Performing Groups: Getting Started Each Year

Getting my after school performing groups started for the year can be a big task.  For the past four years I have had two after school groups; Chorus and Orff.  Like everything else, planning for these groups starts right at the beginning of the year.  It's a bit crazy but once I'm past the first month of school (recorder sales are done, chorus and orff registration are complete) I can settle into a more normal routine.

Below are some of the things I do to get my groups started:

1.  Create Interest
Post flyers, hand out reminder cards, talk it up with your kids.  I send out an email to the full staff at my school so that they have all of the details regarding my groups.  If you have a morning/afternoon news crew, create a blurb for them to include in the announcements leading up to the interest or first meeting.

I've added both of these documents to the Freebies section.

2.  Interest Meeting
I always host interest meetings for performing groups about a week before I want to have our first rehearsal.  There are a few reasons for this.
    A:  While I do promote these groups during my first rotation, I don't want to take up all of my class       time and not make any music during those lessons. Plus not everyone needs all of the details!

    B:  I want to go over our contract in person so that I can answer any and all questions about how           to make sure you get to be a part of the group.

    C:  Most importantly, I want to give the kids more information about what it means to be a part of           these groups and my expectations for them.

3.  Contracts
My kiddos have to fill out a contract in order to participate in my groups.  This contract ensures that they and their parents understand the importance of attending rehearsals and concerts.  This year I'm trying out something new.

My groups have become so large that I can no longer just accept everyone who is interested.  This year I will accept on a first come, first serve basis.  The first 50 students to sign up for chorus will be my initial group.  However, if a student does not fulfill the requirements (too many absences/tardies, behavior concerns), they will be replaced with an alternate.  I don't believe in auditioning to be in these after school groups but that is always another option if you are having trouble with large numbers.

These are just some the things I do to get my groups started.  More on Chorus/Orff later.  What are some of the things you do to get your groups going every year?

You know it's performance week when....

your counters look like this!

The perfectionist in me is having a really hard time with this mess.  The Musical will be over soon and hopefully my room can go back to some semblance of normal!  :)

Musical pictures coming soon!

The Thank You Song

Recently my principal asked for my kiddos to sing for a teacher appreciation event after school.  It took me awhile to figure out who I wanted to perform at this event (chorus, orff, a class, ASP kids) because of how close this event is to our spring concert.  We are 5 weeks away at this point and have not learned much of the music, yikes!

So finally I decided chorus would be easiest.  We could sing to a recorded track, learn it fast and they stay after school often to begin with, so I knew I would have less of an attendance problem.  My next dilemma was choosing a short, appropriate piece.  I knew I wanted something familiar to aid in learning the piece quickly but I wasn't happy with anything I had done before, I needed something fresh.  For inspiration I began searching YouTube for thank you/teacher appreciation songs and I came across this video of Nesbit Elementary School.

I liked the idea and I remembered my kids were already familiar with The Lazy Song (they were screaming along to Kidz Bop or some track like it at a non-music outdoor school event).  I must admit I feel a bit hypocritical.  Recently there was a post on best choral practices on Beth's Music Notes.  I loved these posts because, as a woodwind player, I feel as though I am continually improving in this area.  Anyway, I had responded to one of these posts in regards to using pop music in the elementary classroom.  I honestly don't use pop music in my classroom often, and when I do, it is usually not to sing.  You can read Beth's post to see some of the reasoning for this.  

Once I decided on this piece, I realized the lyrcis in Nesbit's version weren't quite right for our event, so I set myself to the task of lyric writing (not one of my favorite things to do).  After coming up with the chorus, I asked a couple of my super creative 4/5 kids to help finish the lyrics.  I am proud to say that they created the three verses and even tweaked a bit of the chorus to their liking.

Below is an image of the powerpoint I used to teach the lyrics.  It's nothing fancy, but if you would like to download it, request the document in the Freebies section.

You will notice I used 2 different colors.  That's because I had a duo perform the verses and the rest of my group sang the rest.  This was another time saver with my limited amount of rehearsal. 

