Newsletters

We’re always working to make Da Capo Inventory more efficient, flexible, and teacher-friendly. Here’s a look at some of the most exciting features and improvements added since 2022:

✅ Lesson Logs & QR Code Access

Teachers can now maintain detailed weekly lesson logs, which students can access by simply scanning a QR code. No student login is required — maintaining full student privacy while still keeping everyone informed. It’s a fast, secure, and FERPA-conscious way to share assignments and track student progress.

📆 Manual Lesson Rescheduling

In addition to automatic scheduling, teachers can now manually adjust lesson times and dates directly from the interface — perfect for rescheduling around concerts, assemblies, and testing days.

🧾 Trip Statement Emailing

Trip balances and payment status can now be emailed directly to families with a single checkbox. No more exporting, copying, or pasting — just click and send.

👥 Student Practice Reflection

We’re testing a new feature that allows students to submit practice reflections via QR code. No typing required — just a few quick clicks to log goals and progress.

🏫 District-Level Reporting Enhancements

District administrators now have access to expanded reporting tools, including inventory audits, lesson attendance, and student rosters across all schools.

🖥️ Mobile-Optimized Interface

We’ve rolled out design improvements to make Da Capo Inventory easier to use on phones and tablets — because we know teachers are always on the move.

Extremely excited to add Rotating Lesson Scheduling to Da Capo Inventory! After a few clicks, you can generate cards that look like this:

Students can scan the QR Code with their mobile device and view a running list of lesson notes taken by the teacher. So Exciting!

Also new for 2022: Updated locker functionality, Brand new documentation portal, and More!

Festival Season is Well Underway!

Hello 3Teachers, Directors, Festival Chairpeople, and Zone Representatives! Welcome to another year of NYSSMA Registration!

Da Capo Web Development, LLC has been working diligently to maximize the ease of use and efficiency of the system throughout all levels of the program. Each day, I feel like I find another efficiency that will hopefully save some people time. When multiplied by the thousands of users of the program, I hope I’m saving lots of people time – so we can focus on what really matters!

I invite you to read Da Capo’s previous Newsletter Updates at your convenience. This newsletter will focus on recent updates to the system. You are free to share this newsletter with colleagues who may not have registered for an account on Da Capo Music Festivals.

• Teachers: [Teacher Instruction Packet]
  • One of the biggest additions this year is the addition of the ‘Bulk Registration’ feature of the website. This allows a teacher to pre-register five students at a time by only filling in certain information. Students can be edited later to fill in the rest of the information.
  • On the ‘Register / Modify Students’ page, teachers can update the Composer / Arranger / Composition & Page Number for many students at once using the ‘Eighth Note’ feature at the bottom of the page. There is a small YouTube icon that shows a video demonstration of the feature. Green Checks will appear here when the performance data has been added successfully.
  • I would like to remind teachers that questions regarding NYSSMA festival participation (ex. time-sensitive or missed-deadline issues), should be addressed to the Festival Chairperson where your students are participating. The festival chairperson’s email address can be found on your Teacher Dashboard within the list of festivals in your zone. Questions related to the functioning of the Da Capo Music Festivals registration and scheduling system may be emailed to [email protected].
    
    
• Directors of Music: [Da Capo Director of Music Instructions]
  • New this year – No more ‘manually linking accounts!’ Directors have Teacher Accounts automatically created for them. While directors can see aggregated district data through their director access, they can also register students through their teacher access level. Access levels can be switched using the Key icon at the top of the screen.
  • Two Factor Authentication (2FA) has been deployed on the site for Festival Chairs and Directors. This greatly increases the security of Da Capo, and I recommend that you use it. You can use an Authenticator App such as Authy or Google Authenticator – or you can have access codes sent to your email address for each login. See your User Profile page for more details.
    

