Every family should read and agree to your handbook before registering. Here is the Valley Troubadours handbook, adapted as a template. Replace the highlighted placeholders with your own details.
How to Use This Template
- Copy the text into your own document or website.
- Replace each [highlighted] placeholder with your program's information.
- Adjust policies to fit your building, community and ensembles.
- Collect an electronic signature from each family before they register each semester.
The Handbook
[Program name and address]
Means of Communication
Director: [Your name]
Email: [Your email]
Email contact is preferred. Messages sent through Facebook or Messenger may not be received or answered promptly.
Communications via Website
[Your website address] is our primary means of communication year-round. During each semester, parents and students are responsible for checking the website regularly for current information, including time-sensitive announcements.
Calendar
Upcoming events appear at the top of the home page, and the Calendar page is updated throughout the year. Note important dates from your registration form on your home calendar. Email the Director about any conflicts as soon as you know of them, especially for a performance or any of the three rehearsals before it.
In Case of Emergencies
The cell phone number on your registration form is used only for emergencies, such as weather or other last-minute delays and cancellations. Please keep your phone on while traveling to music events.
Inclement Weather Policy
When winter weather requires a delay or cancellation, check the website as of 7:00 a.m. on rehearsal day. Emails and Facebook posts will also go out, but each family is responsible for checking the website and judging driving conditions where they live.
Please do not call, text, message or email before 7:00 a.m. or without first checking the website.
Supplies
Label all belongings: music folders, scripts, books and water bottles. Supply lists will be shared by each class's teacher before the first rehearsal.
Semester Schedule
There are two concert semesters, each with separate registration and payment. Fall runs September through the December concerts; spring runs January through the May concerts. Members commit for the full semester. A full refund is available up to two weeks before the semester starts; partial refunds may be given after that. Auditioned ensembles have additional rehearsal and performance expectations.
Cell Phones
Phones must be off or silenced and put away during rehearsals and performances, except when used as a tuner in band or strings.
Expectations of Parents
Parents bring students to and from rehearsal on time, at least 10 minutes early, prepared and dressed according to the dress code. Review the dress code with your student a couple of weeks before each performance, and review the Rules of Conduct and Attendance sections together.
Arrival Times
All students arrive at least 10 minutes before rehearsal to unpack, set up stands and music, and start on time. Percussionists help with all percussion set-up and clean-up for their band.
[List class times and rooms here]
At Rehearsal
Leave instrument cases on the floor and out of the way, never in the percussion section. Talking between songs is fine, but when the Director is speaking or working on a passage, everyone stays quiet and attentive.
Music Resources
Audio links will be posted on the website when available. Playing or singing along, and simply listening often, will speed your progress. Save the files to your computer.
Attendance
Email the Director about any absence, with the student's name and ensemble, as far ahead as possible. Report date conflicts for rehearsals or performances as soon as you know of them.
Consider the commitment: a sports team may practice several times a week and rotate players, but an ensemble meets once a week for about fifteen weeks before its one "game." Each student has a part no one else may be covering. When one student is missing, the whole rehearsal feels it.
Attendance at the final rehearsal is required in order to perform.
Keeping Sick Students Home
Keep students home with a fever of 100.4°F or higher (until fever-free 24 hours without medicine), vomiting or diarrhea (until symptom-free 24 hours), or symptoms that keep them from singing or playing. Students with strep throat may return 24 hours after starting antibiotics; with bacterial pink-eye, after the first dose of medication; with head lice, after the first treatment.
Rules of Conduct
Conduct rules apply before, during and after rehearsals anywhere on the property. The following lead to disciplinary action, up to dismissal for the semester without refund: foul language or disrespectful talk, roughhousing, disruptive behavior, physical displays of affection, and disrespect for those in authority.
Use or possession of illegal drugs, alcohol, smoking or vaping, inappropriate materials, or weapons (including pocket knives and lighters) results in immediate dismissal for the semester without refund.
Discipline
First offense: a warning. Second offense: dismissal from that rehearsal; the student and a parent attend the next two rehearsals together, followed by a meeting with the Director. Third offense: dismissal for the rest of the semester without refund, and a meeting to decide whether re-enrollment is possible.
Building Rules
Only water in rehearsal spaces; meals and snacks in the designated area. Keep the property clean. Children may not play near cars or in the street, and younger children must be supervised when not in class. Families are responsible for damage they cause. Please be considerate of our neighbors.
Dress Codes
For rehearsals, clothing should suit an academic setting and show respect for others: nothing immodest, too tight, too short, or with inappropriate or political messages.
For formal concerts: a white top and black on the bottom (black pants or a below-the-knee black skirt), black socks or tights, and black shoes. Marching band: all black on the bottom with a band shirt or formal uniform. Informal spring concerts: the concert t-shirt with jeans or a below-the-knee jean skirt.