Our staff loved the song!!!  The kids got a big kick out of how emotional some of their teacher's were.  I would say it was a success.

Question About After School Groups

This question was posted today and I thought that others might be interested in the novel of an answer I wrote!  :)

Question:

I just found your blog and have been clicking through all your older posts. Thanks for your hard work to spread some great teaching ideas!

Just curious- do you get paid for teaching outside of the school day? I noticed in the post that the kids have to pay an activity fee- do you get some of that money? I also run an Orff Ensemble and have rehearsals before school. However, it takes a lot of my time and I am not paid to do it- just expected to. I don't think people realize how much extra work it is when my teaching schedule is totally loaded already. I kind of feel taken advantage of since when classroom teachers work outside of the school day (holding reading nights, curriculum meetings etc) they are frequently paid for their time. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer:

Even before I started at my first position I felt that it was a bit unfair that there was a universal expectation for elementary music specialists to have before or after school performing groups.  While I do believe there is an enormous amount of value in performance, I never saw why it had to be a group that met outside a teacher’s regular workday.  Like you, the expectations at the schools I’ve worked at have always been that there would be groups like this. 

I do receive a small stipend for one of my after school groups.  There is not another available for my 2^nd performing group or for events I host like a Winter Concert or Spring Musical.  Honestly, the amount is so small that it’s definitely not the reason I continue the groups.  I really have grown to love aspects of both groups and would genuinely miss them.  As far as the my activity fees go, they do not supplement my income.  I use that money to purchase a t-shirt for each student, instruments, costumes and anything else we may need for our performances.

Now, I would not recommend making a million drastic changes all in one year but gradually changing the program to fit you and your life style is definitely a must.  There are many ways to give your administration, staff, students and families great performances without it all being dependent upon an after school group.  Here are some of the things I have done to find balance with my after school groups:

We meet on my terms.  That means, days of the week where I feel comfortable sacrificing time at home.  I also decide the length of my rehearsals and the number per year.  I set the concert dates and I pick the time of year when I have them.  This is important because being the expert (by that I mean the only person who has been trained in techniques to teach children musical concepts) at my school, I really am the only person who can decide how much time is reasonable in order to prepare a group to perform.

Cut back!  I turned myself into a tightly wound spring when we first opened our school.  I tried to do it all and nothing was out of the question.  My art teacher friend, Mrs.M, and I have had many conversations about how crazy some of it was.  There are ways to cut back without sacrificing a great enrichment program.  I found that this meant not trying to do 2 musicals a year!  Hello?  What was I thinking?  Instead we do a winter concert with more traditional choral pieces and a musical in the spring. 

Something else I have done to cut back is change my spring concert date from May to March.  Instead of having after school groups from September through May, I will have a portion of the year without these extra groups.  Plus, our concert will be during MIOSM.

Say No.  I’m sure your classroom teachers often come to you asking for help with an after school event or other tasks.  I don’t want to come off the wrong way, I love being a part of the team and helping where I can but there are definitely some instances where the answer has to be no.  The last minute requests, the requests for your planning time.  These are the questions I have learned to say no to.  My planning time is just as limited as theirs and I have a list of to do’s of my own.  I will always help where I can but I’m definitely not going to take on something else that is detrimental to my program.

Come up with a plan.  Before I ever talk to my Principal about changes I want to make to my program, I always make a list of the changes, why they are necessary and how it benefits the kids.  I have found that administrators are much more willing to listen to these changes and react more positively if I have a plan and a way to make it happen. 

I don’t think there are many schools where you can get away with doing absolutely no performances but I’m sure you can reshape your program to fit you.  Think about what your ideal program would be and start thinking of how you could make these changes.  Is it possible to host grade level informances instead of a formal concert?  This really doesn’t require a lot of extra planning because you are sharing music the kids have learned in class.

I hope this helps!  Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.  