• Festival Chairs: [Da Capo Festival Chairperson Instructions can be found on your Festival Chairperson Dashboard]
  • New this year – No more ‘manually linking accounts!’ Chairs have Teacher Accounts automatically created for them. While chairs can see aggregated festival data through their chairperson access, they can also register students through their teacher access level. Access levels can be switched using the Key icon at the top of the screen.
  • At its inception, Da Capo created three categories of rooms automatically: Lev 1-4, Lev 5-6, and All-State. This season welcomed the ability for chairs to have the ability to create combined Lev 1-6 rooms (and All-State rooms) automatically. The system mixes various levels in each room. This helps to raise the efficiency of your schedule.
  • Improvements have been made to the Accompanist Scheduling feature – to create a more efficient schedule.
  • The ability to add a Festival Co-Chair was implemented on March 7th. See the bottom of your ‘Modify Festival’ page for details.
  • Documentation has been updated, including the ‘Da Capo Suggested Timeline‘. This document can be found on your Chairperson Dashboard.
  • Chairs now have the ability to email a student’s audition information to the ‘Email Contact’ that a teacher entered. You can choose whether or not to include a sentence that says “Your audition is on Friday at 4:35pm in room B2” in the email message.
  • Chairs now have the ability to toggle when Schedules and Playing Permits are shown to teachers and directors. This can be found on the Modify Festival page.
  • Chairs no longer need to ask for the Da Capo ID number for a teacher when overriding restrictions. You can now select the name of any teacher in your zone from a list.
  • There are now multiple ways to allow teachers from outside your zone to register for your festival. Find details on your ‘Modify Festival’ page.
  • Two Factor Authentication (2FA) has been deployed on the site for Festival Chairs and Directors. This greatly increases the security of Da Capo, and I recommend that you use it. You can use an Authenticator App such as Authy or Google Authenticator – or you can have access codes sent to your email address for each login. See your User Profile page for more details.

• Thank you!
  • It was a pleasure working with educators throughout the state last year. Feel free to continue to reach out to me if you have any questions.
    
    
• Da Capo Web Development LLC has also been hard at work developing:
  • A Musical Instrument Inventory and Student Management Program (Da Capo Inventory). Districts and organizations throughout the country are enjoying this powerful management system. Feel free to reach out if you would like a demonstration for your district.
  • A Technology Fixed Asset Management Program (Da Capo Tech)
  • Area All-State Festival Management Program
  • County Organization Membership Portals
  • Video Audition Management System
  • Arts Organization and Professional Development Registration Platforms
  • Summer Music Management Programs with Credit Card integration

Da Capo Web Development LLC is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

Hoping for a Happy New Year in 2021!

Hello Teachers, Directors, Festival Chairpeople, and Zone Representatives! For many of you, this is your first year using Da Capo Music Festivals. Welcome!

We have all been working diligently to continue the social, emotional, and musical development of our students. Now, with NYSSMA right around the corner, it’s getting close to that time that we encourage our students to continue to perform how we know they can!

We have all received details about the logistics of the virtual festivals, and NYSSMA has posted guidance on their website. Regarding student registration, Da Capo Music Festivals has undergone a few updates to adapt to the Virtual model that NYSSMA has adopted for this festival season.

I invite you to read Da Capo’s previous Newsletter Updates at your convenience. This newsletter will focus on recent updates to the system. You are free to share this newsletter with colleagues who may not have registered for an account on Da Capo Music Festivals.

• Teachers: [Teacher Instruction Packet]
  • Da Capo Music Festivals has undergone a major facelift – which I hope will increase efficiency and ease of use.
  • IMPORTANT: The website address, Student Username, and Student Password that is used to access the Music First Virtual Platform will be found in two locations.
    • You can find the information on the student’s Playing Permit once the details have been finalized by the Festival Chairperson. You can download 1 PDF file with All Playing Permits from the top of the ‘Registrations, Schedules & Ratings’ screen.
    • Or, you can download individual PDF files (so you can email them to families) from the bottom half of the screen. The icon that you will click on looks like a Purple Learners Permit. If the icon is not available shortly after registration, that means that the Festival Chairperson has not yet completed the schedule.
  • You can now link your Da Capo Music Festivals account with your Da Capo Inventory Account to nominate students right from your Enrollment page – with One Click! Instructions can be found on your Teacher Profile page in Da Capo Inventory.
  • A new section can be found on your Homepage called “Important notes for Teachers.” Please keep an eye for updates!
  • When registering students for festivals, you can see the ‘Virtual Upload Period’ start date.
  • Please be sure to type in all of the ‘solo’ information (piece, composer, page-number) by the deadline date, as the Festival Chairperson may not allow modifications to the information after the deadline.
  • The billing page has been updated to include an itemized list of students and their associated fees.
  • The Festival Export Excel File has been updated to include more information this year. You can find a link to the spreadsheet on the Registrations, Schedules & Ratings page just to the left of the Festival Name near the top of the screen. Click on the Blue Download icon beside the festival name.
    
