A musician’s daily diet or daily drill provides all the necessary basics for performing on an instrument successfully. While it’s not a perfect formula, at Claudia Taylor Johnson High School, we stick to our daily drill in the same way that we brush our teeth or get dressed for school each day — we make it a part of our routine.

I highly recommend engaging and empowering your student leaders to be instructors for music, marching  or even as peer tutors for other academic subjects. When your student leaders begin to take more ownership of your program, the overall culture and morale will improve.

Students who believe in their ability to perform at a high level are more likely to achieve remarkable things.

Every band director struggles to find strategies to bridge the gap between providing information to students and getting them to achieve the desired result. How do you get students to actually do what they have been told to do?

How can you make band a place that everyone enjoys? From student musicians who want to be the very best in the all-state contest, to those who are more casual and never practice outside of class, to athletes who want to participate in band, to students who want to be in choir, orchestra, theater and band.

Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson High School in San Antonio, Texas, opened in 2008 as the seventh comprehensive high school in the North East Independent School District (NEISD).