Prepping for Our Spring Musical

I don't know about you but I'm having a hard time getting my head wrapped around everything.  The flow I had going before the winter break has yet to return.  My counter and desk are piled with "To do" tasks and a million more seem to be floating in my mind.  It may be that we have 3 performances in the next month and a half or maybe just temporary insanity!  :)

Anyways....this spring my chorus and orff groups are going to give a combined performance, a musical.  We will be performing a portion of Randy and Jeff's Gettin' Outta Town.  Originally I had planned on doing the entire production but since we have added two other performances to our calendar there is just no way to learn it all in time.  Honestly, I love that we are going to have more performance time but I'm kind of bummed about the musical.  It calls for shadow puppets in a portion and I was super excited about trying it out.  Oh well, there is always next year!

I am putting together some information on how I get everyone on the same page, auditioned and finally into costume.  Check back for some posts and Freebies soon!

The Countdowns Begun

Yippee!!!  I made it through the holiday concert.  My kids did an amazing job tonight.  We performed at our local Barnes and Noble, which was a nice change of pace.  They cleared a nice space for us and our parents crammed in around the bookshelves and it ended up being a nice intimate setting.  I think I will definitely do another concert like this but maybe with less instruments.  I tried to limit it but then it felt like I took everything but the kitchen sink.  I'm not good at packing light.

This morning we had our dress rehearsal at school and I snapped these photos of our set up.  Typically I like to use my FlipForm risers for our orff set up but after being sick this week I didn't feel up to any extra movement.  Instead, I used my stash of carpet squares for comfier seating, as well as boomwhackers.

For one of the musical selections we were using boomwhackers with octivators.  I like how they sound when struck vertically against the floor, so the carpet squares were great for this.  When you strike them against tile floor you get an awful plastic sound, not ideal.

Now the that our performance is over, the countdown to winter break is on. 10 days to go!  :)

Creating a Program: Making Things Fit!

This is the 3rd installment and final (for now) of a series of posts on creating a program.

Something that can be hard to do is find pieces that fit a theme that you have come up with.  Often I start my program with one musical selection that I'm excited about and build the program around that piece.  Last year the piece that inspired me was Lo Yisa Goi (a beautiful Israeli Folk Song).  From that piece I decided to build a concert that traveled around the world visiting different holiday traditions.

What I find difficult is finding pieces that are age appropriate for my groups that fit the theme I have selected.  It can be maddening to round out the concert with that last musical selection.  Another reason that this sometimes stumps me is because I like to have a balance of choral, instrumental and movement in my performances.  Let's face it, we have all been to that monotonous choral performance.  I don't want my concerts to feel that way, so it sometimes makes planning a program more difficult (it may also be my anal nature).  :)

Some tricks I have learned along the way are:

1.  Create your own arrangements.
I have to admit, I did not feel comfortable with this until I took my Level I.  It really helped me better understand how to write for barred instruments and my kids.  This has really opened up song selection because an interesting arrangement and form can drastically change a simple folk song while making it more appropriate for upper grades.

2.  Transfer melodies to recorder.
Once you have created those holiday arrangements, how about performing the melody on recorder.  While most parents don't like to hear their kids practicing this instrument at home, they are very impressed when they perform a melody on it.

3.  Simple Melodies
Besides creating a more complicated harmonic accompaniment, think about how you can up simple songs for older grades.  Can you add movement?  Extend the form?  Add ostinati?  Sing it as a round?

4.  Package Performances
Sometimes package performances have a great script but the musical selections are okay.  Can you replace one of the intended musical selections with another holiday tune.  Or, can you insert other musical selections other places in the musical?

Did you miss the first two posts?  Links are below:

Creating a Program: Theme
Creating a Program: Favorite Resources

Creating a Program: Favorite Resources

This is the second post in my series on Creating a Program.  Last week I wrote about coming up with a concert theme and this week is all about some of my favorite (holiday) resources.  Below are some of them.

Anything by Randy and Jeff is perfect.  They have a number of publications that are perfect for the holidays; Highlighting the Holidays, Making the Most of the Holidays.  Check out all their publications  here!

