Welcome to High School Band Parents!

This Web site was created with one purpose in mind - to connect members of high school band booster organizations together and move them from a fundraising mindset to a development mindset.

Face it - even though your children might be attending a public school, district budgets only allow for a portion of the funds necessary to provide a robust educational experience.  The expenses and commitment become staggering if the band competes on a state-wide or national level.  Band parents do an inordinate amount of fundraising as well as pay fees in order to keep a band program thriving within our schools.  Research shows that children involved in music programs do better in the classroom since music is one of the only subjects that connects both halves of the brain - the logic of the left side (rhythm, meter, time signatures) with the creativity of the right side (melodic composition, dynamics and harmonization).  But even though music enhances learning, school boards find myriad reasons to cut "non-necessary arts programs" and focus on language arts and mathematics.  Perhaps they don't realize that music, especially participation in a band, requires discipline, physical fitness and teamwork - skills that will be essential in the workplace of the 21st century - as well as enhance the mental acuity necessary to achieve to their potential in reading, writing and mathematics.

The problem is that we're fundraising all the time - which has the potential to scare incoming parents away.  This approach worked when our efforts supplemented the needs of the program, much like a PTA does for the school.  However, fundraising is short-term and not dependable.  In the 21st century, we need to generate income that is substantial and sustainable - and the only way to do that is to engage the community and other like-minded individuals in the mission that supports our children.  Colleges have an alumni relations and advancement department for a reason....current students are busy paying tuition and fees.  Asking parents of current students for additional revenues that are not tuition related is insulting.  Therefore, colleges forge partnerships with community organizations, businesses, alumni and parents of alumni to maintain their excellent programs.  In the high school band experience, parents are paying for private lessons, supplies, shoes, gloves, uniform bags, band jackets, t-shirts, and, oh - instruments!  To expect parents to fundraise in order to pay for clinicians, out-of-town competitions, educational experiences and uniform components can deter new parents from wanting their child to experience a most rewarding activity.  Just as colleges and universities have learned the importance of alumni, business and community support (the ABC's of development, if you will), we must do the same.

I had hoped the "Let's Talk!" link would serve as a place where parents could connect with each other to discuss Development, Membership, Retention, Marketing and Financial Management strategies, questions and where concerns can be discussed.  In today's technology-rich culture, there's no need for us to re-invent the wheel individually.  Working together, we can share ideas, success and failures so others can learn along side us.  After all, it's all about education and life-long learning experiences!

However, some unsavory characters found the forum, and turned it into - well, let's just say that I had to delete it.  Perhaps this space has outlived its usefulness, since Music For All has a forum to discuss high school music programs.  However, there are very few parent booster organizations acting as the non-profit entities they are, and are now finding out that their non-profit status is being revoked due to changing laws because they think they're "just a fundraising group."

Maybe someday we'll document the success of one high school band parent organization that started to move away from fundraising in November of 2006 and toward development.  The group has now embraced the principles of advancement, helping to grow revenue generation, band membership, parental involvement, and community and alumni support, resulting in an exciting organization focused on excellence.