Fun & Productive Ideas to Try in your Bandroom

Teaching Junior High/Middle school band requires finding the delicate balance of productivity and fun. Here are a few ideas that help strike that balance.

Airzooka Bar Line Hunting!

If you don't know what an Airzooka is, then click on this Amazon link. Before doing this activity, it's important to set clear ground rules. If the class can't handle the rules, it goes away. 

1. It's called "Airzooka", not "Air Gun".
2. It doesn't "shoot". It "blasts".
3. Don't breathe on bar lines. 

If you breathe on a bar line, you are showing us that you need more air. To help you out, we will kindly "deliver" some air to you!

As you can imagine, the rule followers will avoid breathing on bar lines. Meanwhile, the rest of the class will intentionally breathe on the bar lines, hoping to get "blasted." Either way, you've achieved step one: Making students more aware of their breathing. After a few times, you can play dumb and say something like "Wow, I think our bar line breathing has actually gotten worse!" Then, put it away, re-focus the class, and tell them that if they can do it "for real" 3 times in a row, you'll leave a little extra time at the end of the hour to blast kids who want to be blasted.

Pro tip: Aim for their chins for ultimate hair poofing.

Halloween Tootsie Roll Tax

Implement a Halloween Tootsie Roll tax. 10% of all Tootsie Rolls (regardless of size and flavor) have to go to your band director. Last year my kids brought in over 30lbs of Tootsie Rolls! Most kids say "You can have all of them! I don't like them anyways." The irony is that they'll do just about anything throughout the year to earn one. There's nothing better than the kids providing their own rewards!

Instrument Accident Poster

Hang up one of those posters you see in warehouses that read "Safety is our top priority. We have proudly worked _____ days without an accident. Our previous record was _____ days." If they achieve 10 days accident free, give them a reward. It has definitely helped reduce the number of drops and spills. Some kids come to the band room first thing every morning just to check our progress. AND, to help avoid potentially toxic retribution, if a student shames and/or intimidates a peer for having an accident, then their comments count as an "accident", resulting in a one-day delay before being able to start a new streak. So far, the worst thing we've heard this year is "Nooooooo! It's always the trombones!"

Meme Mix Up!

Mix up the routine by taking a break from the method book to learn a meme motif or something from pop culture. You'll see some kids come alive for this. Old MacDonald just doesn't cut it anymore. It's too "mid", bro; you need something "fire" with a little "drip" to inspire. Find a few trustworthy kids who are up to date with meme culture, and have them give ideas of what to learn in class. We recently learned "Smurf Cat". Next up (at the request of the beginning sax class) is "Careless Whisper". The low brass class is requesting "Seven Nation Army". Instead of banning it, we'll learn it together this week! Sometimes they make it obvious what they want to play. Why fight it?

Mr. John Kelly is the Head Junior High Band Director at Branson Junior High School where he teaches 7th grade beginning band and 8th grade band. Kelly graduated with a BME and BM (saxophone) from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2016, and a MM in instrumental conducting from Columbus State University in 2018. John and his wife, Sarah, live in Branson, MO where they enjoy kayaking and trout fishing.