Put a positive face on the middle school band to get parents and students to want to be a part of the organization. Community performances are a great way to showcase the music of the band and to market it to the local public. Choose community events like festivals, celebrations and town meetings that will attended by larger numbers of community members. Make sure to announce to the crowd the name of the middle school and to highlight its successes. Invite students to consider joining the fun by becoming a band member.
Get the word out to students and parents by advertising the middle school band with posters and fliers hung around the school at at the local elementary schools, which feed into the middle school. Have members of the band make handmade posters highlighting why students should want to become a member of the band. With access to the right equipment, color posters are easily designed and created using standard desktop publishing software. Choose photos of the band during its performances, and tell the community why they should want their children to participate in the middle school band. Parents like to hear about the achievements of the student members -- highlight not only musical achievements but also academic achievements.
Hold a musical zoo at the local elementary schools. When putting on a musical zoo, allow visitors to touch the instruments and even try to play the instruments if possible. Have members of the band highlight the instruments they play and act as tour guide to visitors to the zoo. The band members become the experts on the instruments and should be willing to share their experiences as band members with visitors while being able to tell about the instrument they play.
Have members of the band visit classes at the middle school and at the local elementary schools. With permission from campus administration, assign groups of two to four students to visit preassigned classrooms to talk about how great being a member of the band is and why students should want to participate in the band. Take the band on a field trip to the local feeder schools, and put on a performance for the entire campus. Following the performance, have groups of students visit the classes to talk to students, answer questions and invite the children at the school to consider joining the band when they enter the middle school.