Reply To: Securing Percussion Equipment

[nafmeadmin]

Are your students taking the equipment, or other adults?

Tell us more about where/how these items are being stored. Are they just lying out in plain sight, or are they in a cabinet? When are they being taken? After a rehearsal, or while nobody is in the room? Do your students have a respect for your equipment and know where each piece is supposed to go after rehearsal?

Every piece of my percussion equipment (except for the larger instruments like timpani, mallets, etc.) have our school initials marked on them somewhere. Of course, I know this doesn’t really prevent someone from outright taking it, but at least you could prove it was yours if it was recovered. Every piece has a designated place in the room or in our cabinet. I have diagrammed and put in writing where each piece goes and passed it out to not just my percussion students, but all of my band students. My other students (music appreciation) know that these areas of off limits unless I say otherwise, and for the most part stay away from them. The only thing that I’ve had taken is a pitch pipe for my timpani.

If you have a cabinet that you can put your hand percussion in and lock it when you aren’t using the instruments, that would be my first step to ensuring things aren’t being taken. If students are not treating your instruments with respect – address it (maybe they don’t know how). If it is an issue with things walking away while not in rehearsal – limit access to your room when you aren’t in the room.

I think with a little more information here, we could help you a little more.