Doc’s Blog

Dear Band Parents and Students,

Our St. Michael Jazz Ensemble has been selected to represent the diocese at two events this weekend. First, we will be playing for 2une In Friday morning. Here are the details of that gig:

Students are to provide their own transportation to Ambrosia Bakery (on Siegan Lane)  between 5:30 and 5:45  AM this Firday, January 20.  We will be performing during the taping of 2une In. We will be fed (King Cake) for breakfast after our peformance and will return to school for first hour. All students who do not have personal transportation back to school will ride back with me in a small bus.

Our second performance of the weekend will be at the Mall of Louisiana Saturday afternoon. Students should report to the Mall for 12, noon. Our performance begins at 12:30 and we will be finished playing by 1:20.  Students will need to provide their own transportation both to and from the mall on Saturday. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will be able to load music stands in the small bus (hopefully). I will pack stands and music. Students need to bring their own instruments, mutes, etc.

I sat down to post the results from this morning’s jazz band auditions and I realize now that I didn’t post the results from the concert band audition.  So…..I want to congratulate my students who made the All-Parish Concert Band this year:

Lindsey Ellis, flute

Peyton Graham, alto sax

Richard Tuminello, bass clarinet

Eric Stanford, tenor sax

Amanda Crump, trombone

Tess Grodner, clarinet

Therese Arceneaux, trumpet

The results from the All-Parish Jazz Band is as follows:

Anna Kalmbach, 2nd alto sax

Eric Stanford, 2nd tenor sax

Quinn Tull, bari sax

Amanda Crump, first trombone

Therese Arceneaux, 4th trumpet

Matt Hawkins, bass

Congratulations to all my students who earned spots in this year’s honor groups. I am proud of ALL my students who worked hard and showed up to audition.

By the way, the second installment for the Disney trip is now due. Please send $100 to school via your child on Tuesday.

Thanks,

Doc

Dear Band Parents and Students,

I hope you all enjoyed a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday. I know mine was a treat as my daughter was able to spend the week with us.

We have a busy week ahead of us.  First, All-Parish Honor Band auditions are Tuesday. I have printed a schedule for those who have signed up and will have that at school Monday. I will remain after school until 4:30 on Monday to help students who will be auditioning. We will have after-school rehearsals Wednesday and Thursday until 4:30 to prepare for our Christmas Concert. The concert is Sunday at 2  PM.  We will probably need to arrive at school Sunday for 12:30 to get the gym set up for the concert. I will check with the office and verify the time for setup and let you know definite times by mid week. We will be marching in the annual Jones Creek Christmas Parade Sunday, December 11. There will be busses leaving school sunday at 12:30 PM.  I haven’t gotten our official lineup (I do know we will be the first band in the parade) spot yet but I know we finish at Ralph’s Market.  You will be able to pick you child up at school. The parade begins at 2 PM and we should be finished by 3. We should be back at school by 3:30. I will post more about the parade next week.

Doc

Dear St. Michael Band Parents and Students,

Our annual Christmas Concert is Sunday,December 4th at 2 PM. Dress for this will be all black for girls (if girls are wearing skirts above the knee, they must wear black stockings). Boys wear their school dress uniform with BLACK pants. We will have two after school rehearsals to prepare for this concert. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 30 and Thursday, December 1. Rehearsals will run from 3 – 4 pm. Attendance at these rehearsals is mandatory.

Also, please mark your calendar or our annual performance at the Jones Creek Christmas Parade on Sunday, December 11.  I haven’t received our lineup times yet but we will depart school on busses.

This is a reminder to all students auditioning for All-Parish Honor Band.  Please send me $10 this week. I will write one personal check for all students involved to East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, so make your check out to Kevin Andry. The auditions are Tuesday, November 29 at Tara High School.

Finally, the first deposit for our Disney Band trip is due this Friday, November 18. Please make a check out to St. Michael High School for $200.

Here’s wishing you and your families a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. Get some rest, visit family, shop, hunt, fish, do whatever you like to do and be ready to hit it hard the week we get back so we can have our best Christmas concert ever!