    
• Directors of Music: [Da Capo Director of Music Instructions]
  • New for 2021, Directors of Music who are also Teachers (and Festival Hosts) can link their three user accounts together – meaning that when you log in with any one of your account usernames, you can switch between your accounts with ease. Instructions can be found on this Google Doc.
  • A new section can be found on your Homepage called “Important Notes for Directors of Music.” Please keep an eye for updates!
  • Your homepage lists all of the festivals for which students have been registered by teachers in your district. Please note the Download Icon beside the festival names on your homepage. You can download complete exports with all available information at any time.
  • Your homepage also lists all teachers who have accounts from your School District. Please keep an eye on this list and feel free to remove teachers who no longer teach in your district. Don’t worry, it is not possible to delete a teacher who has students registered for a festival, so mistakes cant happen!
  • The billing page has been updated to include an itemized list of students and their associated fees.
    

• Festival Hosts: [Da Capo Festival Host Instructions]
  • New for 2021, Festival Hosts who are also Directors of Music (and Teachers) can link their three user accounts together – meaning that when you log in with any one of your account usernames, you can switch between your accounts with ease. Instructions can be found on this Google Doc.
  • The layout of the Create/Modify Festival page has been updated to be more user friendly.
    • NEW: If you have a festival that needs to be open to more than one zone, you can achieve that within the ‘Festival Customization & Access’ section of the page.
  • IMPORTANT: The website address, Student Username, and Student Password that is used to access the Music First Virtual Platform will be accessed by Teachers via the Playing Permit. The only way that a teacher can see the Playing Permit is by the Schedule being published. Efficiency requirements are in effect, so please collapse/combine rooms as usual. Please see this Google Doc for some tips.
  • IMPORTANT: The file that will be sent by you to Music First can be found in two locations. This file cannot be created until the schedule is complete and all students have been scheduled.
    • The Complete Export can be found on your Homepage directly beside the name of your festival. Click on the Blue Download icon beside the festival name.
    • The Complete Export can also be found on your Scheduling page. Click on the ‘Scheduling Time-Clock’ icon beside your festival’s name on your homepage. Then, click on ‘Complete Schedule and Labels’ in the main menu on the left. Then, click on the ‘Excel Download’ link near the top of this page.
  • Directors can now keep track of payments received from School Districts using the Da Capo platform, if you choose. This function can be found on the various ‘billing’ pages that are available to you.

• Thank you!
  • It was a pleasure working with educators throughout zones 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 during the first year of Da Capo, and I look forward to working with the rest of the state this year. Feel free to continue to reach out to me if you have any questions.
    
    
• Da Capo has also been hard at work developing:
  • A Musical Instrument Inventory Program (Da Capo Inventory)
  • A Technology Inventory Program (Da Capo Tech)
  • Area All-State Festival Management Programs
  • County Organization Membership Portals
  • Arts Organization and Professional Development Registration Platforms
  • Summer Music Management Programs

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

Da Capo Inventory Online Learning Session
Register Now!

