Recruitment Strategies

1. Honor Band Festival AND/OR Honor Marching Band Day

Rationale - Students from area schools are invited to participate in the Honor Band Festival on campus. The event will bring approximately 120 high school musicians to campus for an opportunity to interact with students and faculty as well as experience the quality that school has to offer. As an Honor Marching Band Day, students would be invited to join the marching band at a football game and perform with the group at halftime. Students would be nominated by their high school band directors and invited as an honor.

Organization - Band directors in high school programs will nominate their students based on musicianship, leadership, and attitude. A screening process will narrow down the attendees based on the director recommendations as well as create a strong representation of programs in the area and balanced instrumentation. Students will arrive on Thursday and go through a short audition process (music sent out in advance). Ideally the auditions will be heard by faculty and student leaders with high school musicians placed into 2 honor bands: A Wind Ensemble (top band) and a symphonic bands. Student leaders and faculty of the Music Dept. would then run a 1 hour master class for the high school students prior to large group rehearsals.

Invited clinicians would rehearse the 2 honor bands Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. Campus ensembles would present a concert to the students and their directors on Friday evening. Parents would be invited to attend a culminating concert on Saturday evening on the campus.

Goals

Provide a meaningful performance opportunity for high achieving high school students throughout the area.
Allow students an opportunity to learn about the school, see the facilities and interact with faculty and students
Provide an opportunity for campus ensembles to perform for local directors and students on an annual basis
Bring parents on campus to observe their student in a positive and meaningful experience
Provide networking and relationship building for prospective students

Costs and Logistics

Selected students would pay a $30.00 participation fee to cover cost of the invited clinicians, concert programs, and music folders for the running of the festival. Music students and band members on campus would be required to participate by providing tours, leading activities, organizing rehearsals, etc. Donations and sponsors could be sought to provide scholarships for students unable to pay the participation fee.

The festival would require two large spaces for the bands to rehearse as well as use of the performing arts hall throughout the event.

2. Wind Ensemble Side-by-side Concert

Rationale - Students that were selected for All-State Band in the area (the previous year) are invited to campus for a day to meet and perform with the Wind Ensemble. During this event students will have the opportunity to learn about current students' experiences, play advanced literature, meet faculty, and tour the campus. In the evening, the students will participate in a concert performing with the Wind Ensemble. Parents will be invited to an informational session about the college and the final concert.

Organization - Qualifying students will be notified through their band director in September. During the months of September - October it would be the goal of the Band Director to make contact with as many of these students as possible. The event would take place sometime in November in order to target seniors that have not yet made their final decisions about college.

Students would arrive in the morning and have a meet and greet session with members of the Wind Ensemble. Then, they would attend a student run sectional to answer questions and receive assistance with their music. During lunch, it would be great to have faculty available to meet the students and answer questions about their classes, schedule a lesson, etc. The afternoon would be a rehearsal with the full Wind Ensemble to prepare for the concert that evening. While the students are warming-up and preparing for the concert, parents would arrive to an informational session about auditions, scholarships, pursuing music, campus life, etc.

Goals

Provide a meaningful performance opportunity for the highest achieving students throughout the area.
Allow students an opportunity to learn about our school, see the facilities and interact with faculty and students
Provides students a more personalized experience and in-depth view of the quality education they would receive here
Allows another opportunity to bring parents to the campus
Provide networking and relationship building for prospective students

Costs and Logistics

The only fee associated with the event would be the luncheon that connects students with faculty members. This could be achieved with a small $10.00 fee to the students or possibly funded through a grant or sponsorship for this specific event.

3. Band Community Coaching and outreach

Rationale - Music students would participate in community coaching to provide free ensemble enrichment to local band programs. This puts music students in the classroom or at marching band rehearsals to practice their skills while providing a much needed service to local band programs. With proper set-up and follow-through, this program creates another way to connect local music students to the music program.

Organization - Strong students with a desire to be involved in area band programs, etc. would be required to organize a recurring coaching session in a high school program or marching band. This would be arranged by the student and the band director of the school and approved by the campus band staff.

Goals

Provide a meaningful service to the music education community
Build rapport between the Music department and high school band directors in the area
Provide campus students with another field experience beneficial to their development as musicians
Create contacts and relationships for perspective students

Costs and Logistics

This would be a free service to local programs that choose to participate.