With everything that has been said here, remember that you need to teach them a way practice. A nebulous 20 minutes at home can quickly turn into chaos for families who might have no clue what is going on with their kid and the clarinet mouthpiece/barrel.

I like giving students a check sheet of things to do at home and then have parents sign off on each thing. It doesn't have to have a time attached to it and can be simple enough that the kids will feel confident and excited to show their parents because they are successful doing it in class.

Make it idiot proof, "Open your case at home for someone at home and name the parts of your instrument". "Play a rhythm line on your mouthpiece/head joint/practice pad for someone at home". "Show someone at home how to hold your instrument like in the picture on the page".

By the time get to more challenging things, students already have shown parents a bunch of different things on their instrument, and you will probably have an idea of which kids are actually completing the assignments and which kids aren't.

If families are against the kid practicing, give the kid the best possible experience and then have a conversation with them if they want to continue band next year.

Good luck with your year.

As a Band Director AND a single parent that recently (last year) had my oldest child in my own beginner band please remember that there are legitimately days that 20 min of practice truly are impossible especially when you factor in sports.

On days during Softball/Baseball season we were busy minimum 4 days of the week usually going straight from school to getting ready for practice/game and then getting home in time for a late dinner then going straight to shower/bedtime.

Please be courteous to your student's outside of school time especially when considering other classes have homework and each kid needs "be a kid" time....20 min a day doesnt sound like a lot but especially if they are trying to do it daily or batch it and get an hour in at the end of the week it can be rough.

Early in my career personally did away with practice charts because I found it leads to lying by the kids and the parents in order to save the grade...instead I did my best to pass out music that actively made the kids want to practice or tie it to an upcoming chair test that they wanted to do well on.

End of the day, the kids that were already going to practice will practice anyway and the ones that arent going to practice wont anyway

There are plenty of programs that require daily practice, but they are not your program. Every program is different. You will need to implement small changes over time to hone in on what works with you.

Are you in a large, or small school? Small program directors unfortunately need to play politics and find ways to encourage students to practice without forcing kids out. Larger programs can generally afford to weed out kids that don't get with the program, or at least push them into a lower band or scale jail where requirements are less.

My policy has changed over the years but I've learned that the students who are going to practice are going to practice anyways, the ones who aren't going to practice will continue to not practice (or lie about it) and I need to focus on choosing music that takes this in to account. I also run my rehearsals with the understanding that a large portion of our practicing is taking place during class- have a plan, no dead time, work them like rented mules.

You also need to consider what is going to happen when report cards come out and eligibility is affected. Are you accommodating all of your 504 students appropriately? Are you contacting the parents of your (potentially) failing students to the extend that your district requires? Are you willing to lose students to grades in your own class? Let's assume you have athletes - are they going to stay in band if their band grade is keeping them from playing their sport? Is your administration going to mind your retention being lower than they desire even if the group is "better"?

These are questions whose answers are different for every director and situation, but it is important that you consider them. I did not as a young director and found myself in some unfortunate situations.

Generally you'll do better with a carrot than a stick.

I see the argument for the time requirement on beginners, you have to teach them how to practice and what it takes to get better. That's nearly impossible to really enforce. Practice logs lead to lies. Kids will put down what you want to see, and parents will sign off on it to keep their kids out of trouble. Open the band hall before and after school. Yes, that's extra time for you. Be available to help them, make it positive and fun. Bring donuts sometimes.

Find a way to incentivize the kids who do put in the work. That tends to work better if you look at results rather than time on task. Give the kids playing tests in class for grades. Have the kids do recording assignments. They'll do it over and over again until they get it right...sounds a lot like practicing (I know, practice until you can't get it wrong...). Do passoffs and put a sticker chart on the wall (if that's allowed at your campus). Offer rewards for kids who do a certain number of passoffs or meet some other musical standard. It's amazing what kids will do for some pizza.

It sounds like you're building a new culture, so pushback is set to happen no matter what. I'd say to stick to your guns and keep working towards it and soon your band will practice easily.

One clinic I went to at TMEA said to always be a cheerleader for practicing. Mention it all the time everyday and eventually it'll get in their heads.

Maybe also put the ball in the kids' court? If they're busy with this and that, ask them what time would work best for them and if they can come to the band hall to do it. That'll also show you being accommodating and giving them a chance to schedule a time.