Student Illness and Band

View this special edition newsletter any time at www.thekillianband.com/illness

Between the flu, COVID-19, the changing weather, allergies, and other reasons, this time of year has an uptick in student illnesses. In the past week, we have seen band students with fevers, the flu, allergies, colds, sore throat...the works!

Being sick is no fun, but what is worse is being sick for an extended period. This special bulletin is to help inform you of the best practices for being absent from band, including who to notify, make-up policies, and how to disinfect an instrument safely.

After contacting the attendance office, the next thing to do is email the band director who teaches your child. Refer to the information below to figure out which director to contact and start an email.

In the email, include your child's name and a reason for the absence. You do not need to be specific - a simple "Johnny Brown is sick and will stay home today" will suffice.

This communication helps us track which students are absent because of illness and which students are absent for other reasons. It also allows us to send home any information your child may have missed in class that day and enables us to adjust our plans if necessary.

If your student has a private lesson on a day they are sick, please also email their private teacher. Contact information for our private lesson staff can be found at www.thekillianband.com/lessons

Encourage your child to rest and get better. Depending on the severity of the illness, practicing an instrument may not help the situation. Instead, we encourage students to use this time to rest and get healthy so they can return to school quickly.

Let us know if the absence will be for an extended period. Students who miss multiple days of band fall further behind. Letting us know in advance allows us to better plan for your child's return to catch them up faster.

When in doubt, send us an email! We love hearing from you all and keeping tabs on your child. So, if you have a question or think we need to know something about your child's situation, just email us!

Sectionals (Honors and Symphonic band students) do NOT need to be made up if a student is absent from school due to illness.

Illness may also impact practice logs. As long as emails have been sent to the correct teachers, your child's practice log grade will not be impacted if they have fewer days or minutes due to illness.

Most students are trained on how to properly clean and care of their instrument. Here are some basic tips for each instrument:

All Instruments

• NEVER use any sort of chemical to clean an instrument!
• For illness-related cleaning, only worry about the mouthpiece and/or reeds of the instrument

Flute

• Use a polishing cloth to wipe the lip plate on the head joint of the instrument
• Be careful not to rub too vigorously as this will damage the finish

Clarinet/Saxophone

• Throw away any reeds that were recently played on to get rid of any remaining germs
• Use a soft towel with warm water to wipe down the mouthpiece, except for the cork
• If the student has a mouthpiece brush, gently push and pull the brush through the mouthpiece a few times to clean the inside
• Once finished, dry the mouthpiece and swab through the inside being careful not to damage or chip the mouthpiece

Oboe/Bassoon

• Throw away any reeds that were recently played on to get rid of any remaining germs

Trumpet/Horn/Trombone/Euphonium/Tuba

• With warm water and soap, gently wipe down and rinse the mouthpiece thoroughly
• Be careful not to rub too vigorously or use water that is too hot for it may damage the finish
• If the student has a mouthpiece brush, gently push and pull the brush through the mouthpiece a few times to clean the inside
• Once finished, dry the mouthpiece thoroughly

Percussion

• Make sure your sticks are clean by wiping them down with a cotton cloth
• Do not use any chemicals or liquids on the sticks
• Also, do not touch or wipe the yarn on the end of the mallet sticks

We want your child to get better quickly so they can return to class, catch up, and continue being a part of our Mustang Band team! We need everyone!