The link below is to a cool book with short stories that are perfect for orff dramatization.  Add a few sound effect instruments and they are a lot of fun.  Plus, these are a great jumping off point to create your own stories for Orff Dramatization.
http://www.amazon.com/Holiday-Stories-dramatization-Robin-Uhr/dp/B0006YH5QC

The Duet Recorder
Recorder Duet
Duet Time
Recorder Express

I'm not big on using recorded sound tracks, so all of these resources have orff accompaniment or none at all.  If you are looking for a performance track I would look at Music K8.


Next week's post, Creating a Program......making things fit.

Creating a Program: Theme

Recently a teacher who follows my blog emailed asking about how I start or come up with a concert program.  Over the next few weeks I will post about this; how I go about creating a program and putting a twist on package programs.  I hope this is helpful as you plan for your holiday performances or for another later in the year.

This may sound crazy but I start planning my winter program in May!  I don't finalize anything but I want at least a vague idea of where I'm headed and what date I'm working towards.  I find that starting my year with these events semi planned helps give me direction and lower my stress level.  It doesn't concern me that I'm not sure which kids will be in my group because I can always tweak things later to meet the overall ability of the group.

My winter concert is more on the traditional choral side of things.  Most of our singing is standing on risers with some stationary movement.  However, I do like to add some dances in with small groups and our orff group does all of the instrumental parts and some highlight pieces as well.  In addition to all of this I like to have some sort of script and offer some kids the opportunity of a narrators role.  I usually create this script so that it fits the theme of our program and highlights some of the skills involved in the performance of the piece.

When I am planning for this event I always like to start with a theme.  One year it was A Passport Through the Holidays another Toys.  Usually a specific piece inspires the theme.  For my Passport Through the Holidays concert it was Lo Yisa Goi, an Israeli Folk Song.  While this piece is not a traditional holiday piece, it had a great message that is prevalent at the holidays.  Once I have the theme it is easy to focus in on what other pieces of music would fit well in the program.

You can make just about any theme work.  Here are some jumping off points:

-by composer
-by region
-by holiday
-by subject (i.e. toys)

And on and on....

Since it is close to the holidays, what are some of your favorite themes for holiday programs?

Questions about Hooded Sweatshirt Costumes

Over the weekend someone asked some questions about my post on Hooded Sweatshirts and I thought that the answers were something that everyone might like to know.

Q: Where do you find solid colored hooded sweatshirts?

There are a few places you can find sweatshirts but I like to start at Target. They usually have plain sweatshirts in both the men's section and the little boys section. Sometimes the boys XXL and XL are big enough to cover the leggings. I have also ordered them through Amazon.

Q: Do you provide the costumes or do you ask parents to provide them?

I often provide the bulk of the costume for my students but things like leggings are something the parents are responsible for. I make sure to state this in my contract at the beginning of the year so that I don't have any issues come concert time. I try to put parents in charge of as little as possible because it can be hard for them to find what they need. Since I have a better idea of what I want for the costume, it's easier for me to purchase things for the kids. If it is something that they are going to need privacy to change into, then I ask parents to provide the item. Most of the costumes parents make for me or that I purchase can be slipped over clothing. To help with this, I charge an activity fee at the beginning of the year that covers a chorus shirt, costuming and any other needs.

Q: Where do you find the different colored leggings?

After talking with my chorus Mom's I have found that they order the leggings online or purchase white leggings and use Rit die to get whatever color they need. You can find Rit die at Walmart.

Q: How do you get parents to help?

I email my parents frequently and send email newsletters once a month. Anytime I need help I ask and usually within minutes I have several responses. When we first opened the school I didn't have that many volunteers but I have found being sociable is a great way to form these relationships with the parents. Recognizing faces, talking to them in the hallway and most importantly recognizing them for any effort they have put into your program. When a parent helps me, I recognize them in our program, talk about them at the end of concerts and send them hand made Thank you cards made by the kids. Actually, my kids love this too because they get to sign the inside with whatever color they want! Kids are so easy to please. :)

Another way to encourage parent involvement is to support your PTO. My PTO are so supportive because I support them. This year we are performing at the Barnes and Noble book fair. Not really a huge deal on my end because I always give a winter performance but for them it means 90+ kids and their families attending the event.

