Announcements
01/24/2011 Rehearsal Reminder
Did you put our evening rehearsal in your calendar yet? Did you?
Symphonic Band Evening Rehearsal:
Wednesday, February 23rd
5:30 p.m. – Pizza
6:15-ish – Rehearsal
8:30 – Done
01/20/2011 Band Update
HOORAY! The best of all possible substitutes is coming in for me for our Friday double-header games: Mr. Gutgesell, former JHS Director of Bands! Many of you have had older siblings who had Mr. G, or you may have at him as your director for this year’s LWSD Honor Band. If you’ve not met him before, you are in for a treat! He’s a fan-freaking-tastic teacher and an all around cool guy, so chat him up if you have chance! Don’t leave him hangin’ all by his lonesome.
Here are some important reminders for Friday’s games:
- Be on time, and be attentive and respectful to Mr. G at ALL times.
- Call times are as posted – no changes.
- Wear your red Band Geek T’s.
- Rachel Richardson will be helping to conduct tunes, be respectful and follow her.
- Stand up and dance/cheer with the Cheerleaders!
- Keep an eye on the clock during 3rd quarter break – start heading back with about 2:00 to go.
- Please don’t hang around too long after the final game is over – let Mr. G go home at a decent hour
Here are some other general Band reminders:
- Sign-ups are up for after school Solo and Ensemble practices – if you are in an ensemble, you NEED to do some outside of class practice. You can sign-up for a) a practice time with me or b) practice spaces on your own. They are posted on the inside of the set of doors closest to my office. The festival will be here before you know it, so sign-up sooner than later. Procrastination may work for homework, but it doesn’t for practice or rehearsing.
- Symphonic Band: please put Wednesday, February 23rd on your calendar for our evening rehearsal. 5:30 p.m. pizza, rehearse from 6:15-ish to 8:30 p.m.
Thanks and good luck with the rest of your finals!
12/17/2010 Band Stuff
Just a reminder that your practice sheets are due Tuesday, January 4th. Hopefully you’ll practice at least a few times over break, but if you’re not sure how busy you’re going to be or how much traveling you’ll be doing, I’d do the assignment as soon as possible so you don’t forget!!
Besides the work you’ll do from Foundations, here’s what else you can be looking at:
All Band Students: Foundations for Superior Performance (this is the book purchased at the start of sophomore year), Dry Your Tears Afrika, Pep Band music
Concert Band: Courtly Airs and Dances, Bravura, A Copland Portrait
Symphonic Band: Amazing Grace, First Suite in Eb, Chester, Daughters of Texas
Jazz Band: Anything in your folder except for the holiday tunes
Want some good listening? If you like what we’ve listened to in class, you’ll probably like these things (I’ve also included what we’ve already listened to):
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring, Third Symphony (this is in four movements – if you like Fanfare for the Common Man you’ll love the last movement), Rodeo, Suite from The Tender Land (we listened to The Promise of Living from this)
Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium, Madrigali (Fire Songs), Les Chansons des Roses
Eric Whitacre : October (band), Sleep (choir), Cloudburst (choir), Lux Arumuque (choir)
Franz Biebl: Ave Maria (choir)
Antonin Dvorak : Symphony No. 9 : From the New World (especially the 4th movement !) (full orchestra)
Ottorino Respighi: Pines of Rome (full orchestra)
Fisher Tull: Sketches on a Tudor Psalm (band)
12/13/2010 Evening Rehearsal
Please double check for your availability on the evening of Wednesday, February 16th, 2011. I would like to have an evening rehearsal before our festival at Central Washington University. It is imperative that we have all students there, so I need to know if this is a date that will work for the band. Please check this date A.S.A.P and let me know if you have an unchangeable conflict!
Also, don’t forget that this Thursday your call time is 1:00 (during 6th) for the assembly. Please wear your Band Geek T (this is Black-out Day for Spirit Week, so you can simply throw your Band t-shirt on before the assembly).
See all of you Red Band folks (plus any Blue Band members who want to join!) tomorrow at 6:30 in the Band Room for B-ball Band.
Thanks, and have a good last week before break!
11/29/2010 Basketball Tournament Fundraiser
I hope everyone had an enjoyable snowy Thanksgiving weekend! We are still on for this weekend's Basketball Tournament.
