Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Honor Band, Jazz Band, and Valentine Grams (oh my)

Dear Parents,

There is a lot going on this week for folks in Jazz Band and Honor Band.  Students will have a substitute on Thursday and Friday, and should bring their instruments.  Here's what each class has been up to this past week:

Concert Band has been working on all Band-O-Rama music, including sight reading the mass piece, March from "First Suite."  Students are also learning and passing a test on their B-Flat major scale.
Intermediate Band has sight read Whale Warriors and March from "First Suite."  Many individuals are having difficulties with counting and entrances in Festivo.  Please make sure they're practicing at home and let me know if they aren't, or if they need extra help.
Advanced Band has learned all music for Band-O-Rama and they are beginning to work on Festival music.  They are making great progress and continue to show a strong work ethic.
Advanced Strings students have been putting together Fantasia 2000 and Concerto Grosso.  It has been great working on all of Fantasia with these students.  We may be performing at a festival in March, with more information to be announced.
Beginning Band is working towards being able to play Imperium straight through.  They will be receiving March from "First Suite" this week, so they will have all Band-O-Rama songs by Wednesday.
Beginning Strings has made it through half of Classic Bits and Pieces.  We are working on learning the second half, along with music from the method book.

Last week, we had the Jazz Extravaganza, which featured our Carson Middle School Jazz Band, along with Carson High School's Jazz Band and the Mile High Jazz Band.  In addition to a great performance, we had a raffle drawing that raised $100.

Practice Logs 

Practice logs are due on Tuesday for band members and Friday for strings members.

Valentine Grams

Advanced Band has taken over Valentine Grams this year! To help with their Spring Trip costs, each member is running the booth and helping sell the grams. Parents - if you wish to purchase a valentine for your student, you can send payment to Mr. Jacques and the gram will be delivered to your student in their Encore class. All details are available here. Please include what gram and option you want to purchase.

Upcoming Events

February 5-6: Honor Band, All Day in Fallon.  All honor band students will need to be at CMS by 7:00 AM both mornings for the bus. To cover participation fees and dinner on Friday, please send $15 with your student.  We will rehearse in Fallon all day that Thursday, arriving back home around 5:30 PM (revised time).  On Friday, students will stay in Fallon all day, with the concert at 7 PM.

February 7: Jazz in the Schools Festival, 10:30 AM-5 PM, UNR.  Jazz Band students will be performing at UNR with other Northern Nevada middle and high school jazz bands.  Following their performance, they will have a feedback clinic/workshop.  This event is mandatory for jazz band. Students received a flyer with all information - ask them for it!

February 26: Band-O-Rama, 7 PM. Mandatory for all band members.  There will be a rehearsal from 7:30-10:30 AM that day at Carson High School. Please drop off students no earlier than 7:15 AM at CHS that day.  They will get transportation back to CMS at the conclusion of rehearsal. This is a mandatory rehearsal, so please ensure your student has a ride to CHS that morning.

March 27: Chili Bingo Night, 6 PM-8 PM, CMS Cafeteria  
After meeting with Mr. Sadler, the band will be running this event exclusively!  Let me know if you can help out with this event either by sending me an email or signing up here: Sign Up Genius We will be holding a meeting shortly to go over details. Also, we have mailed out donation letters to all businesses that donated last year. If you frequent or own a business, a donation letter (as well as a list of businesses we have asked already) is available here.

May 7-10: Spring Trip (Advanced Band) First payment of $150 is due February 16th. 

What Should Your Student Practice?

Concert Band: Dramatico, Imperium, Band-O-Rama March from "First Suite," Sound Innovations #142
Intermediate Band: Lip Benders 3, Festivo, Whale Warriors, March from "First Suite."
Advanced Band: Festivo, Whale Warriors, Band-O-Rama, A Childhood Hymn, Sound Innovations Fanfare, Shackelford Banks.
Advanced Strings: Janie Be Good, Fantasia 2000, Concerto Grosso (ensemble sections)
Beginning Band: Dramatico, Imperium, Band-O-Rama, March from "First Suite," Sound Innovations #100-102.
Beginning Strings: Abigail's Tune, Classic Bits and Pieces, anything in Sound Innovations book.
Jazz Band: Manteca, All Blues, Go Tell It On The Mountain

Charms Office Assistant
New this year, we are using Charms Office Assistant to keep track of all financial transactions, inventory items, and events. This is a special program designed for music programs to help keep parents informed. Your student will be getting a flyer with instructions on how to update personal information soon, but you can also use this link: https://www.charmsoffice.com/charms/parents.asp?username=CarsonMusic. If the district allows, we hope to be able to accept credit cards (through PayPal) using this website in the future.

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