Sorry to start off my posts here with a problem, but, well, I have an issue, so here we go. I'm the captain of a small (8 total, pit and battery) line in an equally small band (45-odd people). Our band does auditions for section leaders, including an application process and interviews with the BD, a process that I completed, and became section leader. Problem is, one girl from the pit has decided that she is the "pit captain" and that her responsibilities include ignoring what I say and giving out conflicting orders. It's contributing to a general collapse of authority in the section and there's nothing I can really do about it, since the BD won't cut anyone. Any ideas on what I should do here?

Sorry for the wordy post.

In my school our BD doesn't pick our section leader our line does and there is a section leader for every drum. Also there is also a overall section leader. Maybe instead of having your BD pick a section leader try something like that.

Sit down and have a talk with him/her, to get to the core of the problem. Ask them- politely- why they are undermining your authority as an overall section leader, and if possible, try to work something out so that he/she is just an extension of your leadership. :P

Ah, hope this helps. >.<

Yeah, peer leadership is really the hardest kind out there. It's tough to get things done when you don't feel that you can back up any of your decisions. What crash said is probably your best bet in this case. Whatever you do is going to have to fit within your BD's guidance, but I can garuntee that a serious (and private) conversation will either solve the problem directly or, at least, provide you with the insight that you need to approach the problem from a different direction. Not only that, but you won't have to risk having your BD come in and negate whatever you try to do.

I hope this helps. As an Army officer I know I can't suggest my personal favorite: crush her under your iron heel of authority. Haha. Anyways, never forget the old adage "you catch more bees with honey than vinegar."

yeah...like armyquints said peer leadership is hard...when your friends with people sometimes they don't want to listen to your orders, you just have to establish two forms of interaction one of leadership and one of friendship

If your director decides who will be section leader (as it was in my band), then this self proclaimed "pit captain" has no power. If she continues to cause problems, tell your band director, and with a little luck, the problem will get solved quickly. It's fine for people to "step up" and set examples and lead, but if someone does this and starts conflicting with another leader, it just tears the ensemble apart.

We have a section leader for every section like pit,tenors(quints as we call them),basses,snares,cymbals.The leaders are chosen by senority.We have our overall section leader who rules over evryone.And our drumline instructor solves problems he can't.As a section leader you need to be respected and show respect to your section.

I like what was said earlier about section leaders being an "extension of the drum captain". That's pretty much how it is for my line. We have one drum captain (who happens to play tenors), and a section leaders for the snares, basses, and pit. It works out well when everyone know's their place. I'm a section leader, but I know that I have to run big things by my drum captain before I make the official decision. None of our leadership really have a power struggle just because we all know our place, and what our job is.

the pit captain and drum captain never get along. Or rather, they usually never get along( I was one of the 'freaks' that got along with the drum captain. pit captains from other schools would always be amazed that I was friends with the drum captain. it was quite amusing). It's always just a matter of having different views of how to run things. The battery is generally more hardcore and does things one way as opposed to the pit which is, well I wouldn't say laid back but they're definitely not as hardcore abt everything as the battery. The best advice I can give is to just talk to her. and If that fails you might want to try to get your caption head involved. See if the 3 of you can't work out an agreement and try to solve this issue