Right from the beginning I set the tone at the "Instrument Petting Zoo" 

We talk about how we are going to have fun working hard, that we are going to make lots of mistakes which we would fix quickly, and that we need to be "brave enough to suck at something new"

I have my older students do the embouchure testing. They love being the experts, and every year I learn something new watching them explain things to other kids.

We do a few classes getting ready and they basically run the whole petting zoo. 

I train them in advance to do the following:

• introduce the instrument

• form the correct embouchure and phrases to use to correct it if a child is struggling to make a sound

• we compile as a class a list of tips and tricks for making a sound on their instrument, and positive ways to phrase correction and celebrate the squawks. The students take this cheat sheet with them.

• we create a rubric to quickly assess each younger student...what is a 3, a 2, or a 1 sound and look like. One student will help the younger student make the sound, the other will assess and record.

I also use the director's sheets form The Band Directors Talk Shop Embouchure Project.

It is one of my favorite days of the whole school year. 

There is nothing quite the look on a kids face the first time they make a sound, and the look on the mentor student's face is just as wonderful. 

I ask the kids for their top 3 choices, and use the feedback collected by my older students to assign instruments for the fall.

We then do a concert for them when they tour our school.

Parents are notified by a printed out letter as well as an email and invited to a parent meeting and instrument rental nights. I do one in the spring, and another in September.