Finding Success at a Title 1 Middle School as the Sole Director

My intention for this article is that if you are a director with no assistance, the information I present today will save you from having to make some of the mistakes I made and maybe give you an idea or two to make your job just a little easier. I hope everyone who reads this takes something worthwhile out of it.

Set yourself up for success before you get into the daily grind

Time is the biggest enemy of any band director, but even more so when you are the sole director of a program. The best way to combat this evil is to set up time savers immediately when the school year begins, or if you can, before the school year starts. Utilize some sort of spreadsheet system to keep track of your individual band student’s information. You can use Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, CutTime (a paid platform). Each one of these has their specific advantages and disadvantages, so it’s up to you to decide which you like the best. Either way, keeping track of phone numbers, addresses, what money has been turned in, etc… will save you tons of time in the long run. I like to use Google Workspace because it is free. I use SHEETS to keep track of everything from student rosters/information to instrument and uniform inventory. A huge time saver is using “Mail Merge.” When you have information in a saved format you can send individualized letters out at the click of a button. You can use the phone numbers you have saved to set up an auto call using “Call-em-all” online. This way you’re not sitting at your desk making phone calls for hours on end. Then, make sure you input all of your big dates into Google Calendar or something of that nature. You will lose track of time and you will forget to tell administrators about something important if you don’t do it right away. Trust me. I’ve been there. Save yourself from that embarrassment and cover yourself by sending those dates out electronically.

Utilize both parents and students as surrogate assistants. It took me a few years to be able to establish a Band Parent Organization, but when I did, fundraisers and field trips became so much easier. As a side note, consider calling it a “Band Parent Organization” not a “Band Booster Club.” Boosters deal with their own money and have to file paperwork with the government. A parent organization assists you, and all of the money goes directly to your Student Activity Funds so you know that money will always be spent on your students. It is also imperative that you establish “Band Student Officers.” These will be the students who can and will help you with the day-to-day minutia. Helping keep the band hall clean, helping organize the library, and helping with the uniforms, are all things I have students help me with even now that I am no longer a sole director. Remember, you may be a sole director, but you are not alone.

Set up your individual class schedule for success. Heterogeneous beginner classes will never be able to move as fast as homogeneous beginner classes, and as a sole director you will never truly have full homogeneous classes. If you set yourself up correctly, however, you can still find success with your beginners in this situation. My first year, I only asked for one class to be homogenous, the beginner percussion class. The second year I asked If I could have all the beginner brass in one class and still keep the percussion separate. This still wasn’t great, but by the third year, I was set up to ask for the classes I needed. I had every incoming beginner on a spreadsheet with what instrument they were playing before the school year ended. I color-coded my classes and turned them in to the administration. Knowing what the kids are going to play before the school year starts is imperative to setting up classes the way you want them. I finally had a Low Brass class, a High Brass class, Flutes by themselves, Saxes and clarinets combined, and my Percussion class. If you find yourself having to teach heterogeneous classes your first year on the job, you may not be able to change things immediately but be sure to advocate for your program and ask for what your STUDENTS NEED going forward.

When teaching a heterogeneous beginner class, or even if your classes have only two or three different instruments, the best way to keep everyone involved and minimize distractions or behavior issues is to treat it like you would a full rehearsal. It will take time and it is going to move slowly, but in the long run, it will actually set them up for success when they move up to your advanced band classes. What I mean by “treat it like a rehearsal” is that every student in that classroom needs to know that even if I am not working with their instrument specifically, they are either fingering along, counting out loud or “sizzling” along. I am not saying that this is easy, but you must stay vigilant, especially if you’re teaching six to seven different instruments in one class. You are going to have to repeat the same line many, many times, but everyone is participating at all times. Breathing exercises and rhythm reading are something that everyone can do together, no matter what instrument they are playing, so absolutely use these as a warm-up every single day. When I had brass and woodwind beginners combined, I liked to have the brass buzz to match pitch while the woodwinds played the line, or one group would count the rhythm out loud while the other group played. The hardest part was saying the pitch names because you would have five different letters being shouted at the same time. I know it sounds crazy, but if you let the kids know what is happening ahead of time you might find yourself able to teach your students transposition.

What is success, as it pertains to your program?

This may seem simple, but you cannot succeed if you do not set a goal. Start by setting your long-term goal and proceed to set shorter-term goals to help you achieve it. Be prepared to make adjustments as you go. No matter what, make sure to use the S.M.A.R.T. approach to setting goals. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. When I started, I set a three year goal for my program which included a specific number of students I wanted the program to have, and what level of music each band should be able to play. Then, I had to give myself shorter-term goals. One was even thrust upon me in September, “You need to perform the National Anthem at our Veteran’s Day Celebration in November.” Okay, that’s our top group’s short-term goal. Sometimes, your short term goal can be, “I am going to make it through this week without getting in my truck and banging my head against the steering wheel.” One of my big shorter-term goals was, “By the end of this first semester, students will no longer ask for a “free day” every Friday.”

With this specific goal, I started the change in culture that the band program needed. The older students fought the change, but the 6th-graders bought into what I was doing, hence the three-year time frame. Your band’s culture is what you make it. Do you want kids in your band hall before school starts? Show up early consistently and make the band hall a welcoming place. Are kids only there to hang out or are they actually practicing? That is on you. How strict are you about after-school rehearsal attendance? Are there consequences for absences? I cannot tell you what the right decision is for your program, every campus has its own unique circumstances, but whatever you decide, be consistent.

