Building a middle school band program

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The only way your students are going to improve is if you do. Seek out professional development opportunities of all kinds. Steal from the best and make your loot your own. Plan travel! Whether you are planning to take your choir to a music festival in the spring or bring your marching band to a national bowl game , plan to make announcements at the appropriate times.

This will help you recruit and build support for your program in the community. Define your goals for the year — for teaching, music, and your vision for the program. These may be based on what went well or not in the year that just finished — so make sure to take time to review the year.

If possible, ask for feedback from students. Speak passionately about your discipline to any and all who need to hear it: your students, parents, fellow teachers, administrators, and board. Offer your students ways to take ownership in the program. The same goes for parents — offer them a range of opportunities to be involved and share with them your passion for what you want to do for their children. Parents can be your biggest ally when it comes to fighting for things your program needs or wants.

If your community boasts music organizations or other arts groups, ask for their support — financially or otherwise! Make sure to recognize and thank your advocates for their support, both personally and at each of your events. Be specific and be sincere. Go to the school board meetings and make your face and voice known. Schedule casual social meetings with members of your administration and school board.

One director occasionally meets with the Superintendent for informal chats over coffee. Also — invite administrators and board members to your gigs! Performances are a great opportunity for them to show their faces at well-attended events AND they can see and hear what it is you and your students do.

Often, they even find ways to volunteer to support the program by chaperoning, measuring students for uniforms, working on props, filing music, or organizing a fund raiser! Being a part of the band becomes an avenue for students to feel a sense of belonging and for parents to actively engage in the school. This is when accountability becomes a shared responsibility among students, teachers, and parents; and it becomes a positive component to school climate.

Principals are accountable to students, parents, teachers, local boards, the media, and state departments. School principals are evaluated on their effectiveness as leaders of instructional programs, and individuals as well as their management of non-instructional duties.

These duties and responsibilities include, among other criteria, academic achievement, the relationship the school has with the businesses and community, satisfaction feedback from stakeholders, adequate scheduling to meet varied needs of all students, and fiscal management.

What better way to at least partially to meet the aforementioned duties and responsibilities than by developing, fostering, and celebrating fine arts programs in schools? The advantages of having as many students as possible enrolled and engaged in fine arts program are immeasurable. Below are three of the reasons Title I school band programs help principals meet accountability criteria: High Expectations——Band directors teach pre-adolescents a brand new task; requiring them to manipulate foreign objects instruments ; while taking command of their posture, breathing, facial muscles, and even their brains; to produce a specific sound, with a specific tone, that matches others on like and unlike instruments, according to a specific rhythm and tempo.

And that is just the beginning! Band directors engage each and every child, even those with unique and special needs and those who might not be able to do math at grade level or who might not yet be able to make inferences from words commensurate with grade level peers, yet they learn to play a musical instrument within an ensemble and contribute to the group and the school. Students develop the ability to transfer skills to other disciplines as well.

Scheduling Advantages——In a time when teacher allotments might not be as plentiful as they once were due to budget cuts, having a successful band program as well as other fine arts programs is an advantage to the schedule AND to the budget.

It seems to be somewhat of a real-life math word problem in that a band director frequently manages a classroom that houses forty, fifty, maybe even sixty or more students at one time while another class can accommodate up to thirty-five.

And, what about the students who are eager to learn more or engage in other ensembles? Family and Community Engagement — With legislation in many states allowing for school choice, especially for schools located in high-poverty areas, principals are more sensitive to finding ways to create and maintain positive perceptions.

Perceptions improve when individuals are actively engaged in successful, meaningful organizations associated with schools. When students are actively part of an organization that is a vital part of the school and the community, perceptions improve.

Too often, people who are critical of schools are those who have not actually been a part of any program or activity related to the school. Band directors have such influence on school perception. It starts with the recruitment process, actively seeking students and families to be a part of the organization. Then, successful band programs keep students motivated and excited by having them perform often for their peers and local community events.

State University. In addition to his work with his own bands, John is consistently sought out as a consultant, clinician, workshop presenter, and adjudicator throughout the Southeast. If you enjoy the content provided through "After Hours", you can support the podcast by purchasing your classroom supplies, books and accessories from Amro Music.

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