On Monday, May 18th at 11:00am, Please join Patrick Hait from Da Capo Web Development for a 40-minute learning session about the usefulness and features of Da Capo Inventory. I will go over the entire user experience of the program including, but not limited to:

• Uploading Students, Inventory, Library, and Lockers
• Viewing and Modifying Inventory Items
• Transferring Inventory to Other Buildings (and not forgetting about them!)
• Sending instruments out to repair and Teacher Acceptances of the repairs back from repair
• Teachers searching for Unused District Inventory or Library Items
• Assigning inventory to students
• Updating rental fees for students
• Fundraising Functions
• Locker Functions

Music Department Leaders will be interested in:

• Repair Tracking
• Weekly (or immediate) Notifications to Vendors
• Rental Fee Verification
• Instrument Quality / Obsolete Reports

Please click here to register for the Zoom Meeting on Monday, May 18th at 11:00am. Can’t make Monday at 11? No Problem! Fill out the form and let me know when you’re available.

You are welcome to visit https://www.DaCapoInventory.com and view the video walk-through available on that website.

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

Da Capo Web Development is excited to announce
the creation of Da Capo Inventory

It is the goal of Da Capo to help to make our office functions more efficient – so we can spend more time doing what we love — Teaching! Relieve some of the stresses of September by streamlining the assignment of musical instruments (and Marching Band Uniforms) using a Modern Design ‘Available Everywhere’ Inventory platform!

Teachers will love Da Capo Inventory because it will help them to easily assign instruments to their students. Time will not be wasted trying to mail-merge rental contracts, as they can now be printed out with One Click!

School Leaders will love the software due to the Advanced Repair Tracking and Vendor features and Inventory Control. The software keeps a log, as well as photographic documentation of the instrument’s condition from year to year.

Contact Da Capo Today to request more information about the programs, or visit https://www.DaCapoInventory.com

There is a video walk-through available on that website.

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

New Features, Since February 13 2020

• Festival Hosts:
  • You can now create Room ‘Nicknames’
    • Rooms no longer have to be called “Brass1, Brass2, 56Brass1, 56Brass2, etc.” They can now be titled however you’d like! To modify the nicknames of rooms, go in to the Scheduling Menu and click the last item on the bottom: “Adjudicators and Classrooms”.
  • There is now a very detailed Scheduling Training Video available to all Festival Hosts. This video can be found on the Documentation page, as well as the ‘Create/Modify Schedule’ page.
  • In the graphical schedule, when you click on a student who is performing multiple auditions, you can see that student’s schedule in the pop-up screen.
  • A Feedback link is now available for all users from the homepage. Please feel free to share your thoughts about the program.
    
• Directors of Music:
  • New Functionality – The Director of Music can now register students for an audition from ANY BUILDING in the District. This will be extremely helpful when trying to successfully link students as ‘Performing Multiple Auditions’. In order for a student to be linked as ‘Multiple’ and obtain prioritized scheduling as such, the student must be located in the ‘Same Building’. If Johnny Smith is registered in Smith Middle School as Trumpet, and the Director registers Johnny in District Office for Voice, the student will not be successfully linked as Multiple.
    • As of yesterday (March 4, 2020), Directors can now change the building in which a student is registered – thus making it possible for the student to be linked as ‘Multiple Auditions’.
      1. Login as Director
      2. Click Entries
      3. Sort Alphabetically by Student. Notice which students have (M*) beside their names. These students have been successfully marked as ‘Multiple Auditions’. If as student does not have (M*) beside their name, and they are the same student, either the spelling of their name is incorrect, their grade level is incorrect, or they are in different buildings. All of this is now editable by clicking on the blue pencil ‘modify’ button beside the student’s name.
      4. Modify the student’s grade level, spelling of name, or building and submit the change by clicking the green button
      5. Modify the student AGAIN by clicking the blue pencil beside the name (OR, just hit the BACK button on your browser), and click the checkbox beside the Name and Instrument of the ‘Multiple Entry’
      6. The student will not received prioritized treatment in the scheduling system.
  • Once the schedule for the festival has been finalized, you will be able to view Playing Permits on the ‘Entries’ page for any given festival in which your district has registered students. After you click ‘Entries’, click ‘All Students’. You can see all playing permits for all students in your district.
    • Please keep in mind, however, that if the festival host has only published the ‘Draft Schedule’, permits will not be available.
  • An itemized PDF bill is now available for your District’s participation in a festival. To find this, login to your Director of Music account, choose ‘Festival Billing’ and then ‘Complete Festival Bill’. Once you select a festival, you will be presented with the option of downloading a PDF Invoice that lists all of the students from your district and their itemized fee.
  • A Feedback link is now available for all users from the homepage. Please feel free to share your thoughts about the program.
    
