Sound Prairie

What I use to keep it all in check.

1. Slack
2. Airtable
3. Fantastical (Mac only)
4. Omnifocus (Mac app + Web)
5. Dropbox Professional
6. A great notebook
7. Spotify

Slack

If you haven’t tried Slack, I strongly urge you to consider this high-powered messaging platform. Having used apps like Remind, Crew, Band, GroupMe, and obviously torturous email threads, Slack has done what nobody else can claim to do. The app rolls a social media feel into a truly productive and collaborative environment that can engage even the most aloof of your students, parents, and/or staff!

Slack allows for integrations with virtually all of your favorite cloud services, it treats hyperlinks for sharing better than any app on the market, and can even automate reminders after a bit of set up.

The only drawback is the initial learning curve and the perceived complexity at the outright for new users and teams making the switch. Notification settings and learning how to navigate the “channel” interface can cause some pushback with your organization, but I promise you it’s worth the struggle.

After testing the above mentioned apps as both a graduate assistant for a collegiate percussion program and a high school music program, Slack has finally won the “app war” amongst them all to deliver my information to students, parents, and staff in the best way possible.

Airtable

This service blew my mind when I first started playing around with it. I discovered this company through a Slack integration and never looked back. Take some of the best functions of Google Forms and Sheets and say goodbye to all of the weaknesses and bizarre, clunky interface problems and then add about a million more incredibly useful features that you’d otherwise never have access to with a simple cloud based spreadsheet program.

Airtable is a database program/service that allows you to created “bases” that house multiple tables of information that you can link together and add functions too in order to see and aggregate your most important data the way you want it to be organized. The cherry on top is that you can make FORMS! Just like Google Forms, you can create t-shirt order forms, member information forms, and so on where it all goes in to one happy place.

But it really doesn’t stop there. You can even create an accounting system between your tables and upload payment information and keep tabs on where all your money goes…keeping admin and your superiors very happy.

And of course my favorite, inventory and checkout. Why pay a zillion dollars for Charms or another program, when you can do a little set up yourself and have the exact same functionality at almost no cost. Yes, you can create an inventor, student checkout, and even a barcode scanning system within this service, and it’s all remarkably inexpensive.

Fantastical & Omnifocus

I’m rolling these two into one because, well, I don’t want to get on a MacOS highroad and upset any diehard Android lovers, and I also believe that todos and calendars go hand-in-hand

Fantasical is a Mac only calendar client that mops the floor with iCal, Google Calendar, and just about anything else you can find. The reason they do so is one simple feature… calendar groups. Yes, you can group your many calendars into groups with keyboard shortcuts and see things organized in ways that makes life so much easier. For example, I have a “weekly schedule” calendar of my obligations that rarely change, like class times and weekly rehearsals, but I also have a “school events calendar.” Now, I run a few other organizations and those, too, have weekly schedules and events, so I would group my school’s two calendars into one group and voilá! The only downside is that it’s a bit pricey. But I will admit that after a bit of use, I knew I’d paid for something well-built.

Omnifocus is literally my second brain. This app has relieved more stress than I ever thought a cold, unfeeling computer program could ever accomplish. While it is a Mac only app, there are a few other apps that rival it and operate similar for Android such as Todoist and Nirvana – GTD. Basically, what Omnifocus allows me to do and its main functionality encourages “brain dumps.” Which I think most educators find themselves needing to do more frequently than we’d like. The brain dump of todos, ideas, and fires to put out all go into my “inbox.” From there, usually over coffee (or wine), I will then assign them to the different areas of responsibility and give them context with a tag or two. They then disappear and live in the places I want them to for when I’m ready to tackle say “things to do on my computer” or “things I can only do on campus.” After that? Well, things get done and I’m happy.

Honorable Mention

Nirvana GTD and Todoist for the non-Apple peeps, these apps are solid. Nirvana is very unique in its structure and if you’re someone that really loves to organize multiple facets of a given task like people dependent on completing the task, how long it may take, and the energy you’ll need to complete it, then Nirvana has you covered. Todoist has taken a lot of cues from Omnifocus (or maybe the other way around… who knows at this point) and it doesn’t fall too far from matching capabilities when really needing to separate your tasks into projects and/or responsibilities.

Dropbox Professional

Why I didn’t put this at #1? I don’t really know. I think so many people would consider this redundant and that many of us educators and directors already use this or Google Drive, but I can’t help it; I have to throw it some love and maybe convert those “anti-cloud storage” individuals into considering it.

Dropbox’s paid plans are, to me, one of the best investments I’ve made in my craft as director of just about anything. While I don’t put much personal information on any cloud service, I sure as heck load gigs upon gigs of forms, music PDFs, documentation, artwork, and other operational items that so often need to be accessible on different devices and most importantly, shared. With DB’s link sharing and the control of the link’s active lifetime and even password protection of files, I’m never limited to email attachment capacity, having a valuable file livening in my emails, or even having a link vulnerable to being overshared or repeatedly accessed by the wrong people.

