12 Rehearsal Room Hacks
Mark The Floor With Tape for Easy Chair Set-up
I like my rows of chairs neat and orderly, but I don’t like to reinvent the wheel each time I set the chairs up. I often mark the floors with tape. Not the entire floor – I usually just put one small piece of tape to show where the legs of the end chairs in each row go. I usually use duct tape, just a one square inch piece. It usually lasts all school year. You can also use velcro, sticky side down, on some carpet.
Buy A Tool Bin With Drawers For Storing Reeds
Label the drawers (alto sax 2.5, clarinet 2, clarinet 3, etc.). You can usually find these at Home Depot or Harbor Freight.
Mark Off An Area For Sousaphone/Drum Parking
Storage space in band rooms is often insufficient. When I taught marching band, I had a decent size classroom but not enough storage for all the drumline equipment. I had sousa storage. It was on a high shelf – fine for long term but not good when we were using them. I marked off areas in the back of the rehearsal space that were out of the way and trained the students to store the equipment there between rehearsals. It helped my sanity and gave the students a guideline to help with keeping the room orderly. If you don’t give the equipment a parking area, the students will tend to leave it in different spots every day, right in the middle of the timpani section or right next to the flutes, someplace inconvenient.
Install a Pegboard On The Wall For Auxiliary Percussion
I think this works better than a cabinet, but you will have to train the students not to play with the instruments (it can be done). Get the percussion section leader to enforce this. Students think that if they see an auxiliary percussion out it means that they can play it. They don’t do that with a clarinet or trumpet (or at least they shouldn’t).
A Tray For Collecting Paper
Have a tray that sits by the door to collect permission slips, forms, etc. instead of collecting that and spending several minutes of class time.
Collect fundraising money at the door in a locked box
Office supply stores have locking boxes with a slot big enough to put a large envelope into. Place these at the front of the class as the collection box for fundraisers. Print out a set of instructions for the box. For example: Take an envelope. Write your name on it. Place checks inside. Seal envelope. Place it in the box. Make sure to empty this box daily and don’t leave it unattended.
Place Extra Cords on Wall Hangers.
This way they’re easy to find, can easily be put away, and you know at all times what you have available. These can be extension cords, guitar cords, and more. This hack works well if you have a jazz band with a lot of students needing to plug in or if you’re using a sound system, you can even hang the microphones up.
Place Your Seating Chart in a Page Protector
This makes for easy attendance taking! Use a dry erase marker to put a slash through students who are absent. If they show up late, change the slash to a T for Tardy.
Write the serial number of school owned instruments directly on the case
This simplifies checking instruments in and out. You might still want to glance at the instrument to make sure someone isn’t changing out instruments with you, but you won’t have to find the serial number each time.
I hope these hacks make your life easier.
James is the author of Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band. He has served private, suburban, and Title 1 schools and now teaches at a charter school. Find out more about James at www.jamesdivine.net Subscribe to his podcast Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band.