Limited Time Offer! Save on Brass Instruments & Get One Year of Free Repairs - Use code BRASS24

This month's MSFQ tips come from David F. Eccles, Orchestra Program and Upper School Director, The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia. RECRUITMENT TIPS Orchestra Signing Day In this season of sports and academic committing events, create your own Orchestra Signing Day for incoming students. A quick visit to spring rehearsals with cool welcome certificates, welcome letters from student orchestra leadership, and some orchestra swag will show future students that they are entering a dynamic and welcoming organization. RETENTION TIPS Vision Box Begin by having your students write a reflection on the things that they've accomplished this year. The reflections don't have to be in full sentences they could be a simple bulleted list or marked list. On another card or sheet of paper, have them write stream-of-consciousness notes to themselves about their technical, social, or leadership goals for orchestra next year. Next, have them put this written reflection in the Vision Box. Create a ritual of storing those goals away over the summer in a safe place so that they can be ready to be read by the students when they return in the fall. SUCCESS TIPS If you’re like me, your music library can be the bane of your existence. Make sure your music library is clean and organized to begin the next year. Students are hungry for community service hours this time of year. Consider offering those students in your program the opportunity to earn community service time by helping you organize the music library. Wishing you and your students all the best! David F. Eccles (he/him/his) The Lovett School Upper School Orchestra Director Orchestra Program Director

These are your school’s musical all-stars.

There are lots of big and small ways to get your students more involved in your rehearsals, and the impact older students to coach younger, less-experienced students and nurture peer mentor relationships The more students are vested in your program and culture, the more they'll get out of their music experience.

Be sure to start your recruiting process now. When students move from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school, many new forces Final touches can be helpful; however, more will be learned when students and directors are still malleable

Some of my most dedicated players were the ones who started late. RETENTION TIPS More Than Just Keeping Count I keep a “Feel Good File.” More concerts, more notes handed out, and a tradition was created. One sophomore nearly quit but stayed after a heartfelt note on their program. Selfishly, though, the notes were getting more cumbersome to write.

for the feeder schools or having this year’s beginners making recruitment posters, it’s time to get started SUCCESS TIPS November is a good time to start making up your holiday gift list.

This month's MSFQ tips come from Dr. Charles T. Menghini, President Emeritus, VanderCook College of Music, and Co-Author of Essential Elements Band Method. RECRUITMENT TIPS Now that recruitment season is over, take a few minutes to reflect on your recruitment efforts. Make a list of the actions that had the greatest impact and a list of things you could do to improve next year’s recruitment process. You may also want to consult with your administrator to see if they received any feedback from parents, students, classroom teachers, or staff. Finally, spend some time with your local music dealer or school representative to review this year’s recruitment efforts. RETENTION TIPS Develop a list of all your music students, and include student name, parent / guardian name(s), instrument, email, and phone number. Send an email or make a quick phone call to their parent(s) / guardian(s) to (re)introduce yourself and let them know how pleased you are to have their child in your class. Try to point out one “bright spot” for every student: hard worker, energetic, intelligent, pays attention, works well with other students, has really caught on to playing, or is showing great improvement. Communicating early and often with the families of your students keeps them involved and interested, resulting in their child continuing to participate in your program. SUCCESS TIPS Create an “Honorary Director” and “Honorary Member” certificate for your program. When someone does something special for your program, have a student present them with the certificate. Purchase small (inexpensive) frames to really make it special. This is a great way to recognize the efforts of your principal, a parent who has helped, someone from the community, or anyone you feel has had a significant impact on your program. Be sure to present one or two at every concert and performance. Everyone loves a little recognition and everyone loves to be special, and this little token of appreciation will go a long way to developing positive, long-lasting relationships. Wishing you and your students a wonderful fall season! Dr. Charles T. Menghini President Emeritus, VanderCook College of Music, Chicago, IL Co-Author, Essential Elements Band Method, Hal Leonard LLC Educational Member, Music Achievement Council, NAMM Host, Band Talk with Charlie Menghini and Friends

This month’s MSFQ tips come from Dr. Sarah Labovitz, the Director of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. RECRUITMENT TIPS Help recruit new ensemble students by actively recruiting their parents and guardians. Have current ensemble parents and guardians think about who they know in your beginning ensemble’s grade and ask them to reach out to their friends and offer to answer any questions about the beginning ensemble process. Build a parent and guardian Q & A with current ensemble parents and guardians answering the questions into your recruitment night. Actively cultivate and advertise your ensemble parent and guardian culture as a selling point to would be ensemble parents and guardians. RETENTION TIPS Prioritize letting your students know that you care about them not only as musicians, but as people. There are many little ways to additively accomplish this goal, but it is essential to accomplish because, as President Theodore Roosevelt said, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” You could greet students as they enter your room with a smile or a high five. You could ask them questions about what they like to do, watch, or listen to in their free time. You can speak to them like you would want to be spoken to, without exception. You could not require a practice entry on the day of a huge school event that they all will participate in. You could know when they have testing or homecoming activities and limit the amount of after school commitments that week. You could ask them how they are doing and listen intently as they answer. Commit to demonstrating care in your ensemble classroom. This is a low-risk, high-benefit activity that often goes overlooked when performances come fast and furiously in the fall. Not only will it help to improve the communication and understanding between you and individual students but it will help to build a kind and supportive community atmosphere within your program. SUCCESS TIPS Now that the school year is underway, take some time to evaluate how effective, or ineffective, communication has been between you at school and home. How have you endeavored to communicate important information to parents and guardians? Do you have any evidence that those efforts have been successful or unsuccessful? Assess what you are doing and if it is working as you intended. If you get several phone calls or emails asking for information or for information to be clarified, that is evidence that you need to evaluate what you are doing to get information from the classroom to home. Sometimes the issue is the method of communication. Maybe you are writing terrific email newsletters, but you are teaching in an area in which internet is not reliably in every one of your students’ homes. Maybe you are making beautiful reminders to send home in your student’s folders, but your students aren’t remembering to make the hand off to their parents and guardians at the end of the day. Ask your administration or veteran teachers in building what ways of communicating which with they have found success and make changes appropriately. Sometimes the issue is the message in the communication. If you are requesting information, is the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the response clear? If you are giving information, are you being clear and succinct? Make sure to write with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Keep formatting clean so that your message can come through without extra effort. If you worry with any aspect of the messaging, try to get another set of eyes on it for editing before you communicate it out. In addition to messages always needing to be relayed, reliable and accurate communication is a way to build trust, belonging, and understanding within your program. Those things are essential and if you aren’t communicating effectively, it will be hard to accomplish the goals you have set for the year. Some time spent early in the year improving communication will pay dividends the entire year through. Wishing you and your students a wonderful school year! Sarah J. Labovitz, DMA Director School of Music Kent State University

directors have already screened students for instrument assignments, perhaps some do that at the very start

Also check to see if new students have moved to your school so that you could reach out and get them

favorite thing to do — and, actually, the summertime is a beautiful time to get organized to recruit more You can start this month by reaching out to your feeder program to get a list of names you will be looking Check out @musicteachersguide on Instagram for more ways to reach your families on social media! SUCCESS TIPS Spend this summer relaxing and recuperating — your mental and physical health is more important

RETENTION TIPS Start each class session with band (concert or jazz) or string (orchestral) music playing