Preparing Your Beginners

Getting Your Beginners Ready and Rarin' to Go!
by Bridgett Randolph

'Tis the season to begin thinking about your next crop of beginners! Those little kids who are so excited to finally get to try something new and exciting in school! How do you go about getting them excited and wanting to become a part of your program? You recruit! Recruiting your beginners is a year-round activity. Anytime that you can promote your program to young students go for it. I'm talking from Pre-K throughout elementary school. Anytime that you have an opportunity to highlight your program, do it! Have your band march through the hallways of the school on football game days..leading everyone into the pep assembly. Have your orchestra play as students are entering the building; anything so that you are visible throughout the school year. When it is time to get the students signed up for band or orchestra, talk and test every single student in the upcoming class. Someone who says that they aren't interested may just become interested when they see all of their friends doing it and also when they have success on an instrument.

Testing your students- I believe that sometimes we hurry students through this process a little. This is a very big decision that they are getting ready to make and we need to be thorough with our process so that the kids will not always be wondering if something else would have been better. Do a listening test with the students, one that will determine which instruments' sound they like the best. Do they like high sounds, middle, or low? Someone who is bound and determined to play the flute (because they like the way it looks) will not have success on the instrument if they actually prefer low sounds. When you play excerpts for them, let it be audio only. This way they will not be distracted by the visual aspect of the performance. Next, have an informational card where the student writes down their initial interests but that also has each instrument listed so that you (or any friends that you recruit to help you) can write down notes about how the students did when they tried those instruments. It is very valuable to know that a student who is trying out a brass instrument was able to match pitch and play two or three partials. Sometimes you may need to write notes about the student's physical features and how they relate to the instrument. Always make your comments positive. You do not want kids that you are trying to recruit to feel bad about your program or themselves in any way!

If you will be the only person testing the students, think about your logistics. I believe that it is much better to have the students sit in a big circle and then you go around to each one of them than to have them get in a line and come up to you. The reason for this is classroom management. The kids who are waiting for their turn will get antsy (and who can blame them they are getting ready to try out a really cool instrument) and that leads to discipline problems. If they have to sit in a circle, you can still watch all of them. Don't forget to sanitize the instruments in between everyone! For sax and clarinet I recommend using two mouthpiece setups so that one can soak in sanitizer while you are using the other.

After you have completed all of the testing, it is time for you to sit down and decide who will play what. Make sure that you have a good instrumentation! It has been my experience that most students will be able to get their first or second choice and you can still have great instrumentation! Once your list is complete mail and email a letter home to the parents that inform them of what the child's choices were and what your recommendation is based on their test results. Let the parents know that the student preferred to hear low sounds. Let them know what they tested really well on. If they have questions about your recommendation, they will contact you. Next, on that form, have a meeting time set so that you can then talk to the parents about your program and about obtaining an instrument. (Your Palen rep can help you with ALL of these processes and we even have sample letters for you!)

Getting their instruments- If you are lucky enough to teach your beginning instrumental classes in small, like-instrument classes then you can just set up an instrument night, (again your Palen rep will be happy to help you!) get those instruments, and get cracking the next day! If you teach everyone all together, it might be a good idea to have a clinic setup at the instrument night where, after everyone has received their instrument, the students and their parents go to different areas and learn the basics of how to assemble their instrument and how to care for it. They should do it three to five times with the help of the clinician. The parents should also do it. This helps you tremendously! The next day in class everyone will know how to put their instruments together. The trombones won't be left to their own devices as you are showing the clarinets how to put their reed on! I recommend setting the night up on a Thursday so that the kids will have a fantastic Friday in band and then they can take their instruments home over the weekend and their parents will still remember how to help them. Their weekend homework could be a video that they email you of them assembling their instrument with their parent or teaching their parents how to assemble the instrument and then make the first sounds.

Bridgett Randolph Educational Representative Palen Music Center - Columbia, MO bridgett@palenmusic.com Bridgett Randolph received her B.M.E. from Central Methodist University and her M.Ed. from William Woods University. She has taught instrumental music for the last 18 years with the latter 10 years in the Columbia Public Schools. Bridgett also taught high school and middle school at Orrick R-IX, Mid-Buchanan R-V, and Southern Boone R-I school districts. Bridgett is a member of MMEA, NAfME, MNEA, MBA, and Phi Beta Mu. Bridgett has performed with the Columbia Community Band, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Memories Dance Band, Capitol Kicks Dance Band, Ray Auburn Big Band, and Kerry Strayer Big Band. She is active as a clinician and adjudicator and enjoys playing in big bands and community ensembles so give her a call if you need a trombone player! Bridgett currently resides just outside of Columbia, MO with her husband Mark, and their two wonderful children Olivia and Logan.