Build the schedule¶
The Schedule tab turns your accepted bands into a performance lineup. You can draft while registration is still open, but the real work usually happens right after you close it.
Generate a first draft¶
Before you've built anything, the Schedule box previews the day's planned structure — class blocks, intermissions, dinner, and any gaps — so you can see the shape of the day before committing to it. Click Generate (above the Available Bands list) and MusterSheet builds the whole day from that structure — your Schedule Defaults (slot length, transitions, intermission, warm-up buffer, dinner break) and your Schedule Strategy (classes in order, or blocks by division). Small bands typically play early, big bands late, awards at the end. Intermissions and the dinner break come out as real, draggable rows ("Intermission" / "Dinner Break") right alongside the bands.
Don't like the result? Click Generate again to rebuild from scratch — it asks for confirmation once rows already exist. Hand- inserted breaks are replaced by the rebuild, but guest exhibition slots survive and are re-placed by their scheduled times. A surviving guest slot's time is kept as-is, so it can land inside a band's new slot — the editor flags that row with an Overlaps previous slot warning chip (or Needs a time if the slot has no time at all), so fix any flagged row with its time field before you announce. Clear (next to Generate) empties the lineup entirely and returns every band to Available Bands, also confirming first if there's anything to lose; it's disabled when the schedule is already empty. Both Generate and Clear refuse once the show has started, any band has checked in, or any judge has begun scoring — day-of check-in state and score sheets are never silently thrown away. Removing a single row is protected the same way: a row whose band has checked in or has scores on file can't be removed.
Pick the running order within each class¶
The strategy decides the order of the classes; the Performance Order Policy (in Schedule Defaults on the Settings tab) decides the order of the bands inside each class or division block:
| Policy | The generator orders bands... |
|---|---|
| Order applied (default) | in the order they applied to the competition |
| Order accepted | in the order you accepted them — the classic "postmark" order |
| Smallest band first | smallest member count first within each class |
| Random draw | shuffled randomly (regenerating without a registration change reproduces the same draw, so the order won't churn under you) |
Different slot lengths per class¶
Your Schedule Defaults set one slot length for the whole day, but small bands often don't need the same field time as the big ones. Each class on the Classes & Fees tab has a Slot length (min) field — set it and that class's performances get that duration (say, 15 minutes for your A and AA classes against a 20-minute default). Leave it blank to use the competition-wide default.
Anchor a class block's start time¶
Need a class to start no earlier than a specific clock time — a printed program that promises "6:00 PM: AA prelims begin," a meal gap between blocks beyond what the Schedule Defaults dinner break covers, or just padding the day back out to the published time after it's crept ahead? Every class block in the Schedule box has a Starts at field and Save button (a Clear button appears once an anchor is set) — in the empty-structure preview before you've generated anything, and on that class's header once the lineup exists. A class with no accepted bands yet shows as a dashed placeholder ("0 registered — joins the timeline when a band is accepted") without a Starts at field — anchors on an empty class wouldn't affect the timeline, so the control appears once the first band is accepted into it.
The on-screen helper spells out the rule: "A class's anchor is the earliest it will start — blocks never start before their anchor, and the generator automatically inserts a gap to reach it." Anchors only push a block later, never earlier — if the day is already running behind, the block just starts when the previous one ends. Set your anchors, then (re)generate — they take effect on the next build. The structure preview shows the resulting idle stretch with its start time and duration. When that pause falls between two classes — where the regular intermission would have gone — it's labeled Intermission and shows up in the generated lineup as a real, draggable Intermission row (the anchor sets its length when it reaches past the regular intermission; an anchor that lands inside the regular pause never shortens it — the full intermission runs and the class starts when it ends). Idle time before the day's first performance renders as a dashed Gap block in the preview and stays implicit in the lineup. If you haven't configured a dinner break, the preview shows a hint linking straight to Settings.
The dinner break target works the same way: it's the earliest the dinner break will start. If the target lands during a break, dinner begins exactly at your target time (the run-up stays an ordinary intermission); if it lands mid-class, dinner starts at the first break after that class finishes — never at an earlier break in the day. One nuance: when the dinner break lands inside a class anchor's gap, the gap's own length wins — the dinner row runs from your target to the anchor, not for the configured dinner duration.