I’d say my main use for dropbox is actually sharing folders in Slack, where students and go to retrieve score and part updates to their marching shows. Add that to the ability to share your scores with staff, send singable forms to parents, and so on, you have a really useful tool for getting things to people quickly.

A great notebook

Paper is still a great technology, and a company that seems to understand that is Code & Quill. These guys are great. Besides maybe a bit too many emails on the promotional side, I never thought I’d actually feel a loyal patronage to a notebook/notepad company. The customer service is phenomenal and the product is too. They have a number of great notebook types and you’ll find yourself wanting to be creative or take note of things just to crack open that gorgeous notebook to write in.

Spotify

I know it’s a hot issue with some regarding the advent of streaming versus purchasing, but I have to say from a standpoint of accessibility for functional use as an educator, Spotify is priceless. Apple Music works well, but Spotify is cross-platform and integrates with so much that you really can’t beat how useful it is for getting recordings of great material to your kids. I use Spotify religiously to expose my students to great literature as well as consuming unique material for my own creative endeavors. If you don’t use it, I would urge you give it a try just to see how you could use it for the benefit of yourself and your program!

Let's face it—this happens every year. At some point, your precious sprites of musical wonder will begin to question their seat on your educational bus, and it's your job to keep them from opening the fire door at the back and doing the old “tuck and roll.”

So what can you do to prepare for this? What steps are necessary in having a bit of psychological insurance when the moment arises? Well, here are some tips to avoid the yearly mutiny. Free public preview↑/↓Only visible to members Knowing is half the battle

1. Overload

• We sometimes forget that our students aren't just our students; they're employees, hybrid sibling-babysitter/Uber drivers, biochem students, and so much more. Knowing what's happening in their lives, even on the surface level (or on the “macro”) is crucial. When are the major tests this year at your institution? What about other ensemble concerts or festivals? Did you take inventory of your students' other commitments before setting sail? If not, it's okay...but do it now. Like right now. Stop reading and get a Google Form whipped up. Check on simple things like...
• Total workweek hours (part or full-time?)
• Extracurriculars (clubs or sports?)
• AP or Honors Classes (any particularly vindictive teachers they're dealing with?)
• Transportation situation

Being armed with this knowledge is huge and it will show your students an empathy level that is often never reached by many other teachers.

2. Leeches

Yes, leeches. You have them, we all do. Who are they, and have you set a projected date and time for when their negative, fun-siphoning, anarchist attitude will likely kick into overdrive? Moreover, do you have a forecast of upcoming topics or challenges that you bet will trigger those individuals to shut down?

The fact is, there's usually a few individuals in any program that become a nucleus of negativity and pushback for you. Whether by shutting down, questioning authority, or becoming a self-righteous nightmare for you and their peers, these sources of antimatter will rally their cause in the smallest, subtlest ways and bring some of your best and brightest with them. Negativity is easy and attractive when faced with adversity; however, the best educators and leaders will be prepared to deal with this instinct and its behavioral byproducts... how you say? Well, that's case-by-case. You should know your students and how the ensemble is affected by the examples made of others when it comes to discipline or expectations. Doing is the other half.

3. Escape Valves

What plans do you have in place to escape the monotony but still create fulfillment and avoid that feeling of “this is a contrived time killer...I see through your games, boomer.”

This one is important because while students of all levels crave and thrive on consistency, their nature is to get stir crazy regardless. Make sure you have a cache of practical/applicable departures from the monotony that either challenge the mind, reframe the material at hand, or expose the students to a completely new world but with some connection to the work being put on hold for the sake of sanity.

4. Reassurance

What anecdotes or smattering of verbiage can you render to give 'em the old “Longest Yard” speech? It sounds cliche, but students need to know that your passion goes beyond the educational exchange. Students resonate with individuals to show a passion that transcends “what I need you to learn” to a place of “what I want for you to experience.”

Maybe you're not the “motivationalist” that you've had once in your career but maybe you can tell a story of that motivator or an experience—good or bad—that can give students some perspective. A great way to generate perspective and reassurance for your students in an alternative way is to ask your students real non-rhetorical, non-hypothetical questions. Hit them between the eyes with your awareness of their disposition. It can be a challenging experience for all parties involved but the outcome is usually enlightening. And then there's nature.

5. Consequences and Letting Go

It sounds harsh, but there has to be a limit. We wouldn't be a very equitable source for educators if we gave 7 perfect escape clauses to your turmoil. Nope, eventually you have lay the law down and let the world run its course.

If you're a new teacher at a program, or if you're building something from almost-scratch, then this is almost specifically for you. It's cringe-worthy to read, yes, but save your hairline and blood pressure points; you just can't rush the natural order of things. You have to graduate the “bad apples” or the “we used to do it this way” kids. You have to build or rebuild a new culture and make it a part of the educational DNA from parent to student to staff to admin. It's hard to let go, but it's harder to avoid burnout when it is bound to happen.