• Thank you!
  • It has been a pleasure working with all of the educators throughout zones 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 during the first year of Da Capo. Feel free to continue to reach out to me if you have any questions.
    
• Da Capo has also been hard at work developing:
  • Area All-State Festival Management Programs
  • Summer Music Management Programs

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

New Features, February 2020

• Directors of Music:
  • You now have the ability to delete (or cancel) student registrations from your school district. A teacher has always had the capability to delete or cancel their own students, but now you have this function as well – district wide.
    
• Festival Hosts:
  • I have been told by several Festival Hosts that due to changes in levels and pieces in the NYSSMA Manual, some students find out too late that the solo they prepared is not in the manual or the level has changed. This can occur if a teacher does not look up the solo in the current NYSSMA manual during registration.
  • There is now a function that allows you to find teachers who have not entered pertinent solo information (Composition & Page Number) into their student’s registrations. If you choose to use this feature, I think it would be best to send the email the day after registration closes for your festival. You can contact these teachers via email with one click from the website. To find this data:
    • Log in with your Festival Host account
    • Click ‘Contacts & Support’
    • Click ‘Teachers Involved in Festival’
    • [On the next screen, you may have to click the title of the festival which you are managing]
    • On the right side of the screen below the blue ‘Email’ icon, there is a drop-down that says ‘All Teachers’. Change the selection to say ‘Missing Page Numbers’. You will then get a list of only the teachers involved in your festival that have not entered Composition and Page Number information.
    • By clicking the blue and white email button, you will be able to send an email to every teacher listed on that webpage. The email will be sent from the address: [email protected]. The first line of the email is programmed to say: Sent by DaCapo Music Festivals on behalf of [Festival Host], [Host’s Email Address from the User Profile].
  • New function in ‘Special Requests’ allows you to ‘Check Off’ whether or not you have addressed that request. You can sort this list by whether or not you have checked off the request.
  • You can now see what District, Building, and the name of the Teacher who registered the student in the ‘Modify Student’ pages (click the blue pencil beside a student)
  • You can now email a teacher directly through the ‘View Entries by Instrument OR District’ pages (email sent through your own email client: Outlook, etc.)
  • There have been improvements to the Scheduling algorithm.
  • More fields have been added to the Excel Download – found on your home page (Down Arrow Icon beside the name of your festival)
    
• Thank you!
  • It has been a pleasure working with all of the educators throughout zones 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 during the first year of Da Capo. Feel free to continue to reach out to me if you have any questions.
    
• Da Capo has also been hard at work developing:
  • Area All-State Festival Management Programs
  • Summer Music Management Programs

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

Some Tips for Directors and Hosts

• The tips and suggestions below might help you to ensure accuracy before your festival gets close to the scheduling phase of the festival season.
  
• Directors of Music:
  • A good practice is to log on to DaCapoMusicFestivals.com regularly to make sure your teachers are registering students for the correct festival(s). You will be able to see which festivals your teachers are signing up for right from your home page. You can also see the deadlines for the festivals in which your teachers have been registering. To see all festival deadlines, you’d have to log in with a ‘Teacher’ account.
    
    
  • Also, directly below that list of festivals, you can see a list of all teachers that registered for a DaCapo account from your school district. It might be helpful for you to keep an eye on this list to notice if there are names that shouldn’t be there.
    
  • Both the Director of Music and the Teacher Instruction PDF packets are available in the ‘Da Capo Documentation’ tab in the main menu after you log in.
    