Students in our organization agree to follow the Rules of Conduct, Building Rules and Dress Codes.
Means of Communication
Director: [Your name]
Email: [Your email]
Email contact is preferred. Messages sent through Facebook or Messenger may not be received or answered promptly.
Communications via Website
[Your website address] is our primary means of communication year-round. During each semester, parents and students are responsible for checking the website regularly for current information, including time-sensitive announcements.
Calendar
Upcoming events appear at the top of the home page, and the Calendar page is updated throughout the year. Note important dates from your registration form on your home calendar. Email the Director about any conflicts as soon as you know of them, especially for a performance or any of the three rehearsals before it.
In Case of Emergencies
The cell phone number on your registration form is used only for emergencies, such as weather or other last-minute delays and cancellations. Please keep your phone on while traveling to music events.
Inclement Weather Policy
When winter weather requires a delay or cancellation, check the website as of 7:00 a.m. on rehearsal day. Emails and Facebook posts will also go out, but each family is responsible for checking the website and judging driving conditions where they live.
Please do not call, text, message or email before 7:00 a.m. or without first checking the website.
Supplies
Label all belongings: music folders, scripts, books and water bottles. Supply lists will be shared by each class's teacher before the first rehearsal.
Semester Schedule
There are two concert semesters, each with separate registration and payment. Fall runs September through the December concerts; spring runs January through the May concerts. Members commit for the full semester. A full refund is available up to two weeks before the semester starts; partial refunds may be given after that. Auditioned ensembles have additional rehearsal and performance expectations.
Cell Phones
Phones must be off or silenced and put away during rehearsals and performances, except when used as a tuner in band or strings.
Expectations of Parents
Parents bring students to and from rehearsal on time, at least 10 minutes early, prepared and dressed according to the dress code. Review the dress code with your student a couple of weeks before each performance, and review the Rules of Conduct and Attendance sections together.
Arrival Times
All students arrive at least 10 minutes before rehearsal to unpack, set up stands and music, and start on time. Percussionists help with all percussion set-up and clean-up for their band.
[List class times and rooms here]
At Rehearsal
Leave instrument cases on the floor and out of the way, never in the percussion section. Talking between songs is fine, but when the Director is speaking or working on a passage, everyone stays quiet and attentive.
Music Resources
Audio links will be posted on the website when available. Playing or singing along, and simply listening often, will speed your progress. Save the files to your computer.
Attendance
Email the Director about any absence, with the student's name and ensemble, as far ahead as possible. Report date conflicts for rehearsals or performances as soon as you know of them.
Consider the commitment: a sports team may practice several times a week and rotate players, but an ensemble meets once a week for about fifteen weeks before its one "game." Each student has a part no one else may be covering. When one student is missing, the whole rehearsal feels it.
Attendance at the final rehearsal is required in order to perform.
Keeping Sick Students Home
Keep students home with a fever of 100.4°F or higher (until fever-free 24 hours without medicine), vomiting or diarrhea (until symptom-free 24 hours), or symptoms that keep them from singing or playing. Students with strep throat may return 24 hours after starting antibiotics; with bacterial pink-eye, after the first dose of medication; with head lice, after the first treatment.
Rules of Conduct
Conduct rules apply before, during and after rehearsals anywhere on the property. The following lead to disciplinary action, up to dismissal for the semester without refund: foul language or disrespectful talk, roughhousing, disruptive behavior, physical displays of affection, and disrespect for those in authority.
Use or possession of illegal drugs, alcohol, smoking or vaping, inappropriate materials, or weapons (including pocket knives and lighters) results in immediate dismissal for the semester without refund.
Discipline
First offense: a warning. Second offense: dismissal from that rehearsal; the student and a parent attend the next two rehearsals together, followed by a meeting with the Director. Third offense: dismissal for the rest of the semester without refund, and a meeting to decide whether re-enrollment is possible.
Building Rules
Only water in rehearsal spaces; meals and snacks in the designated area. Keep the property clean. Children may not play near cars or in the street, and younger children must be supervised when not in class. Families are responsible for damage they cause. Please be considerate of our neighbors.
Dress Codes
For rehearsals, clothing should suit an academic setting and show respect for others: nothing immodest, too tight, too short, or with inappropriate or political messages.
For formal concerts: a white top and black on the bottom (black pants or a below-the-knee black skirt), black socks or tights, and black shoes. Marching band: all black on the bottom with a band shirt or formal uniform. Informal spring concerts: the concert t-shirt with jeans or a below-the-knee jean skirt.
Students in our organization agree to follow the Rules of Conduct, Building Rules and Dress Codes.