Keep The Lines Open by Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser
Regular communication with the adults in your community will have a positive effect on your students
The success of any organization depends on the effectiveness of its communication network. This universal law is very important when adapted to your music program. By building a direct line of communication to parents, administrators, school board members and others, you gain important allies for your efforts to increase student participation in your programs.
Successful programs have strong parental and administrative backing, often the result of a perceptive educator who has carefully (and frequently) communicated with parents, principals, board of education members and politicians. It is crucial that you reinforce these direct contacts by writing letters, even though finding the time to do so may seem impossible.
The key to all successful communication is providing information that offers a positive benefit. That's why it's crucial to remind administrators just how valuable music programs are, and about the community outreach possible through your school music organization. You must also inform parents about how learning to perform with an ensemble helps their children experience success, because that will help them gain an understanding of the importance of school music programs.
Parents want their children to:
Develop a habit of persistence that will help them through the tough times in life and keep them on task when it would be easier to quit.
Learn to be more responsible, and see that mistakes are an opportunity to grow and make necessary corrections on the pathway to success.
Master the skills of cooperation so they enjoy working with their counterparts in every realm of personal and professional life.
Create a set of personal values that allow a prosperous and fulfilling lifelong journey, and find a way to express this knowledge.
Find a meaningful form of contribution that is significant to self and others.
Band and orchestra provides a training ground for all of these attributes and more, but this good news is often taken for granted by directors. Having grown up with this knowledge, we simply assume every layperson also understands the positive impact that band and orchestra have on a young person's life. Unfortunately, that is not the case. According to the latest research, over 90 percent of band or orchestra parents are not told of the many benefits band students gain, including improved self-image, personal discipline, ability to work with others, and much more. However, once the data is shared, the dividends of this new knowledge begin to show up immediately.
A resource tool exists to help you become a better communicator with parents and administrators: Essential Elements 2000 - Band Director's Communication Kit. This communication kit contains a collection of letters that can be customized to reflect your circumstances. A CD provides the text so you can personalize the letters, mail-merge documents to insert student names and effectively utilize your time to create program-building communication channels.
Letters are available for use in every month of the school year, for every major event in a typical program and for special situations you may encounter. Whether it is a "Welcome Back to School" letter, an "Invitation to a Parent Support Meeting," or a letter to an administrator emphasizing the "Importance of Music in Our Schools," this collection will certainly provide assistance as you communicate news about your music program.
This information was selected from Essential Elements 2000 — Band Director's Communication Kit by Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser and Dr. Charles Menghini, and was included with permission by its publisher, The Hal Leonard Corporation.To purchase this book, please call Music Dispatch at 1-800-637-2852 or visit the website www.halleonard.com.
