In this session, participants will engage with accessible strategies to foster creativity in beginning band classrooms. Too often, beginning instrumental instruction is limited to technical skill development and method book routines. This clinic reimagines early band experiences by integrating improvisation, student composition, and exploratory listening activities that cultivate musical thinking and ownership. Attendees will leave with adaptable lesson ideas, tools for creative assessment, and a renewed sense of what’s possible in the first year of instrumental music.