Highlight current students and get to know new ones
In this article explore how you can involve your current students in your recruitment efforts, and how you can relate to future ones.
1. "Engage your current beginning students in the recruitment of next year’s beginning students. Make each beginner a rock star by designing a Sign Up for Band / Choir / Orchestra / Guitar / Mariachi, etc., digital poster that features a photo of each of your beginning students. Ask them to give a short statement saying why students should sign up for the program. Print copies and post them in prominent locations within the schools where the students attended formerly."
2. "This is a great time to visit your feeder schools — you can start to get to know incoming students and answer any questions they may have about joining your program. Consider scheduling multiple visits if your schedule permits. You can also consider selecting students to perform duets. It's powerful for the incoming class to see students only a year older than them performing."
3. "Familiarize yourself with what your beginners are watching and listening to these days. Is there a pop tune, TV theme song, or video game motive that your beginners keep trying to figure out? If so, you may want to include that tune in any recruitment performances you play at or videos you make. Chances are good that the music you are listening to and the media you are watching is not the same as your would-be beginners.
Find out what they are obsessed with and figure out how you can incorporate it into your recruitment productions. You don’t need to buy or arrange it for the full group (although that would be great if you could). You could plan to have students or teachers demonstrate the instruments and the demonstrators could play those themes as single-line melodies.
If your would-be beginners get excited about that tune, it may help them get excited about becoming involved with band or orchestra at your school!"
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These recruitment tips are written by various authors and are compiled from "More to Start, Fewer to Quit" a recruitment, retention, and success newsletter brought to you by The Music Achievement Council and Instrumental Music Center.
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