Our football season ended on Friday night as our team courageously faced Valdosta in a hard fought match against a highly skilled opponent. It was a privilege to continue playing and performing an extended season. A season that looked much different, it was a blessing to have those extra home games for our students to have the opportunity to continue performing. Friday’s performance was once again magnificent as our crowd roared to a standing ovation at the conclusion of our show and Battle Hymn.

We also want to give a great “thank you” to all of the volunteers this marching season. Your faithfulness, ability to pivot, and general willingness to help with anything that comes up has been amazing and we are grateful for each of you. From helping in the midst of uncertainty during band camp, building props, helping with all of the Friday-to-Friday operational things, throwing together a pop-up concession stand for the students, to still pushing forward with the fundraisers YOU ALL HAVE BEEN AWESOME!

Week at a Glance

• Monday: Gold Winter Guard • 6:00pm – 9:00pm
• Tuesday: Virtual Holiday Concert at 7:00PM • Link to be shared via YouTube before the premiere
  • Silver Winter Guard • 6:00pm – 9:00pm
• Thursday: All Winter Guard • 6:00pm – 9:00pm
• Friday: Early Release • Students are released at 12:15PM

Virtual Concert on Tuesday

Access the concert via YouTube. A link will be shared on Facebook once the video is uploaded. Look for it tomorrow night or Tuesday before the concert.

COVID numbers continue to be problematic and in an effort to allow our families to stay healthy during the holiday season and enjoy time with family, the best way to showcase our students’ work this semester is through a YouTube premiere on Tuesday night at 7:00PM. I know that many families are looking forward to attending concerts again and we plan on doing our best to have concerts next semester, but right now the risk is just too great. Thank you for your understanding and we hope that you enjoy the video we created together. The video features recordings made during class highlighting Veteran’s Day/Fall Concert music selections, Holiday music selections, our marching show, and a slideshow created from the photos collected the last couple of weeks from throughout the past semester. It was a semester that could have been much different and I am so proud of the extreme efforts that our staff and students continue to provide to make the best of our circumstances. It has truly been an unforgettable time together as we’ve learned to adapt and overcome.

There were many considerations that informed our decision to not yet meet in person for a concert:

1. COVID numbers continue to increase
2. GHSA indoor sports have been limited to parents only
   1. This limits the attendance (including athletes) to around to 50 people
   2. Our smallest concert ensemble has 60 students when you add percussionists and winds
3. Learning concert has been trickier when attendance is less predictable
4. Percussion and Winds are not in the same classes 1st semester
5. The weather is cold/un-predictable for an outdoor concert at this time

Trip Update

We have been planning this trip in hopes that predictions of the circumstances being better by now were correct, but now that we have to begin sending money to the travel company and the forecast of the next couple of months looks to continue being a storm of COVID outbreaks, Mr. Carr has decided to cancel the Universal Trip scheduled for the end of March. The decision was made after much deliberation and consultation with Mr. Brooks and Dr. Albertus.

We had hoped for 150 students and additional parents to participate in the trip, but only had a total of 112 students and parents sign-up. Less participation results in empty seats on the buses, resulting in increased costs. Increased costs during a time when COVID is still impacting our economy and many of our families continue to face hardships makes the risk too great for a trip that our students can easily take later in their lifetime. This was not an easy decision to make because we know that so many things have been changed this year and we want to do what we can to make every year special, but with things not looking clear enough by March this was the best decision for the safety of our students. We had a lot of hope that the projection for March was going to be clearer, but with California shutting down again, numbers still on the rise, and our hospitals again overwhelmed we appreciate your understanding of this difficult decision.

The silver lining in making the decision now allows 100% of all money collected to be refunded to all families during the holiday season. We will be reaching out on the details of the refund and begin processing refund checks this week.

District Honor Band Auditions

Students who have signed up for District Honor Band Auditions should start recording their audition videos now. You can follow this link to see an example of the district honor band score sheets. Please note, the link contains ALL sheets so you will need to scroll down to see the appropriate sheet for your instrument and grade level. Concert Band = 9th and 10th grade; Symphonic Band = 11th and 12th grade. After recording, students should use the rubric to judge how many points they would receive on their scales. If they start doing this now, then they can continue creating videos before the deadline to ensure that they receive all of the available points for scales. This is a highly competitive process, do not give away free points.

The points awarded for the etude and sight-reading are slightly more subjective to interpretation, but students can see the rubric used and score themselves accordingly as a strategy for continued improvement. For the first round the first etude counts as the etude score and the bracketed portion of the second etude will be performed as the sight-reading portion.

