Another thing I found is that, leaders rarely mesh with each other. Amazingly, the few leaders I do mesh with are actual leaders in the band. I even get along fairly decently with the other section leader in the drum line, most of the time at least. But in the instances that you don't get along with the other, they still know what they are doing, hence them being in a leadership position (hopefully anyway). Take what they say, and see if there is any validity. If so, then apply it, if no, then just smile and nod.
A third interesting thing I've found is one that all little league coaches, and most teachers discover quickly. Kid's can do no wrong, just ask their parents. In order to prevent tardiness the section leaders came up with a punishment. For every minute they are late, they owe two minutes after practice. Shouldn't be a problem. Well, we had one kid who was five minutes late, and another who was fifteen, which added up to ten and thirty minutes extra respectively. Well, three minutes into their stay one of the parents comes in, and gives myself and the other section leader a good chewing out. He freaked out over the fact that his son had to stay after when he was late. Despite the fact that the kid had not informed his father of the drum lines early start time (we start a half hour earlier than the band), the parent tried to take the blame to himself. While that is noble act, it shows the kid that he can do wrong, and not be punished. The other young man stayed his time, then left with his mother. The next day his dad comes in and sits in the office with our director and chews our director out for about five minutes. The only thing this shows is that parents have not out grown the child like aspect of passing the buck.
A final interesting thing I've found thus far is one that caught me off guard. Now, I'm not sure if this is just for my drum line, or if this is a more universal thing, but when all we focused on was marching band, our quality wasn't that great. Once we added in school, and all that goes with it, the band clicked like I had not seen this year. It was really amazing how much better they got just by adding school. What this teaches me is that if you focus solely on one thing, you will get burned out. But, if you change up the routine, add some other things to focus on, your quality of enthusiasm and therefor work, will sky rocket.
Hopefully, as this season continues, I will be able to keep sharing nifty tips that I learn from being a section leader, as well as being in all the music based courses (instrumental, not choral).
