The Importance of an Audience

Put performers (your students) in front of an audience and chances are one of two things will happen. 1. They will be a complete ham and try to steal the show, or 2. They will become incredibly shy and nervous. That's pretty much the two results you will get. If you go to most any school-aged performance the audience will consist of parents, grand-parents, siblings (and maybe a teacher or two) or the students performing. This isn't such a bad start, but we should strive for more.

Communities should be involved. People love kids! They may not love the 'noises' that come out of a middle school band, but the general public will often times support our kids, if they know about it. So why stop at sending a letter home to the parents of our performers, stating the time their student is to show up, what they're going to hear, and that family and friends are welcome to attend? Why not have fliers posted around the school, and sent to every student (not just performers)? Or how about take it a step above that, posting fliers at local community centers, the other schools in the districts, at local stores and restaurants, or even try and get an announcement made on local radio and news stations?

Also I'm curious to see if schools use social media networks like Facebook. I'm not sure how 'promoting' social media networks would go over in a school system, but it's a thought to take up with your administrators. You can put up events on facebook, have members of the community (parents, faculty, local businesses, etc) 'friend' or 'like' the programs page, and only have the music director have access to the school page. I'm sure there's probably a lot of grey area to using social media to promote your school, but it's worth looking into and addressing with your administrators.

Gaining and audience is key. If no one knows or appreciates all the wonderful things going on in your music program, then why would they fund it? Why would your students be able to gain access to more instruments, private lessons, more funding, technology, Building an audience also helps to ensure your job stability, if the community has a chance to see all the wonderful things your music program has to offer. Most importantly, it gives students a chance to see the possibilities, and entice them to join the band, choir, orchestra, jazz band, blues band, whatever your school has to offer to them!