It's Festival Season!

Summary
Today marks the beginning of a very busy month of music festivals.  Strings performs at North Valleys High School on March 13.  All bands perform in the Community Center on March 20.  Intermediate and Advanced Bands perform at Damonte Ranch High School on March 27.  The month culminates with a fun and lucrative fundraiser on March 28.  Eleven students were nominated and selected to represent our band program in the All State Band in April.

Washoe County Orchestra Festival - March 13
We are the only middle school orchestra outside of Washoe County to be performing at this festival!  I have the official date and times for the Washoe County Orchestra Festival, and details can be found HERE.  Copies of this will also be sent home with students on Tuesday.  I will have room for up to 5 chaperones who would enjoy traveling with us on the bus.

NZNMEA Band Festival - March 20
We are excited to be hosting this festival again this year along with Eagle Valley Middle School.  This festival will take place all day at the community center, and I am looking for my top student leaders and parents to help me host a fantastic event.  I did my best to schedule this event so that students miss as little school as possible.  All details are available HERE.  Copies of this will also be sent home with students on Tuesday.  You can also view a schedule of all participating schools HERE.

Washoe County Band Festival - March 27
We are the only middle school band program outside of Washoe County to be performing at this festival!  I now have official times for the Washoe County Band Festival, and details can be found HERE.  Copies of this will also be sent home with advanced and intermediate band students on Tuesday. I will have room for up to 7 chaperones who would enjoy traveling with us on the bus.

Bingo and Chili Update
Thanks to the amazing dedication from our parents in preparing for Bingo and Chili Night on March 28, we are receiving some rather generous donations from the community.  The more items we receive, the more we will earn in the biggest fundraiser of the year.  Students will begin selling raffle tickets on March 10, with a list of items that will be finalized by Friday.  If you or somebody you know has items or services they can donate to our raffle, please contact me.  

After School Sectionals
The next groups and times for after school rehearsals are as follows:
Intermediate Band Rehearsal: Wednesday, March 5 from 2:30-4:00.
Jazz Band with clinician Lee Warner: Thursday, March 6 from 2:30-4:00.
Solo and Ensemble Practice Session: Thursday, March 6 from 2:30-3:30.
Advanced Band Rehearsal: Wednesday, March 12 from 2:30-4:00.

Calendar of Events - Please note the changes in red

March 8: Solo and Ensemble, Douglas HS (no longer Carson High), All Day for those already signed up
March 13: (no longer March 14) Washoe County Orchestra Festival, North Valleys High School, 12:00-4:30 PM (Strings)
March 17: Jazz Band Concert, Community Center, Evening TBA
March 20: NZNMEA Band Festival, All Bands, see flyer for specific times
March 26: (no longer March 27) Washoe County Band Festival, Damonte Ranch High School, 12:00-5:15 PM (Intermediate and Advanced Band)
March 28: Bingo Chili Night, CMS Cafeteria, 6-8 PM (Advanced Band plus any other volunteers)

Practice Logs
Students will continue to turn in practice logs by submitting them online through a Google form. The link can be found on the front page of http://www.cmsbands.org, your student's Edmodo account, or right here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_bEsPWAafghbYSXQlFUD6wtN6wko88YuxcDsTMe8Lxs/viewform   All band and orchestra members MUST turn in a practice log during each of the following three weeks in order to remain eligible to perform at their respective music festival.  Please practice specific sections of all festival pieces as we discuss each day in class. 

Students will have the option of submitting practice logs on their devices during the last few minutes of class on Tuesdays.  

-Mr. Jacques-