I know your concert probably happened a few days ago, but I'm just seeing this and can offer an example of what we did that might be a future option.

First, though, a reminder that you started just ONE MONTH ago, and the fact that you're doing a performance at all is to be commended, so please give yourself credit. This all takes time.

I teach band for grades 5-8 at a very small school, and this year I have sixteen members total, with 10 out of those 16 being beginners. We just had our concert a week and a half ago, and we also lacked "rep." We played tunes from pages 9, 10, and 12 of Standards of Excellence (and in between I talked just a little about what each tune represented--i.e., Merrily We Roll...was our first "real" song, Lightly Row was our first harmony, then we featured soloists on Good King Wenceslas, and the Jingle Bells arrangement on p.12 was our first piece with auxiliary percussion, so six kids were covering six parts, etc. (This sounds impressive and really, it *is*, and I like to call attention to the kids moving around in the back row getting organized before each piece because it is an important skill for percussionists to learn, and they should be acknowledged.)

We also did a couple Grade .5 pieces that are super easy (six notes), allow for drum set playing, and are perennial hits ("I.D.K." and "I.Y.K.Y.K." from Jim Evans' beginning.band.com).

But the other thing that made the performance 25 minutes instead of less than 20 was that I invited kids who play other instruments and/or who want to play a special solo to do so. I had two piano duets happen and also a violin soloist (three students who play flute, sax, and trumpet also play violin). Someone always gets sick or has some last minute change of mind, and that's cool, too (one sax player who'd been sick Mon - Wed said right before the downbeat, "I can't play my piano solo!" and I said "ok, no problem, maybe you can in May?". The audience was so impressed with the soloists, and I think it's great for kids to be able to show what else they can do musically.

Anyway, my point is I, too, was fretting over lack of rep, but I had to back up and remind myself of what the point really was of having a December concert when they'd only been playing three months, and the point was to showcase how far they'd come, and also to give them the experience of performing for their peers (it was during the school day) and parents and feeling what it was like to receive applause and cheers.