Thanks to the snow, we have a limited amount of time to fill all other necessary slots to run a smooth tournament this weekend. The student sign-ups are up outside the Band Room. I also e-mailed the schedule to your parents so they can see the jobs and time slots. They can e-mail me if they’d like to help out – we need nearly as many adults as we do students!
Please note that set-up will be SATURDAY MORNING at 7:00 a.m. and should take about an hour, with the tournament beginning at 8:00 a.m. Tear down is Sunday evening beginning at 6:45 p.m.
Thanks so much and hope you have an excellent week!
11/22/2010 Fundraiser
We have been approved to help out at a basketball tournament on the weekend of December 4th/5th. This is an opportunity for the music department to raise $1,500 (or hopefully more!!!!). We’ll need as much help as possible from students and parents. Attached is a schedule of jobs – you can see which are designated for students and which are for adults. In addition, myself, Ms. Pischke, Mrs. Merkley, as well as Karen LaBarge-King, who is spear-heading this for us, will be around as well! We cannot thank her enough for making this opportunity possible!!!
SIGN-UPS for students will be posted on the bulletin board outside the Band Room. Parents interested in helping out can e-mail me their available time(s) and we will consolidate the information and send a schedule out asap. I’ve attached the schedule so you can see the time slots; again, parent volunteers please e-mail me what slot(s) you would like; students please sign-up on the bulletin board.
So here’s the scoop:
- We will need a set-up crew Friday evening or Saturday morning (set-up times depend on Field House availability – we’ll know soon). This crew will consist of students. We will also tear down Sunday evening. My guess is that setting up and tearing down for this is WAY easier than for one of our concerts.
- You can see on the sign-ups that certain jobs require student and adult help, so we’ll need a mix of both. Adults are required wherever collecting money (selling tickets and concessions) is required.
- Slots are set up in two hour increments.
- I am fine with having one or two extra students (or adults, if you want to buddy up) per slot, as long as every slot for the weekend has a the minimum number of helpers required and all jobs are covered.
- We will be in need of a responsible “Gym Director” – someone who will be in contact with the Tournament Owner, trouble shoot if necessary, count money at the end of the day, etc. This does not need to be the same person the whole weekend (unless this is right up your alley and you want to!) The music teachers will be able to cover this between the three of us for much of the weekend, but it would be great to split it between one or more other willing parents.
- We will need to borrow two ice chests – please let us know if you’re willing to let us borrow yours.
- Some of you have probably done one of these before, as it’s a popular fundraising for the sports teams. Let us know if you have any tips!
Thanks so much! Hope you are all staying safe and warm!
11/09/2010 Update to Football Playoffs
There has been a TIME CHANGE for this Saturday. We are now leaving at 1:00 p.m., meaning that our call time is now 12:30; we’ll pack and load all of the equipment and take attendance.
I know many of you were just barely going to make it here with the 2:00 departure, so I know this will create a challenge. If it is AT ALL possible for you to leave early and make it on the bus, that would be ideal as there is quite a bit of paperwork required to enable you to ride down with a parent. Your parents have all received an e-mail from me with the Parent Driver form just in case – this form is for the DRIVER to fill out. If you are riding, then your parents must check “Other” on the permission form you received today, and provide details (driver’s name and phone number, if you’re riding one or both ways, etc.) Again, it will be MUCH easier if everyone who can makes it onto the bus. I’m worried about not having enough time to get all of the paperwork into the district, especially with Thursday being a non-school day. Even if you’re riding with a parent down to Camas, it would be great to have you on the bus back – the fewer the exceptions, the easier this day is going to be.
11/08/2010 More Football Playoffs
As many of you have probably heard, we are going to Camas this Saturday for the football play-off game! I am in the process of putting together an itinerary and permission forms. For now, here is the information I have:
- Buses are being provided for the Band
- We will be bringing everyone we can - I know some students (for example, Drama) have conflicts that they cannot get out of. Please let me know asap if your student cannot attend so we have accurate numbers for the bus order
- All students will be riding the bus DOWN AND BACK. They may not carpool with other students (i.e. non-band kids who are traveling)
- The schedule as of now is: 2 p.m. - depart Juanita, 6 p.m. - game in Camas, midnight - return to Juanita.
- Please check the weather and make sure your student is dressed accordingly. The Band Geek t-shirt is required, but they are more than welcome to layer as needed. I had several kids in shorts and a t-shirt at Saturday's game...
