Concert on the Lawn

The LMMS Band “Concert on the Lawn” is a community-wide performance with invited elementary, middle, and high school students within our cluster. Historically it takes place on the large front lawn at a local church, but this year the event has grown so large that it will take place indoors at our high school feeder’s gym with elevated seating. We invite the elementary schools, and this year the high school band will perform with us. We invite local restaurant food trucks, and it’s a fun family friendly evening for all ages celebrating our young musicians within our music cluster.

The objectives were to engage the community with our band program and involve our cluster feeder pattern: from elementary music, to our middle school band, to the high school band.

We support local businesses through the involvement of local restaurant food trucks providing meals at the event. We encourage our families to purchase their dinners at the concert, and most choose to make a picnic event out of it. Many administrators, teachers, and employees within our school building attend to show support for the band students, as the band program consists of nearly 50% of our school population.

Students, Parents, Teachers, Administration, Community Members – the focus was on local community involvement.

May – reach out to the site host and secure a concert date (and backup rain date if outside).

August – publish concert date to middle school band families

January – reach out to local food trucks and secure a variety of restaurants

February – sign contracts for site hosts

March – confirm food trucks again (usually taco truck, burger truck, kona ice truck, etc.)

April – communicate all logistical details to band families & advertise in the community (make flyers, send to elementary & high schools, etc.). Secure parent volunteers to assist with logistics in setup, tear down, and supervising indoor spaces such as restroom areas.

May – borrow high school band truck to load up equipment & setup at the event site.

• Equipment Loading/Stage Setup Crew (6 adults) 11:am-12:30pm: help to load racks of chairs & stands. Meet at LMMS at 11:00am. Park in the LMMS front parking lot and check in at the front office. After we have loaded the truck, we’ll move to BHBC & setup.
• Indoor Hall Monitor during 8th Grade Band (3 adults) 6:00-6:20pm: stand inside the entrance doors and help direct traffic to the restroom and monitor the halls. Students should ONLY enter the building for the restroom and return back outside.
• Indoor Hall Monitor during Jazz Band (3 adults) 6:20-6:30pm: stand inside the entrance doors and help direct traffic to the restroom and monitor the halls. Students should ONLY enter the building for the restroom and return back outside.
• Indoor Hall Monitor during 7th Grade Band (3 adults) 6:30-6:50pm: stand inside the entrance doors and help direct traffic to the restroom and monitor the halls. Students should ONLY enter the building for the restroom and return back outside.
• Indoor Hall Monitor during Pep Band (3 adults) 6:50-7:00pm: stand inside the entrance doors and help direct traffic to the restroom and monitor the halls. Students should ONLY enter the building for the restroom and return back outside.
• Indoor Hall Monitor during 6th Grade Band (3 adults) 7:00-7:20pm: stand inside the entrance doors and help direct traffic to the restroom and monitor the halls. Students should ONLY enter the building for the restroom and return back outside.
• Monitor 7th Grade Band during 8th Grade Performance (2 adults) 6:00-6:20pm: students will be seated off to the side during 7th grade band.
• Monitor 6th Grade Band during 7th Grade Performance (2 adults) 6:30-6:50pm: students will be seated off to the side during 7th grade band.

Posters, email blasts, communication with the high school bands to advertise, etc.

We made posters in Canva and made sent it out to our community. We posted the posters around our school to notify as many as possible about the event. Because of this, we regularly have a massive turnout of people, from parents, to student friends, to academic teachers from our school.

This was not a cost to our band program. We were fortunate that Burnt Hickory Baptist Church lent us their facility free of charge. We just had to sign an agreement contract that we would take care of it. We made sure to have parent volunteers present to monitor the inside hallways during our concert, since the church was so gracious to allow us to use their space.

None provided.

The more we have involved our community, the more our community looks forward to this event. Local restaurants were heavily supported through food truck purchases, and the event was family friendly for all ages. Our band program has continued to grow steadily over the last few years as this event has grown larger. By inviting elementary school and high school families, the middle school band program serves as a recruitment tool and bridges the gap between the entire music cluster.

The more we have involved our community, the more our community looks forward to this event. Local restaurants were heavily supported through food truck purchases, and the event was family friendly for all ages. Our band program has continued to grow steadily over the last few years as this event has grown larger. By inviting elementary school and high school families, the middle school band program serves to bridge the gap between the entire music cluster.

We work hard to communicate clearly and effectively within our cluster. Ideally moving forward, we will involve performance from our elementary feeder as well. If your elementary feeder program has an orff percussion ensemble, that would be a great opportunity to involve their instrumental music.