To see the original post click here. Do you have any other questions about hooded sweatshirt costumes?

Newsletters

I may email/send home more newsletters than most, but I think it is sooooo important to keep parents informed of what is going on.  In addition to emailing parents reminders and updates about after school performing events, I also help organize our quarterly special areas newsletter and send e-news to specific grade levels throughout the year.  Below are some of the templates I use to help keep my parents informed.

Clef Notes News is the newsletter for my performing groups. 

 This is just the view of the 1st page of the document.

Specials All Around goes out quarterly to help inform parents about what is happening in special areas.  

This is just the 1st page of the document.

If you are interested in these templates, you can request them in the Freebies section of my blog.

Hooded Sweatshirts Make Great Costumes!

I am pretty crafty but I have never had the time to sit down and really figure out how to sew.  I can do buttons and hemming my pants but beyond that I am rather impaired.  When I plan musicals I really have to rely on my parents help putting things together and sometimes they are as sewing illiterate as me, so I have had to do my research.

What I have found makes a great costume that are versatile and easy no sew/bit of sewing are hooded sweatshirts!  Here are a few examples of the costumes my parent have made.

6 Geese-a-Laying

4 Calling Birds

The pictures above are from the performance we did of Randy and Jeff's Five Golden Rings.  I buy adult size sweatshirts so that they are a bit baggy.  This is helpful because then students can where leggings underneath and they feel a bit more covered.  These were made using some cotton fabric from Joann's, felt, the sweatshirts and I also found a stiffer material for the beaks but I'm not sure what it is called.  You can find it near the felt in Joann's.  The fabric was used to create wings that attached along the bottom of the sleeve and then down the side of the sweatshirt.

These costumes are from our performance of Randy and Jeff's The Princeless Princess.  They were made using the same materials as the other costumes.  Both projects were no sew!

Music Stands: Not Just for Sheet Music

I like materials to be multi-purpose because, as I'm sure you know, space, no matter how large your room is, is limited.  I'm lucky to have a large storage closet and a row of cabinets but why waste space storing items that only work for one lesson or performance?

I'm always thinking of ways I can use materials I have for another purpose and that includes music stands.  I have 20 stands and I never use them all for an ensemble set up.  So, here's how I used them another way....

This was a for a performance of "Bugz!".  Our amazing art teacher and her art club made the oversized food items and we attached them to the stands using duct and shipping tape.  If I had to do it over I would use a different method of attaching them to the stands because the tape residue is really hard to get rid of, even with Goo Gone.

These were great props and easy for the kids to move onto the stage at the appropriate time.  Even if your little ones had a hard time moving them, you could have older kids as stage managers move the items in at the appropriate time.

Performing Groups

I'm starting to think about my after school performing groups and what we will do this year and I imagine some of you are starting to do the same.  This is how I run my groups.

I have 3 groups:  Chorus, Orff, and Recorders.  For performances we work on one production that combines all 3 groups.  Usually we do two major performances; a Winter holiday performance and a spring musical.

My chorus is made up of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.  I take any student who wants to be a part of the group.  Yes, this does mean that some of them are not necessarily my best singers.  Here's my feeling....if a kid is interested and willing, who am I to crush their interest by in any way letting them know that they aren't as capable.  These kids rehearse once a week for an hour after school.  My numbers range any where from 40 - 75 from year to year.

Orff is open to only 4th and 5th graders since some of the things we work on are more complicated than the 3rd grade concepts.  We rehearse on a separate day than chorus but still only once a week.  I do not audition for this ensemble.

Recorders is open to 5th graders so that I can ensure that they have learned the pitches that they will need to be able to perform.

