Recruitment and Retention
How do you build an orchestra program that students want to join—and stay in? Jessica and Janet dive into research-backed strategies and share hard-won lessons from their own classrooms on growing and sustaining thriving string programs.
Episode Overview
In this debut episode, Jessica and Janet tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing orchestra educators: building programs that attract students and keep them engaged year after year.
Drawing from peer-reviewed research and their combined decades of experience in Wisconsin classrooms, they explore what actually works when it comes to recruitment and retention—and what doesn't.
What You'll Learn
- Evidence-based approaches to recruiting beginning string players
- Strategies for retaining students through the challenging middle school years
- How to create a program culture that students don't want to leave
- Common mistakes that drive students away (and how to avoid them)
Key Takeaways
Building a sustainable orchestra program requires more than just good teaching—it demands intentional relationship building, community engagement, and a deep understanding of what motivates young musicians to pick up an instrument and stick with it.
Show Notes
- We talk briefly about "informance" (as opposed to "performance"); if you're not familiar with this, Victoria Boler's blog post about informance is a helpful resource.
- Christopher Selby's must-have book, Habits of a Successful Orchestra Director, can be found here.
- We mention Responsive Classrooms, but in recent years this has been renamed as Developmental Designs K-12. More info can be found here. Even if your school district doesn't use the Origins SEL curriculum, The Advisory Book has many other engaging activities beyond "Rare Birds."
- Another great SEL music resource that we didn't get a chance to mention, Music for All, has a series of webinars, including one featuring John Feierabend.
- Christopher Edmin's book, For White Folks Who Teach in the 'Hood... can be found here.
- Read about Feierabend's 30 year plan as it applies to infants and toddlers here.
References
Dillon, J. A. & Kriechbaum, C. B. (1978). How to Design and Teach a Successful String and Orchestra Program. Kjos West/Neil A Kjos, Jr. Publishers
Edmin, C. (2016). For White folks who teach in the hood - and the rest of y'all too: Reality pedagogy and urban education. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press.
Feierabend, J. (2000). First steps in music for early elementary: The curriculum. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.
Hartley, L. A., & Porter, A. M. (2009). The influence of beginning instructional grade on string student enrollment, retention, and music performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(4), 370–384. doi.org/10.1177/0022429408329134
Poliniak, S. (2012). Secrets of retention. Teaching Music, 19(4), 40–45.
Selby, C. (2017). Habits of a Successful Orchestra Director. (S. Rush, Ed.). Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.
Toyne, S. (2021). Music. In Cuthbert A. & Standish A. (Eds.), What Should Schools Teach?: Disciplines, subjects and the pursuit of truth (pp. 103-121). London: UCL Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv14t475s.13