One way to physically see your success is growth in numbers. The only way to guarantee that success is by visiting your feeder schools and recruiting. At the very least you should attempt to visit each elementary school three times throughout the year. In the Fall or Winter, take your top group (or Jazz band if you have one) to perform for the elementary schools. It is nice to perform for only 5th-grade students, but sometimes it is really awesome to perform for the entire school if that’s what the administrators for that school want. In the Spring, I like to take the current beginners to perform. Most of the 5th-graders will remember them and see them playing in the band. Then, I have the 6th-graders actually stand up and talk to the 5th-graders about their instruments and play a little something on their own. We play a couple of tunes as a full group, but the most important part of the recruiting trip is allowing the beginners to take their instruments and walk around to talk to the 5th-graders about band and what they love (or hate) about band and/or middle school in general. Most of the time the teachers ask to take pictures with their former students. It truly is a great experience for everyone. These performances also help with retention, as it creates a sense of pride in being in the band program.

Retention from the first to second year is the most important and most difficult. By the end of their beginner year, if not given enough opportunities, students still do not truly understand the full band experience. It is imperative that they get more than two concerts a year to play in a full band setting. Again, I know this should go without saying, but I am going to mention it anyway, just in case. Fun. We sometimes lose sight of the fact that these young musicians are, in fact, still kids. Yes, we want them to be great. Yes, we want to push them to the best of their abilities. But, if we forget to remind them that playing an instrument is fun, we will lose their interest.

That brings me to the “region band” audition process. I have nothing against the idea of “region band” auditions. However, when you are the sole director of a Title 1 program, you need to embrace the fact that you are not going to compete with the schools that have multiple directors and tutors on staff. I have been on both ends of the spectrum. Currently, I am the head director of a program with an assistant director, and four tutors that come in on a regular basis. I can absolutely tell you that no matter how much time I spent before or after school at my first school with students, I could not have competed with what I have now. But, our egos tell us we have to compete. I need to take the kids to region auditions. I need to be better than whatever person I went to college with. We think that those region band numbers equal success. They do not. I had eleven students make our region band this year and guess what, it was due to the implementation of tutors. Instead of wasting three months trying to shovel music down the throats of these kids that is way beyond their grasp, work on the fundamentals they need. Breathing. Tone Quality. Articulations. Ensemble sound. Scales (of course you can use the region scales for this). Then, have a fun Fall concert where the kids are excited to perform and the parents can see progress already. Sure, I sent a couple of kids to region band while I was the sole director. But, I deliberately chose individuals. I never sent more than five students and I worked on the etudes with them individually after or before school, not during class time.

The same thing applies to the UIL Concert and Sight reading process. We tend to compare ourselves to other programs and say, “Oh, well this person is taking two grade 3s. I should be able to do that.” Again, that is ego talking and it has nothing to do with the kids and making them successful. Only you know your students and know what their capabilities are. Set yourself up for success and forget about what is happening at other schools. Which brings me to my next point.

Maintaining Your Mental Health

If you are the sole director of a program I need you to know that you may be by yourself in that band hall but you are not alone. There are band directors everywhere that can offer you help. There are support groups on social media, there are directors in your district or region that I can guarantee are willing to help or offer advice. Seek them out.

Finding and establishing your Professional Learning Community, or PLC, is of the utmost importance. Your PLC can consist of however many people you want and definitely does not have to be in any way “Professional.” I use this term because it’s what the campuses I have been at like to use when they get together with their departments. My PLC consists of band directors, orchestra directors, and choir directors that I text, call, or hang out with to bounce ideas off of, ask for advice, or even just to vent about frustrations. When I was younger, my PLC would meet at an adult beverage facility every Friday. Now, with a wife, a son, and another on the way, my PLC meetings are a little different. Board game nights on the weekends, fishing trips during breaks, or playing video games online. Yes, we discuss possible UIL programs and vent to each other while having some fun. It doesn’t matter what you do with your PLC, what matters is that you have one.

As a sole director, do not compare yourself to other programs, especially those with multiple directors. But, you can compare your program to itself as time goes on. How well are you doing two to three years in. You should be getting better. Keep track of what works and more importantly what does not work. Record your ensembles at the beginning of the year then in December and again in March or April. Are they improving? That is what really matters. Are you improving as a teacher? How are your beginners progressing this year vs. how they were in your first year of teaching? At the end-of-year concert in my second year of teaching, the beginners were playing a piece of music that my top group played at the previous year’s end-of-year concert. That was one for the win column in my book. Speaking of the win column, enjoy the little wins whenever you can. Your beginner clarinetist who took two weeks to remember how to put the ligature on correctly is now playing notes above the break. That’s a win. Your beginner percussion class goes an entire class period without dropping a drumstick. That’s a win. Eventually, you’ll get a big win. Like the first time a parent tells you that their kid is now a music education major because of how much they loved your class and saw how passionate you were about music. That’s a win. That is a success as a sole director.

Mr. Timothy Gonzalez graduated from the University of Texas-San Antonio in the Spring of 2014, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. From 2014-2020 Mr. Gonzalez was the sole director at Dwight Middle School in the South San Antonio ISD, where he earned his and the school’s very first Sweepstakes award, with Superior ratings from all 6 judges, at the 2020 UIL Concert and Sightreading Evaluation. Currently, he is the Director of Bands at McAuliffe Middle School in the Southwest Independent School District. tgonzalez8859@swisd.net