What if you could spend your summer enjoying your family and still be ready to hit the ground running with your program ready to flourish when school starts?
One of the biggest challenges band directors face is finding balance between teaching, building and managing a program, and having time and energy for their personal lives.
Our jobs involve so much more than just teaching kids how to play songs for concerts and football games. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes before we even get into the classroom, and so much to do to build and maintain our music programs so we can continually offer a high-quality experience for our kiddos. And somehow we are supposed to be able to do it all and still have energy left over for our own families.
And since most of us band directors are Type A people who pride ourselves on taking care of other people, we never think of asking for help when it comes to doing all the things that need to take place for our programs to be successful. We simply do whatever it takes to get the job done.
When I started my first teaching gig, I was the ripe old age of 23, just a few years older than the students in my classes. All the years of training in high school and college had prepared me for much of what I was about to encounter, but there was a LOT of stuff I was about to learn through baptism by fire!
Besides the instructional part of the gig, I had to figure out how to do a ton of other things that are crucial to supporting a growing music program. I attended conferences, reached out to other band directors, and asked a million questions. I had to learn a lot of things on the fly…and through lots of trial and error.
I was spending so much time and energy on administrative things like managing budgets, building a booster program, running fundraisers and trips, keeping inventory, selecting repertoire, and doing all the necessary peripheral activities that it began taking time and energy from my own family.
The reality was that my program was growing by leaps and bounds, but the cost to my personal life and health was pretty high. In less than ten years, the size of the bands tripled – and along with that, so did the workload.
I found myself loving what I was doing, and the results were fantastic, except on my own health. I was wearing myself ragged as I built this program, and I was spending more time with other people’s kids than my own children.
There had to be a way to serve my students without sacrificing my health and time with my own family.
As much as I loved what I was doing, I couldn’t maintain the intensity anymore, so I began to look at ways to streamline my processes so I could spend more time and energy on teaching and less on the administrative pieces.
The result of this has become the basis for my next book, No More 14-Hour Work Days. The book, which will be released next year, is full of practical advice and reusable templates for everything from building a booster program and managing trip finances to selecting repertoire and getting your groups to perform on stages like Disney Theme Parks and Carnegie Hall. It’s a collection of the materials I’ve created in the three-plus decades I’ve spent as a high school band director and includes lots of tried and true ideas for building your program.
The book was written as a tool for band directors who want to build successful programs with high retention rates and supportive booster programs so they can work their magic in the classroom and have energy left for their own families.
I am looking for a few band directors who are starting fresh or ready for a fresh start in building a successful program to participate in Band Director Boot Camp this summer.
This program will teach you proven strategies that will help you:
- Build a successful music program in your school with your vision
- Have high retention rates, providing on-going enrollment that builds a strong culture that sustains itself
- Create or expand a booster group that can provide support with everything from inventory and finances to chaperoning and more, freeing you up to spend time in the music-making part of your job
- Get more done in less time with greater results by having access to the physical resources (templates, samples, etc.) and personal help (my expertise, connections to other people and programs) available through this program
- Learn which management tools can help you streamline all your inventory, finances, library, personnel, attendance, and other records all in one place
- Take your program to the next level, whether that’s expanding enrollment or getting on stages like Carnegie Hall or Disney Theme Parks
- Increase the rate of student participation in outside opportunities (solo and ensemble / honor groups / community ensembles) to give the students and your program more positive exposure
- Create a student-centered program where with a family atmosphere of support that draws people to want to be part of it
- Manage all the drama that comes with the territory!
At the end of Band Director Boot Camp, you will have:
- An action plan that outlines your upcoming school year with activities to support your goals and program
- Resources to help you achieve those goals (templates, connections to people in the industry, personal help from me, support from like-minded peers, etc.)
- Realistic timelines and processes to ensure the goals are achievable and met
- On-going support opportunities as you implement these program-building strategies
- An autographed copy of my first book, I Love My Job but It’s Killing Me: The Teacher’s Guide to Conquering Chronic Stress and Sickness, before it’s available in bookstores
If you’d like to find out more about Band Director Bootcamp, just send me an email at lesley@mpowerededucator.com with “Boot Camp” in the message and I’ll get back to you.
I’m looking forward to helping a few band directors set up next year to build the programs they’ve been dreaming of without having to sacrifice family time to make it happen. Can’t wait to see the magic happen!
Hugs
Lesley