To be in any of my ensembles the students have to have a signed contract for the group and pay an activity fee.  The fees go towards a t-shirt and any materials that we will need for the performances.

This is my contract:

The only thing I think I will add this year is a photo/video release blurb.

Meet Your Teacher

It never fails....every year Meet the Teacher starts out slowly. I see parents rushing down the hall to drop off their supplies and meet their child's new teacher but my room remains empty and I'm not quit sure what to do with myself.

It seems as soon as I settle myself into a comfortable spot at my desk parents and students and their younger/older siblings come in massive overwhelming waves and it can be a mad house. Kids (and yes sometimes parents) banging on instruments while I'm trying to introduce myself to a new family. Here are some of the things I do to try and answer everyone's questions while keeping hand drums from being completely destroyed! :)

Place Signs EVERYWHERE! 

Before our concerts last year I had students make me signs that said "Please do not touch the instruments.". I use these the night of the performance for instruments that are on the floor in front of the stage to deter little fingers but they are also great for Meet the Teacher. Place them all around the room.  Anywhere you have instruments, you should have a sign. 

Although the families at my school are very sweet and respectful, it is hard for just about anyone to resist striking a key on the piano or playing a glissando on the xylophone.  If you've ever been in a band room during warm-up you know what things can start sounding like.  For everyone's sanity, this is a must do! :)

Welcome Back Video 

Many of the questions parents and students have are about recorders and my after school groups. Since my room is sometimes a bit hectic, I thought a video with this information would be a great way for parents to get the information they need if I'm talking with another family. The video plays on a loop and I included some music advocacy and curriculum information in the video.  There is no sound because I have a playlist set up on my ipod that runs throughout the event but you could very easily add sound if you are making your own video.

This is the video I used last year. I have only made a few updates but you can see where I was going with it. I made this using Keynote. Once everything was the way I wanted I exported the file as a movie. I could either run it through my doc cam from my lap top or burn it to a dvd and play it that way. I'm sure there is an option similar to this in Powerpoint.

If you would like my blank template to use, please email me and I will send you a version you can just plug your own information into.  Keep in mind my template will only work on Macs.

Forms 

There are many events in the first few weeks of school so I make sure to have copies of any forms/newsletters I will be sending home to help parents get a head start. Some of the forms I make sure to have copies of are: recorder order forms, information about materials, flyers announcing interest meetings for after school groups, wishlist, etc. 

I found that this helped a lot last year with recorder orders. I think I had at least 10 in the first week, which is not the norm.

Activity 

This year I think I'm going to try adding an activity for families to do while they are waiting to say hi. I'm thinking something along the lines of "How was music a part of your summer?". I think I will get a big piece of butcher paper write the question in the middle and then set out crayons/colored pencils for parents and students to fill in their answer. This will be great to hang in the hallway for the first week of school.

The Princeless Princess

This Spring my after school groups (Chorus, Orff and Recorders) performed the musical "The Princeless Princess".  This is a Randy and Jeff publication and the 2nd of their musicals I have performed with my kids.  Last winter we did "Five Golden Rings" and it was just as adorable as this musical.

Randy and Jeff's Website

West Music - The Princeless Princess

I love these musicals because they come with everything; orchestration, text, staging, movement and costume suggestions.  The price is very reasonable ($20.00 + shipping) and the best part is that everything is kid done.  This is something the art teacher and I have been striving towards since opening our school a few years ago.  Up until this performance even the back drop and props were made by our art club (my art teacher was 8 1/2 months pregnant by the time this performance came around).

I love musicals and they have become a spring tradition at our school. Some of the things I like to do are:

-Put every child in costume.
I know, this sounds impossible but it can be done. The costume does not have to be extravagant. For some of the characters in this musical all I provided was a beret and handkerchief. I think that putting everyone in costume (even instrumentalists) makes the performance special for everyone and it helps set the scene for the audience.