• Festival Hosts:
  • A good practice would be to log in using your ‘festival host’ account and making note of which districts are registering students in your festival. To view the districts that have been registering for your festival, click Administration –> Entries by District –> Then choose the festival that you’d like to see the details of. If you notice a district that shouldn’t be there, you can view the details of the registrations by clicking on the district name. You may wish to reach out to the director of music in that district to make corrections.
    
  • I am in the process of developing a security feature to disallow teachers from registering for ‘other’ festivals out of their area or sector. This feature, however, has not yet been activated. You might notice a link called ‘Override Area Restrictions’ in your Administration menu. This page will allow you to override this security feature that has not yet been activated. I plan on activating that feature within the next month or two, or perhaps for the 2020-2021 festival season.
    
  • The Festival Host, Director of Music, and Teacher Instruction PDF packets are available in the ‘Da Capo Documentation’ tab in the main menu after you log in.
    
• Thank you!
  • It has been a pleasure working with all of the educators throughout zones 12, 13, 14, and 15 during the first year of Da Capo. Feel free to continue to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.

January 2020 Newsletter and Updates from Da Capo Web Development

• Happy New Year from Da Capo Web Development! It was an honor to have such a large audience at the NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester last month. I met so many wonderful people at the conference and received some great feedback about the registration program. Following the Winter Conference, I was invited by the President of NYSCAME/Suffolk to present a detailed training at Bayport Blue-Point High School. The training was well attended by Festival Hosts across Suffolk County.
  
  It’s been a busy winter break, full of adding new features to Da Capo Music Festivals and developing software for county music organizations across the state. It has been a pleasure to work with such dedicated individuals.
  
  
• I would like to answer some questions that I have been asked, in the hopes of preemptively helping teachers and administrators.
  
  • Where can I find the deadline date for a festival?
    • Teachers can find the deadline date directly on their ‘Home’ page. All of the festivals from their zone are listed. The right-most column contains the registration (and deletion) deadline date. Student auditions that are cancelled after that deadline will incur the NYSSMA adjudication fee.
    • Directors can see the deadline date *for festivals in which students are registered from their district*. If a director of music would like to see all festivals in their zone, they should register for a teacher account on DaCapoMusicFestivals.com.
      
      
  • What are the different levels of access that are available in Da Capo Music Festivals? Why can I not find the link to create a festival?
    • There are three different levels of access in Da Capo Music Festivals. They are all outlined on the following webpage, which is accessible from the DaCapoMusicFestivals.com login page. Account Types for Da Capo Music Festivals.
      
      
  • Where can I find the access code to register for a Teacher account? (Or a Director of Music or Festival Host account?)
    • The access code to register for a Teacher account is printed on Page 3 of the Teacher Instruction Packet.
    • The access codes to register for a Director of Music or Festival Host account can be obtained from Da Capo by replying to this email (patrickhait at gmail dot com).
      
      
  • How do I enter a Home-Schooled student from my district?
    • Directors of Music, only, can see a special building called “District Office”. Instructions on how to register a student for District Office can be found on page 6 and 7 of the instruction packet.
      
      
  • I think I have an account, but I forget how to log in!
    • There is a very user-friendly ‘Forgot Username’ and ‘Forgot Password’ feature that can be found right on the DaCapoMusicFestivals.com login page. Instead of creating multiple teacher accounts, it would be best practice to use the ‘Forgot Username’ feature to find your account.
      
      
• New features for Festival Hosts are constantly being added to Da Capo Music Festivals.  Over the past few weeks, the following features have been added:
  • Ability to email all teachers involved in your festival and CC your Zone Representative
  • Ability to show a ‘Special Message’ to teachers regarding ‘important notes’ about your festival. This text will show up in Bold Red text when the Teacher registers a student (For example: If you are only hosting All-State for one particular instrument family.)
  • Additional billing recording options, including: By Teacher, By Student, Partial payments
  • Auto-Schedule Accompanists in ‘like rooms’ first (An attempt is made to prevent the accompanist from going between several different instrument family rooms back-to-back)

Da Capo Web Development is a Proud Institutional Member of NYSSMA and Commercial Member of SCMEA, supporting Music Education Throughout New York State and Suffolk County.