• How Parents Can Best Help Their Young Performer 

     
    1. Show an interest in your child’s musical endeavors and promote practice, even in the beginning, before they're consistently making beautiful sounds.

    2. Find a private instructor for your child to study with. Please check with Mrs. Terrell before committing to an instructor. Some private tutors are better than others! Go to the band website for a list of excellent private instructors.

    3. Arrange a regular time for your child to practice with no interruptions and remember “Perfect practice makes perfect”. Proper utilization of time is beneficial for everyone.

    4. Help your child keep a record of their practice routine and habits. Good practice involves a good warm-up with technical studies (scales, arpeggios, etc.), a review of current music being studied, intense isolation of difficult sections in the music, and exposure to new material. If they are merely playing through the music and ignoring those parts of the music that are challenging, they will feel no sense of accomplishment. It is important that they develop a routine they can stick with.

    5. Make sure they have a safe consistent place to store their instrument at home.

    6. Keep the instrument in good repair (clean and working properly) and make sure they have all the supplies they need to be successful (good reeds, cork grease, valve oil, mutes, etc.)

    7. Be VERY careful with both school- and privately-owned instruments. Repairs can be costly and instruments should not be left out and/or unattended.

    8. Encourage your child to play for others when the opportunity arises, for example: A birthday for a relative “Grandma”, holiday seasons, in the home, in church, at school, or for community events.

    9. Make sure you know your child’s schedule of performances and other school events, and make sure they’re on time.  

    10. See that they always remember to bring their playable, working instrument with all needed materials to be successful for class.

    11. See that they keep up with their classroom studies. Your involvement and support can make a huge difference.

    12. Attend performances whenever possible. Children may not verbalize their gratitude but they truly appreciate your attendance. 

    13. Donate up to $ 400 of your state taxes to the district in the name of the Terramar Band. This is a dollar for dollar tax credit, with every penny going directly into the program. A donation form is available on the school and district website.