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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

RETENTION TIPS Start each rehearsal by allowing your students to share any good news they have with the connected to each other and that you care about what is going on in other aspects of their lives, they are more As the school year starts to wind down, it is often easier to take a day or a piece of a day for your

Welcome to the second video in the Choose to Teach series! If you missed the first one click here. Today's uplifting message comes from Utah educator Christine Wolf. "You're doing better than you think you are. No one's comparing you to anyone as hard as you are comparing yourself to what's out there." Christine Wolf Utah Band Director

RECRUITMENT TIPS This is a great time to visit your feeder schools — you can start to get to know incoming TIPS We're still a couple of months away from the end of the school year, but it's never too early to start

Make each beginner a rock star by designing a Sign Up for Band / Choir / Orchestra / Guitar / Mariachi RETENTION TIPS (FOR BEGINNING STUDENTS) Did you know that up to 60% of students quit after their first them into the loop to help students complete a successful first year so that they continue for many more Encourage them to take the 15-minute New Music Parent Course made available by NFHS (National Federation

The more we empower our students, the more power they bring to the program! Happy Teaching!

something that did not go as well as hoped, determine why and what could have been done to make it more Determine the size of next year’s starting class and set some preliminary instrumentation goals for next It is also important to take a hard look at why students may have quit this year — call to speak with Finally, have a conversation with your school music dealer to talk about this year’s efforts and to start Educational Member, Music Achievement Council, NAMM Host, Band Talk with Charlie Menghini and Friends More

RECRUITMENT TIPS Make your beginning music recruitment events more Instagram worthy! Start by giving the event itself a more hyped-up name or connective theme. between the last day of class and the first day of instruction, be it band / orchestra camp or the start The more you can get done at the end of the school year, the more you can enjoy your summer break! You won’t need to start from scratch!