Here is the information from GMEA regarding video submissions for District Honor Band this year. This information was shared with our students at the beginning of November via Google Classroom. I have included most of the information below also for your convenience:

What to record:

• The recording submission should be video with audio and NOT audio only.
• Each student will need to record three separate submissions as follows:

Brass and Woodwinds:

1. Submission #1 Scales: Required scales in required order and chromatic scale (specified to their instrument) submitted as one continuous recording. All major scales, arpeggios and chromatic scales must be memorized. Scale sheet and music stand should NOT be present in the video when recording this portion of the audition.
2. Submission #2 Lyrical: Lyrical etude
3. Submission #3 Technical: Bracketed portion of technical etude

Percussion:

1. Submission #1 Snare: Bracketed portion of snare etude
2. Submission #2 Mallets: Required scales in required order, chromatic scale (full range of instrument) and bracketed portion of the mallet etude. Major scales and chromatic scale must be one continues recording. The etude portion can be recorded separately then edited together with the scales, or may be recorded sequentially with the major scales and chromatic scale in one take. All major scales, arpeggios and chromatic scale must be memorized. Scale sheet and music stand should NOT be present in the video when recording this portion of the audition.
3. Submission #3 Timpani: Demonstrate tuning* both drums to Etude Pitches, Single Stroke Roll, Forte Piano Crescendo Roll and designated portion of Timpani Etude. These four performances must be filmed in one take.
   1. *Reminder: Students may use any type of tone producer (pitch pipe, mallet instrument, etc.) for tuning, however no electronic devices may be used to produce a tone for tuning purposes by the student. Symphonic Band students must use only one pitch (the lower of the two) to tune the lower drum and then tune the higher pitch by ear only. The given pitch must be the lower pitch of the 2 drums.
   2. There will be a 30 second per drum time limit on the Middle School and Concert Band timpani tuning audition and a 30-second total time limit on the Symphonic Band timpani tuning audition.

Introduce Yourself – VERY IMPORTANT

• Judges must be able to see the student’s face, hands, and full instrument throughout the entire recordings.
• Students should not wear clothes identifying the school they attend.
• All students must introduce themselves at the beginning of each video.

Woodwinds and Brass Students must clearly state:

1. First and last name
2. Grade in school
3. The component they will be playing within the video (Scales, Lyrical, or Technical)

Percussion Students must clearly state:

1. First and last name
2. Grade in school
3. The component they will be playing (Snare, Mallet or Timpani)

Label Your Videos

Students must label each individual recording file in the following format:

“Level_Instrument_What portion of audition_Last Name_First Name”

Examples:

For Winds:

(Middle School)

1. MS_Trombone_Scales_Norris_Chuck
2. MS_Trombone_Lyrical_Norris_Chuck
3. MS_Trombone_Technical_Norris_Chuck

(Concert 9/10)

1. CB_Trumpet_Scales_Doe_ John
2. CB_Trumpet_Lyrical_Doe_ John
3. CB_Trumpet_Technical_Doe_ John

(Symphonic 11/12)

1. SB_Flute_Scales_Doe_Jane
2. SB_Flute_Lyrical_Doe_Jane
3. SB_Flute_Technical_Doe_Jane
4.  

For Percussion:

(Middle School)

1. MS_Snare_Bond_James
2. MS_Mallets_Bond_James
3. MS_Timpani_Bond_James

(Concert 9/10)

1. CB_Snare_Bond_James
2. CB_Mallets_Bond_James
3. CB_Timpani_Bond_James

(Symphonic 11/12)

1. SB_Snare_Bond_James
2. SB_Mallets_Bond_James
3. SB_Timpani_Bond_James

Students need to upload all three individual recordings into YouTube and create an “unlisted link” for each video. Only people who are provided the link will be able to view the video. These videos will not be viewable by the public on YouTube.

*When this process is complete, each student video will display their “labeled file name” under the video window as shown below:

This will ensure directors have all recorded components from each student and all district organizers have accurate records for the judging process. Judging panels will be able to accurately identify student with score sheets.

Step-by-step tutorial video

Brass and Woodwinds: https://youtu.be/w20334PFL8Q

Percussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tZWn6c3kVM&t=296s

Once the videos are completed the students will submit all three videos using a Google Form. I will make this form available very soon, but the videos for District Honor Band are not due until the week that we return back from Christmas Break. It is still A GREAT IDEA to go ahead and start recording! If you have finished your scales already, then you do not have to worry about that recording except for keeping up with the link. Let’s get it done!

If you have a child who participates in the marching band, it is very important that you subscribe to our Remind. Although we will send communications regarding class via Infinite Campus (IC) messenger, we use Remind for our extra curricular communications. The interface for the IC messenger does not allow us to send messages unless we use a computer and we often need access to send a communication (i.e., updated ETA’s) using our phones. We use Remind for all “just in time” communication to our marching band parents and students.

How to Join Remind

We would also appreciate you following the band on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.