As Cole grows up, his eye color changes from blue to brown and back to blue.
The Driver's Ed car loses a hubcap on the way to the hospital. In subsequent scenes, it has all four hubcaps.
As Iris takes a picture of Mr. Holland at the end of the film, the next shot (cutting to Mr. Holland conducting his symphony) shows her sitting quietly in her seat, without her camera even visible.
After learning the Hollands will move to a house, Iris hugs Glenn with a sheet of music in her hand, and the sheet ends up behind his head. In the next shot, the sheet is in the middle of his back.
Shortly after Mr. Holland's son opens a window, causing papers to fly all over the room, a medium shot shows a young man sitting in a chair. He stands up. When the camera cuts to a long shot, he's back in the chair, and stands up again.
After finding out his son is deaf, Mr. Holland teaches his class about Beethoven's deafness while writing his seventh symphony. Beethoven lost his hearing gradually. He wasn't completely deaf until he wrote his ninth symphony.
In several scenes, Mr. Holland conducts with his baton in his left hand. Traditional conductors generally conduct with their batons in their right hand, even if they're left-handed, due to centuries of tradition. It's the same reason left-handed violinists don't hold the bow in their left hand.
Ray Charles' "I've Got A Woman" was released by Atlantic Records.
Mr. Holland plays Lovers Concerto to his class and asks who wrote It. A student replies, 'The Toys.' Mr Holland corrects him and says "That was Minuet in G, by Johan Sebastian Bach." At the time the film was set this was attributed to Bach as it was found in a book kept by Bach's wife. It was determined in 1970 to be part of a larger piece written by Christian Petzold (1677-1733).
Glen Holland comes home after school the day following Lennon's death, the day after the news that John Lennon has died. John Lennon was shot and killed at night and died at 10:50PM, but many people would not know until the next day since there was not a 24 hour news cycle.
All of the signs depicting the orchestra members' class dates have the apostrophe backwards. The thick part should be at the top with the curve bending around to the right and down.
Upon hearing of John Lennon's death, he tells his students "a young man" has died. Lennon was 40, considered old for a pop musician, and indeed he had been famous for more than 16 years. Mr. Holland would have been 45 in 1980, and thus the comment seems out of place.
In the end credits, there is a credit for Cole at age 28. Cole was born in the summer of 1965. The last part of the movie is set in the spring of 1995, when Cole would be 29.
When Mrs. Holland realizes her son is deaf, her husband jumps up and down behind the child to make noise, their son does not react at all, but jumping up and down on a wood floor would cause a vibration which the child would have felt and reacted too, especially if he is deaf and relied on other senses.
If Mr. Holland is 60 in 1995, he would be 30 in 1965, when he tells Iris how he fell in love with John Coltrane's music in 1950, when he was 15. Coltrane's first session as a leader was on 31 May 1957, so he couldn't have had a John Coltrane record then.
In a montage of mid-late Seventies musical events seen just prior to scenes set in 1980, David Byrne of Talking Heads is seen performing in the over-sized Big Suit designed especially for the band's concert film Stop Making Sense, released in 1984.
During the 1964-1965 school year, Mr. Holland helps his class appreciate Bach by showing the connection between a Bach composition and "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys. The record came out in fall 1965, during the next school year.
In the scene where Mr. Holland is starting a Marching Band for the first time, a saxophonist is using a Rovner ligature on his mouthpiece, instead of a typical metal one. The Grant High School Band from Portland, Oregon was used in the filming, and the student used his personal horn/mouthpiece and ligature, not realizing that it didn't exist in the time period they were filming. Rovner ligatures weren't invented until the mid 70's, and definitely didn't become well-used by musicians until the late 80's.
In the beginning, which is supposedly 1964, Vice Principal Wolters mentions Ralph Nader's book on cars, which wasn't released until 1965, a year later.
The school band's marching is alternately on and off the beat when the parade begins.
Mr. Holland's piano-playing does not matching the audio track in several places.
Throughout the film, it is obvious that the band "musicians" (particularly the horns and woodwinds) aren't really playing their instruments. Beyond the bizarre fingerings, great sound pours out, yet the players' lips, cheeks, and neck muscles show no movement or exertion.
The trumpet players' fingering doesn't match the notes they're playing.
During the end scene of Mr Holland conducting the alumni orchestra, there is a close shot of trumpets resting and the cornet player emptying his water key yet we hear the trumpet section playing.
After Mr. Holland discusses Beethoven with his students, the camera pans over to the record player. The camera is reflected in the shiny surface of the record.
In the Gershwin revue audition scene, Mr. Holland is genuinely surprised and impressed by Rowena's talent and asks her name. However, in the later diner scene, Rowena explains that she loved being in his classes and in the scene where Iris sees her name in the program, she had been in the earlier school production of "My Fair Lady." It is highly unlikely then, that Mr. Holland would have no idea who she is.
One of the biggest themes in the movie is that Mr. Holland becomes so involved in the time demands of teaching that he seldom gets opportunities to work on his own compositions, namely his American symphony. It is heavily implied that it went unwritten his entire life, yet at the end it is complete enough that his wife can secretly make copies for the alumni orchestra to practice with, perfect and perform it in it's entirety.
This can be however a finished part of a much larger, unfinished work, as a 2m30s piece hardly constitutes a symphony.
This can be however a finished part of a much larger, unfinished work, as a 2m30s piece hardly constitutes a symphony.
The orchestra playing "The American Symphony" at the end of the movie is composed of current students and various alumni who graduated during the various years of Mr. Holland's tenure. The symphony is a fairly complex composition which would have required a number of orchestra rehearsals. Assuming that at least some of the various alumni no longer lived in that town (including the Governor), the logistics of gathering all of these people together would have been considerable and when and where could the required rehearsals have taken place?
When young Gertrude Lang showed up late, Mr. Holland mentions that she left her clarinet there the other day. Then he asks her to play for him. She would not be able to just pick up the clarinet and play. The reed would be dry and hard. To play the clarinet, Gertrude would've needed to get the reed soft and wet.
After the rifle salute at Louis Russ' funeral, the Sergeant-at-Arms orders "Present Arms". After the completion of firing, the proper command should have been "Order Arms".
During Louis Russ' funeral, the flag is presented to next of kin incorrectly. The point should be facing away from the recipient.
The child "playing" the French horn is holding the horn backwards. The bell should be facing to the right.
In the shot where the crowd at the parade winces and holds their ears after the fire engine blasts its horn, several people do not react, most noticeably the two little girls in striped red dresses.