Be A Part Of The Orchestra – Helpful Tips for Recruiting For Your Orchestra
The goal for any music educator at the end of the year is celebrating our students and their many successes. We are also thinking about building our program for the following year and making sure students continue or feed into our programs (or other programs).
Attracting students to our programs is what keeps them thriving and relevant to the school community. Post COVID, it seems recruitment has been just as important as ever.
In this blog post, we will look at some ideas for recruitment.
Whatever ideas you choose, we should always communicate the joy and love of music we feel with our potential students and their families.
School Visit
It may take some coordinating with building administration, but a visit to a feeder program can really help to retain and recruit students into our programs.
It’s challenging to coordinate a school visit, due to our daily teaching responsibilities, but shoot for planning a visit to a feeder school in the fall and then later in the year during the spring to help recruit students into your program.
Additionally, a school visit also allows students to put a “face to the name.” Little can compare with connecting with potential students in a real and tangible way.
If you are able, bring a small group of students with you to also share about the benefits of orchestra.
No matter what you plan - whether it’s bringing students with you, playing a favorite song, sharing about your program, or playing with the potential students - do it with enthusiasm and excitement. Communicate warmth and the joy of music making and being a part of your school’s orchestra program.
Recruitment Brochures
Create an informative and engaging brochure that you can hand out to prospective students and families.
I’ve made mine in Microsoft Publisher. You can also use Word, Canva, or another platform of your choice.
Whatever program you use to design your brochure, here are some ideas to include:
- Communicate what is unique and special about joining your program
- Highlight the ways students will benefit by joining the orchestra
- Highlight performances - after all, kids are joining to play
- Highlight special trips, festivals, joint concerts, district wide events, and whatever else will get kids excited
- Highlight cool songs your group has played (that will get kids excited)
- Student testimonials
- Your contact information
Outreach Letters
This year I got the list of all the 4th and 5th graders enrolled in orchestra in my feeder schools and had my students write letters to each student.
In the letter, the students encouraged the younger student to keep playing and to continue on in middle school. The goal was to help the younger students feel a part of our school community even before they were formally students at our school.
The feedback I got from the directors at my feeder schools was very positive. The kids seemed to really love the outreach letters!
If you are short on time or resources - this could be an excellent option for recruitment.
FAQ Night For Parents
Schedule a FAQ Night for families at your feeder school or your own school. If doing this in person is hard, consider holding it virtually.
Lunch Performances
Perform at lunches for the student body and expose the general school community to your program. Create a fun and engaging program with songs the kids might know and enjoy. This can be done at your own school to drum up potential students for your program.
Create A Video
Create a short video of student testimonials that could be shared with the students in your feeder school. Kids love hearing from other kids about why orchestra is something they should join.
Conclusion
Recruitment is vital to our programs and their sustainability.
Of course, you know your students and your student body best - so come up with your own ideas that will work and be engaging for them. Hopefully some of these ideas will help to get students to continue on into our programs.