will become excellent parents, workers, students, parents. He taught leadership, perserverence, teamwork. There are also several students who were highlighted. Their stories are remarkable and touching. You will be swept into their lives. Prepare to be totally caught up in a story that isn't just about a band, a community, or kids. It becomes a spiritual experience, it's compelling. My husband cried at the end. Now that's a book! It's inspirational. It's too bad they did not include the DVD of the state fair show,final show, and the next year's that was in a way a tribute to Max . I'm trying to get my hands on them as we speak from friends at church!

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars some correction needed, August 6, 2007

By 

Eric L. Eickhoff (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland (Hardcover)

I have not completely read the book yet, BUT KEVIN from San fran, could benefit from konwing of what he is talking about. First, Concord High School, is not in Concord Indiana, but the town of Dunlap. Second, the fact that Concord is a Class "B" band has nothing to do with their quality, but with the size of their school. I am a 1978 grad of concord and just might know what I am talking about. The fact that the school has been to ever holiday parade at least once and several on numerous occasions might speak to their quality. Kevin before you go slamming someone, get your facts straight. I would put the band and the successes of their members up against your town and their successes any day

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So Bando, Even the Milk Turns Bando, October 30, 2008

By 

porkchop (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland (Paperback)

This book truly captures the incredibly serious, irony-free world of competitive marching band. There really are no superlatives too strong for a sport(?) where the audience is expected to throw babies (figurative babies, of course), if they are particularly moved by the field show. It takes either total immersion, or saint-like objectivity to write about band without making fun of it, and this book succeeds at that.

The author also met the challenge of showing the diverse motivations/attitudes of the individual bandos, even when they contrasted with the brilliant esprit de corps of the group. It's true she spent a lot of time on just one student, but really, that guy (or girl) is in every band. They each have their own unique leadership styles, but that charismatic figure that amazes everyone is practically a fixture in any halfway decent band. The atmosphere tends to cultivate them, and I thought it showed real discernment to identify and explore that character in the book.


On a personal note, I couldn't believe Grant transferred from "Ann Arbor" to Calvin College. Seriously... you can be Christian anywhere, but there's only one Michigan Marching Band...