Anchors also make regenerating after late registrations safe: set them once, and rebuilding the lineup to fold in new bands keeps every block starting at the time you already promised instead of drifting.
The First performance time — the anchor for the whole day — lives in the Schedule box's header, right next to its Save button. It stays editable there while the schedule is still draftable; once you've locked in the day (or it's underway) it becomes read-only text in the same spot. Like the class anchors, a changed first-performance time takes effect the next time you Generate — existing rows don't move until then.
Shape it by hand¶
The generated lineup is fully editable:
- Drag rows to reorder bands.
- Edit any row's time inline and click Save. Check Shift later rows first and every row after it moves by the same amount — move one row 10 minutes later and the rest of the day follows. During a live show this notifies affected directors immediately, same as Push schedule.
- Add gap above — open the disclosure at the top of any row, set Minutes (defaults to 30), and click Add gap to push that row and everything after it down by that many minutes. Like Push schedule, doing this during a live show notifies the affected directors immediately.
- Insert break — a labeled break of any length after any position ("Judges' Break", "Dinner").
- Add exhibition — a guest performer that isn't registered, like a visiting college band closing out the night. Type the guest's name as the label and place the slot anywhere in the lineup; it appears on the public schedule with an Exhibition badge so the crowd knows it's coming. A label-only exhibition is just a time slot: no check-in, no judging, no captions — the guest's entire involvement with MusterSheet is their name on the schedule. (For your own band, register it instead — see below.) You can also flip a registered band with Mark exhibition / Make competing.
- Swap rows and Push schedule (shift everything after a point by ± minutes) handle day-of surprises.
Your own band's performance¶
Most hosts close the night with their own band (often right after a guest exhibition). Your band doesn't get a slot automatically — nothing assumes the host band performs — so give it one deliberately, and use the registered path rather than a label-only exhibition:
- Register your own band for your competition, the same way any director would (from the competition page). Accept the registration from your Registrations panel — you're the host, so you approve your own application.
- In the schedule editor, place the band where you want it and click Mark exhibition on its row.
Why register instead of just typing a label? A registered exhibition band is a real band to MusterSheet: it gets a check-in row for its buses and equipment, confirms its captions like everyone else, and — the part most host directors actually want — the judges score it for feedback. You get sheets, written commentary, and audio for your own band's run, exactly like a competing director's judges packet. The exhibition flag only removes you from rankings and awards, where your own trophy would be a bad look.
A label-only exhibition slot gives you none of that — reserve it for guests who genuinely have no relationship with the event beyond showing up and playing.
Tell the bands¶
Edits pile up privately under a banner: "Bands haven't been notified of these changes." When you're ready, add an optional note and click Notify Bands of Changes — every affected director gets the update on their bell and by email (unless they've turned schedule emails off in their own settings), the times appear on their dashboards, and the lineup becomes visible on the public competition and spectator-schedule pages. Generating a lineup does not publish it. If you edit a published lineup, the public band list stays hidden until you notify bands again, so an unfinished change never leaks ahead of your announcement.
That notification is the publication action for the public spectator schedule too; there is no second fan-facing publish button. The Schedule tab always shows where you stand: an amber "Schedule not announced yet" strip while directors and the public still see "hasn't been posted," flipping to a green "Public schedule is live" strip once you've notified.
Close registration before publishing. While registration is still open, you can generate and edit the private lineup, but Notify Bands of Changes stays unavailable. It appears once registration is closed and at least one band has been accepted.
During the show
Once the day is live, past rows lock as the show moves down the lineup. If weather forces a delay, use Push schedule — during a live show it notifies affected directors immediately.
Prelims → Finals events¶
If your competition uses the two-round format, a "Prelims complete — ready to advance" card appears once the last prelim band performs. Click Advance to Finals and MusterSheet builds the finals lineup from your advancement rule (top N, reversed so the highest scorer performs last).