Cumberland Bands News – 5/15/18

Hello Awesome Band Folks!

So much going on!  Even though it’s the end of the school year, it’s the beginning of the band year.  Graduation and marching band are first up and need to be taken care of before we break for the summer.

If your child is remotely interested in marching this fall, please carefully read the MARCHING BAND second below.  We’re going to have a full high school season for the first time, so there will be many changes to what we have done in the past.

THANK YOU so much for the Krispy Kreme donut sales.  Super quick and we made a tidy sum.

== GRADUATION, FRIDAY, MAY 18th ==

All band class students from 7th grade, 8th grade, and HS will be playing for graduation on this date in a required performance.  The students will stay after school and have responsibilities all the way until graduation begins at 7:pm.  I will feed them supper.  Students need to wear nice clothes: shirt/tie, dresses, etc.  Colors are fine.  Graduation usually lasts until about 9:pm.  I’ll text blast when it’s over.

== MARCHING BAND 2018 ==

All persons planning to march will need to join us after school on May 22-24 from 3pm-6pm.  There will be music, friends, and fun!  Color guard auditions will be during this time, as well!

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PARAGRAPH YOU CAN READ: All marching band members (including color guard) must make a final commitment to march by Thursday, May 24th.  I will only be writing the show for the students who commit.  Once you commit, a marching band show will be written with you in it; therefore, DO NOT COMMIT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE.  If you back out after committing, then I’ll have to rewrite the whole show.  You may not get two opportunities to back out once you commit, so please take your commitment seriously.

PERMISSION SLIPS TO ATTEND NEXT WEEK’S MINI-CAMP ARE GOING OUT TODAY!

Based on student feedback, here is the following summer schedule.  All practices will be in the Cumberland Band Room or on the field beside it:

May 22-24, 3pm-6pm – Band placements and color guard auditions

June 25-28 8am-1pm – Now, I know this seems odd, but we get to wrap a week of band into the last week of summer school.  This means transportation from door to door, as well as lunch.  We couldn’t turn this down!

July 23-26 time TBA – This will be our final week of camp where we’ll finish up the bulk of the show, including all the marching elements.  We won’t have county transportation support for this week.

STARTING AUG 9th – Once we’re back into school, the marching band will practice on every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 3pm-6pm.  On Fridays that are home games, we’ll stay through to the end of the game.

In addition, we’ll have three competitions in the fall and two parades in December.  I’ll work to have a final(-ish) calendar to you by next week.

NOTES:

— Every child is expected to make every practice.  We do not practice every day during the school year, so please schedule shopping, appointments, etc, at times not during rehearsal.

–Every child is REQUIRED to attend and perform at every performance.  Band is 100% inclusion and performance absences harm the whole program.

–If your child wants to march but you have scheduling issues, then please let me know.  Usually we can work things out.

–There is a small financial commitment.  Your child will need marching shoes if the/she doesn’t already have them.  They run around $40.  Every child will need to have either money for concessions on the trips, or will need to bring food for meals.  If money is an issue, then please speak to me directly.

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Keep in touch!