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Taking a new job can be overwhelming from the start, but nothing is more overwhelming than walking into an unorganized mess. When I had taken the grand tour during my interview, I noticed that the band room needed some major reorganization and so one of the first things I did when I was hired was to grab a friend of mine and head up for some major house cleaning: the first stop was the music library. Just to give you an idea of what I was working with, the music library consists of a small 9' x 6’ room that holds seven filing cabinets that are full of music. At this point, the tops of the filing cabinets were nowhere to be seen and there were piles of miscellaneous music that was left lying around. The music folder racks for the students were full of music, and, throughout the room, music was haphazardly tossed. So I did what any normal person would do and I pulled EVERYTHING out of the room and began sorting it. I made a database program (with a lot of help) to inventory the music and then began the process of reading the composition information to my friend, who typed it into the database. Once the information was in the computer, we assigned it a number and put it back into the filing cabinets. 536 files later and we were done with the concert band music but still had the jazz and marching music left. Several long 8-hour days later, we were done. As I stood staring at how nice the music library looked, I thought I heard a noise...I turned around and looming before me was the (cue scary music) instrument room. Oh boy... Using a different database, I began to inventory the instruments (serial number, make, model, and condition) and put them back into storage. Those instruments that needed repair were set aside so I could take to the music store. When the instrument room was finished, I went and tackled the uniform room. I was busy for weeks just reorganizing what I had but it was well worth it. Reorganizing can be a time-consuming process and it may get frustrating at times, but it is very much worth it. Since I took the time to do all that before any rehearsals began, I was able to find music, instruments, and uniforms very quickly to be distributed. I was able to keep track of what was going where or to whom it was going. The music library initially had two different systems going on (maybe the result of two previous directors?) numerically and then alphabetically, while the uniform and instrument storage rooms has no apparent organizational structure. Structure is different for every individual, but here is how I organized the different areas and why: - Music Library - I adopted a numerical filing system. Trying to keep things alphabetically can hypothetically work, but you'll be moving files from one cabinet to the next when you happen to get just a few more A's than the B's in the cabinet can handle. The idea of moving files around when I purchased new music wasn't very exciting. By using a numerical system, new music is filed with the next number and you never have to move files around. How do you find music if you're looking for a certain title? That's what the database is for! Information I would include in the database is Band (concert, jazz, marching, etc.), the assigned number, Title, Composer, Arranger, Publisher, Copyright, and Difficulty Level.
- Uniforms - Once again, I used a numerical system for the same reasons. I could organize by size but the database inventory would be a lot harder to keep and what happens if a uniform gets moved two places down the rack accidentally? I organized each uniform part separately and gave each a number; the jackets, the pants, the sash, and the hats each had a number 1 - 59. In the database I included the Item (jacket, hat, etc.) the number, size, and condition. I also created a column for assignments when I handed them out to students. This made it easier to find the right uniform and size for the students and during my second year, they were able to try on their previous uniform to see if it still fit.
- Instruments - I didn't structure these numerically or anything of the sort, but I did take an inventory of the Serial Number, Make, Model, and condition of each instrument. When I passed them out to the students, I also had a checkout form that the students and parents had to sign that contained all this information for record purposes.
Everyone is different and there is no right or wrong way to organize your music and equipment, so make sure you organize according to your own preferences. Even though it may get frustrating and you want to just leave it for later DON'T. You will never have as much time as you have during the summer before your band rehearsals begin; just get it done, you'll thank yourself later!
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