I hope that everyone has had a restful break filled with loved ones and cherished memories! Remember that tomorrow is a teacher workday and students return to school on Tuesday, January 3. We will be winding down the semester when we arrive. 2nd Semester doesn’t start until Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

Week at a Glance:

• Monday: Teacher Work Day • No School
• Tuesday: Students return to school
  • Winter Guard • JV 4:00pm – 6:30pm (CHS Cafeteria)
  • Varsity 5:30pm – 8:30pm (Band Room)
• Thursday: Winter Guard • JV 4:15pm – 6:30pm (CHS Cafeteria)
  • Varsity 5:30pm – 8:30pm (Band Room)

All-State Jazz Band

We had 3 students pass on the 2nd round of All-State Jazz Band Auditions. Justin Arnold, Madison Pate, and Nathan Stagliano traveled to Ringgold, GA the day after our Colquitt County game, and auditioned for the GMEA All-State Jazz Band. Additionally, they showed tremendous dedication and leadership by making it back in time for our Carrollton Christmas parade that afternoon after auditioning! They all 3 deserve congratulations and praise for being outstanding leaders of our band program. Please extend a special congratulations to Justin Arnold who was chosen to participate in this year’s GMEA All-State Jazz Band!!

Lobby Performance at the GMEA In-Service Conference

Congratulations to our Saxophone Quartet for being selected to perform in the lobby immediately before the GMEA All-State Jazz Band concert at the GMEA In-Service Conference in the Classic Center in Athens, GA on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 11:00AM. Madison Pate, Sidney Porter, Elisa Rubio, and Caroline Steed met before and after school to prepare their audition for this prestigious honor. They submitted an application through a live video recording and were chosen to present their concert! We are excited about this opportunity and extremely proud of the students’ willingness to pursue extra opportunities. Time was scarce this past semester and our students still found time to make this happen! Bravo!! Although the concert is presented as part of the GMEA In-Service Conference, this concert and the All-State Jazz Band concert immediately following it is free and open to the public! We would love to see you in the audience!

200 Club Members from our most recent audition

The 200 Club was created because our audition process is rather open ended. Students begin with zero points and accumulate points by successfully performing various assessments. After years of the auditions, we began to notice that students who were breaking the 200 point threshold on auditions were exceeding performance expectations for high school band students and we wanted to recognize their incredible efforts.

Points are earned in the audition process for a prepared etude (60), Sight-reading (50), Chromatic Scale (20+), and for as many scales as possible performed in 2 minutes. Scales count 1 point per octave ascending/descending/arpeggio. So a 1 octave scale can earn up to 3 points, but a 2 octave scale can earn up to 6. More information can be found under the “practice materials” link at the top of the page.

Students who aspire to be recognized as members of the 200 Club should continue to focus on their scales. Learning scales requires consistent, disciplined practice sessions. 10 minutes a day, every day of the week, is better than 70 minutes for 1 day a week. Please encourage one another to develop a discipline, consistent daily practice routine. The muscle memory that will develop will improve facility in breathing, articulation, tone quality, technique, range, and endurance. Please continue to encourage your child to practice daily.

Audition results were posted in the Google Classroom for our students to see. Mr. Carr will be working with students and our counselors if schedule changes are needed. Also, as always, we will be considerate of academic requirements when processing new schedules to make sure that our students stay on track. We look forward to celebrating one day with you and your child as we watch them walk across that stage! Graduation is our priority.

FUNDRAISER STARTS TUESDAY!

The CJHS Trojan Band did this fundraiser in the fall and it was a fantastic way for our junior high students to earn money towards their Carowinds Trip. With our trip on the horizon, we knew this would be a GREAT opportunity to help our students afford to travel with us to NY, too. Mr. Nichols will be visiting our classes on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 to kick off the fundraiser. Each student is required to sell 1 box of chocolates. Students will earn *$25(corrected 1/2/2023) for each box that is sold. More information regarding this fundraiser will be sent home and posted very soon. If you prefer your child not to participate in the fundraiser, please send Mr. Carr an email and your child will not be assigned a box to sell. After seeing how successful our junior high students were at selling chocolate and affording their trip to Carowinds, we are excited about offering this opportunity for our high school students as well!

*We make 40% profit for each box sold. Each box costs us $35, so each student will make $25 per box sold.

Did you forget to sign-up for the trip?

Visit the link at the top of the page or click here for more information. We are still accepting sign-ups. The first deposit was due by November 25, 2022 to join the trip, but it isn’t too late! Please sign-up this week.

Amazon • 2 Ways to Help • Snacks Needed

We were BLESSED all season with many generous donations from our Wish List. Thank you to everyone who purchased snacks and sent them to us for the students while we traveled this season. Our students had plenty all season thanks to your generosity! If you are using Amazon this holiday season to order gifts for your loved ones, if you use Amazon Smile, Amazon will make a donation to our band program. The prices are the same either way. Amazon Smile just allows you to designate a charity for Amazon to support with your purchases. You do have to use the smile.amazon.com URL though for your purchases to count. Thank you for your continued support of our students!

Mark Your Calendars

The following events we need all hands on deck and are requesting your involvement.

Upcoming Dates

This is not an exhaustive list. Refer to our calendar online for the most up to date information regarding events and times.

• December
  • 16 • Final day before the break
• January
  • 3 • Students return to school
  • 7 • 2nd Round GMEA All-State Auditions • Union Grove HS • McDonough, GA
  • 12 – 13 • Final Exams
  • 14 • Varsity Winterguard Camp
  • 16 • MLK Parade • No School
  • 17 • Start of 2nd Semester • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 18 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 21 • Winterguard at Kennesaw Mountain HS
  • 23 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 24 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 25 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 26-28 • GMEA All-State Jazz Band
  • 28 • CHS Saxophone Quartet Lobby Performance at GMEA
  • 30 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 31 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
• February
  • 1 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 4 • Sadie Hawkins Dance
  • 6 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 7 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 8 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 9 – 11 • District Honor Band • Ringgold, GA
  • 11 • Winterguard at River Ridge HS
  • 13 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 14 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 15 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 20 – 25 • Winter Break • No School
  • 24 • Winterguard Camp (Varsity and JV)
  • 25 • Winterguard at Villa Rica HS
  • 27 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 28 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
• March
  • 1 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 2-4 • GMEA All-State Band
  • 4 • Varsity Winterguard Camp
  • 6 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 7 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 8 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 11 • Winterguard at Harrison HS
  • 13 • Symphonic Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 14 • Wind Ensemble: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 15 • Concert Band: 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  • 16 • LGPE • WE, SB, CB • Times are still TBD
  • 17 • Teacher Word Day • No School
  • 18 • Trojan Band 5K • Required for all members
• April
  • 1 – 2 •  Winterguard SAPA Championships • Chattanooga, TN
  • 3-7 • SPRING BREAK • No School