-Involve kids in the whole process.
Duh! I know this is probably a give in but sometimes I get so wrapped up in getting everything rehearsed and done for the performance that I forget to slow down and get the kids in put. Have the kids help make decisions about entering, exiting the stage, movement, props, etc. It's their performance and they will take so much more pride in a production they helped create. Although I love the fact that Randy and Jeff give you everything, I use it as a jumping off point. What can we do to make it our own?

-Find Hidden Talents
Use your kids talents to make it a special production. This year I found out that one of my 4th grade chorus boys loves to sew! He made the robes for the King and Princes. What a great memory! It was so cute to hear the kids brag to their friends about the boy in chorus that "made" the costumes. :)

-Promote Your Program
Giving a performance that demonstrates the gamut of the Orff process is a great way to show parents what kids are doing not only after school but in your classroom. It also shows younger students what they can be a part of when they are in 3rd, 4th, 5th grade.

Some suggestions for getting resources:

-Teacher Wishlist
At Meet Your Teacher and Open House I make sure to put out a list of items that I could use in my classroom. These don't have to be items families have to spend money on. I include old Halloween costumes, fabric remnants, stuffed animals/puppets, etc. to my list. You'll be surprised at what shows up in your mailbox or at your door. Some of the fabric I used for this musical was donated by a parent who had a bunch of scrap fabric laying around her house.

-Donorschoose.org
I recently did my first project on donorschoose.org. I wasn't really sure how the whole process worked, so I kept it simple. I asked for a variety of materials and I was truly surprised at how quickly the project was funded and easy the process was. Don't just look at Woodwind and Brasswind. I was able to request fabric by the yard from one of the art supply companies. The fabric I received helped costume some of the children this year and will make more costumes for next year.

-Couponing
Ask parents, teachers, family members for coupons. When I was looking for fabric this year JoAnn's had an amazing ad with twenty coupons in it. I saved myself $300 on fabric because I had the coupons!

-Volunteers
Parents are a wonderful resource. Create an email distribution list for your performing groups. This is a great way to keep parents informed about upcoming events and to enlist their help. Parents helped me this year by volunteering their time to make costumes/props, shop for items we needed, serve ice cream at our end of the year party, etc. These parents not only help with what the kids need but they are usually the parents who come to be your greatest advocates.

-Older Siblings
Many of my students have brothers and sisters in middle and high school. These students can be a great resource to take advantage of. One of these older siblings of a student at my school happens to be a truly talented artist. She makes beautiful posters and props for our productions and in exchange she can use this time as part of her volunteer hours.

This is the display case in the lobby of our school. It's a great place to advertise music events.

Hall of Fame

I am very fortunate to have my room back up directly to the stage.  While this is convenient for a number of reasons, it also means extra wall space.  This hallway is directly behind my classroom and it links me to the backstage area and the cafeteria, so this wall is visible to students as they eat lunch.  After every big performance my performing ensembles sign the concert poster (got this idea from my supervising teacher during my internship).

After everyone has signed, I have the poster laminated and then it is hung in the "Hall of Fame".  Unfortunately, part of one of the posters fell before I had the chance to laminate it and someone decided it was trash.  :(

This is a tradition the kids really look forward to and the little ones love to tell me about their older brothers and sisters who were part of past performances.  We have only been open for a few years now, so I only have one wall covered but as we grow so will the Hall of Fame!

Performer's Corner

I have 3 performing ensembles and keeping everyone on the same page can sometimes be difficult.  In an effort to lessen confusion over rehearsal/performance schedules I have taken a number of steps.  I created email distribution lists to email parents weekly about rehearsal schedules, morning and afternoon announcements, and the Performer's Corner.  Outside my classroom door I have a place to hang the most current newsletter and a calendar that lists the rehearsals/performances that are happening that month.  The purple and orange tabs on the calendar are Post-it's (I'm not sure of the exact name, sorry).  On the post-it's I write the name of the group that is rehearsing.  I can reuse these from month to month and if they stop sticking I add a bit of sticky tack.  I often see parents and students stop by to check out what is happening.