We are in need or 8 or so chaperones. I will be getting out permission forms as soon as I can (hopefully tomorrow). PLEASE make sure they come back to me on time (since we don't have school on Thursday, I'll probably make them due on Friday). Building protocol requires that I copy EVERY permission form before a field trip - it's really tough on the morning of a trip to copy individual permission forms as they come in, in addition to the other morning-of logisitics. Please help your student turn his/her permission form in by the due date.
Thanks so much! I will try to pass on more information as I receive it. Play-offs, here we come!
11/01/2010 Football playoffs
I have received word that our play-off game against Shorecrest High School will be THIS SATURDAY 11/6 at 7 p.m. I apologize that it's not Friday like in our calendar. The band's call time will be 6 p.m. just like usual. I understand that there will be some kids who cannot get out of prior commitments (such as soccer or swimming), but if you need to rearrange your schedule and can, I would really appreciate it so we have a full band to support our football team in their first play-off game. Thank you and Happy November!
10/28/2010 Football playoffs and B-Ball
I wanted to give you a little bit of info regarding football play-offs. The first thing to understand is that much of it is dependent on game outcomes, meaning that we will find things out very last minute. Our first play-off (which is on the band calendar) is scheduled for Friday, November 5th at 7:30 (this is later than we normally start – the Band call time will now be 6:30 p.m.). There is a CHANCE that this game will be played Saturday, November 6th at 7:00 (the call time would be 6:00). Both the band and football team have had 11/5 on their calendars since last spring – the schools must mutually agree to play the game on Friday night, rather than on Saturday. Our fingers are crossed that whoever we end up playing (we’ll know after tomorrow night’s game) will agree to do it on Friday.
After that, the next possible game is Saturday, November 13th. I do not have times or locations yet. Every possible game after that would be on a Saturday, and each one is single elimination (if we lose, we’re out.) I will get you more information as soon as a have it.
I have already started working on our Basketball Band schedules. Normally we begin in December, but because we will probably have play-offs into November (normally our month off between sports) AND because the basketball calendar is a little wonky this year, we most likely won’t begin B-ball Band until January. This means we will have December to give the kids a break (this also works out great for our kids who participate in Bellevue’s Snowflake Lane.)
Thanks for your patience and understanding! Go Rebels!
10/18/2010 October update
Hi All!
I hope you have been enjoying your autumn so far. Here are some Band updates to keep you in the know:
- The Fall Concert is this Wednesday, 10/20. Call times: Symphonic Band at 6:15 p.m. for set-up; Concert Band at 7:00; concert start time is 7:30 and should be done around 8:45-ish. ALL students must stay to help tear down – many hands make light work, and we have a lot of equipment. When everyone helps out, we usually have nearly everything torn down in 15 or 20 minutes.
- Students received their Band Geek T-shirts last week! These will be our “uniforms” for all upcoming pep assemblies, football games, and Basketball Band. If you did not order online, (i.e. you or your student ordered through me) please have your child pay $11 to Mrs. Hill to cover the cost of the shirt.
- Woodstick is coming to Juanita! On Sunday, November 7th, drummers from all over will be coming to Juanita to attempt to set a new Guinness World Record and raise money for charity. The Woodstick event is generously donating money to the JHS Band Program, so we would love to provide some volunteers (we’re focusing on student volunteers but parents are welcome!) Students can earn Honor Society Community Service hours or Band Varsity Letter points! For more information on this event, please go to http://www.bennettdrums.com/woodstick_promo.php.
- Our football team is doing great! We will most likely move on to play-offs, which will require extra football pep band performances. By nature, play-offs are very last minute affairs, so I will try to get you information as soon as we know it!
- Basketball Band is coming! I will be putting together the B-ball Band calendar and giving it to the kids in November. We will split the entire band program in two, so that the kids do not need to play in as many games (though some students choose to play in all of them!) B-ball Band will officially begin in December and usually lasts through February, depending on play-offs. Each band will perform at 5 games (that’s 10 total with the two bands combined, plus play-offs if we make it). Games fall on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I usually have one band with Tuesday and Friday dates and the other with Wednesday and Friday dates so kids can predict their schedules more easily. More details to come in November!
- We have requested to host a basketball tournament through Boosters as a Music Department fundraiser. If we get chosen to participate, we will most likely host over a weekend in early December and will need numerous student and parent volunteers, in particular one or more parents willing to spearhead the organization. If you are interested, please let me know!
Thank you so much for your wonderful students and support! I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!