Are you feeling that back to school blues? Are you a strung out first year orchestra director? Here are some resources to help you modulate and change your key to make back to school cool: 

• Back to School Tools – Resources to help you prepare for Back to School Night
• My Music Class – Login to access hundreds of lesson plans
• Discussion Forums and Mentors – Have a specific question? Ask our mentors and post a question on the orchestra forum.
• Top 10 Things Every First Year Orchestra Director Needs to Know
• Top 10 Tips for First Year Directors, Part 1
• Top 10 Tips for First Year Directors, Part 2
• Da Capo: Starting the First Year, Part 1
• Da Capo: Starting the First Year, Part 2

Here is a cool idea from orchestra director Bill Baar, which can help to create team spirit now or at any time throughout the school year:

“On the fun side we design an orchestra t-shirt every year. Students submit designs and then we vote on them. It helps with esprit de corps. The next step is to encourage each section to design their own t-shirt. Then you have orchestra t-shirt days when everyone wears the orchestra shirt. You may even use the orchestra t-shirt as the official uniform on a pops concert.”

MENC member Bill Baar is an orchestra director at Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, IL.

-- Nicole Springer, September 10, 2008. © MENC: The National Association for Music Education