Doc

Dear Warrior Parents and Students,

I recently applied for  a jazz education pilot study and we were selected to take part in the classroom pilot project. I received the following email from the site and after speaking with Mrs. Lee about this we decided that we need to present this to our parents and get their permission. First of all, Willie is a fantastic jazz musician and educator (recently inducted in the Hall of Fame: see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ2GvaCzN5E ) Mrs. Lee and I had some concerns about giving actual student email addresses. I think we can learn a lot from this, and I sent him an email voicing my concerns. I’ve attached the reply that I received here:

PO Box 1141, Eastsound, WA 98245, USA

Let me know what you think. I will log on myself.

Doc

Dear Warrior Band Parents and Students,

I want to give my parents a heads up on tomorrow’s game.

1) Broadmore is a stickler for making visiting parents pay to enter. While some schools will let chaperones in if they are carrying equipment, Broadmore issues tickets. So, I may have only 4 to hand out. I apologize ahead of time, because I feel that all my helpers should enter free.

2) Students should prepare for the cold weather and dress warm tomorrow. You may wear sweatshirts, etc. UNDER your uniform. Letter jackets are not allowed over the uniform.

3) The buses are leaving school at 5:45. Pregame meal (Canes) is $5.  I took orders earlier this week.  Students will be fed around 4:30.

4) Don’t forget that we are in charge of the post-game meal. Mitzi emailed you with the details (I think…hope)

Next. Thanks to all of you who attended our meeting last Sunday. We discussed our upcoming band trip to Disneyworld and kicked off our Moonlight and Jazz Fundraising Event.

I am attaching a copy of our trip proposal and the sponsorship flyer for Moonlight and Jazz to this post. We will get a copy of the Christmas Gift (Moonlight and Jazz) flyer soon.

M & J Sponsorship page

St. Michael Proposal 2012 To go home to parents

Please note that we do have a playoff game next Friday. It was marked as TBA on my original newsletter. If we win tomorrow, I’ve been assured that we will host a playoff game and it will be at the Leadership Institute. I will excuse all my drama members from this performance because of their production that evening. We will not have after-school rehearsal next week.

One more thing (while it’s on my mind). I have passed out and will be passing out music for the East Baton Rouge All-Parish Honor Band audition. I often brag about the talent I have in my band. Lets get a good representation from St. Michael in the honor bands this year. I will be staying after school Monday and Tuesday of next week to work with students who will be auditioning. Seniors, making the honor band really looks good on your resume if you plan on playing at the collegiate level.

Musically,

Doc

We have another busy week ahead of us.  We will rehearse after school this week only on Tuesday, from 3 – 3:45.  Students involved in Open House should be back to school by 5 PM on Wednesday in School Dress Uniforms. Thursday’s game is slated to begin at 7 PM at Olympia. Busses will leave school at 5 PM so senior students can can join their parents for the Senior Night recognition before the game. We are off Friday (yippee!). Sunday we perform at the Most Blessed Sacrament Church Fair at noon. I will get more information about where we are to meet. The church is on Tiger Bend near Barringer Forman. Students are to report at M.B.S. for 11:30. We will be finished by 12:45.

Parents, don’t forget our band boosters meeting at the Arenas home for 6:00. I will be cooking gumbo so come hungry.

Doc

Dear Band Parents and Students,

Congratulations to everyone for the great performances this past weekend. It began with the exciting pep rally Friday morning and continued through your performances Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.  Saturday’s excellent rating was 7 points from being a superior. I am so very proud of my students!  Sunday, was our debut performance of this year’s Jazz Ensemble and I was encouraged by what I heard there too.  We are now beginning to put marching band on the “back burner” and will begin concentrating on Concert Band.  After school rehearsals will be only one day a week (the day before the game) for 45 minutes.

The post-game meals have been very popular with our students.  The band will be hosting the final event, November 4.  You will be hearing from Mitzi or me about volunteering to help serve the meal back at the cafeteria.

We have scheduled a Band Boosters meeting for Sunday, October 30, at 6 PM at Mitzi and Phil Arena’s home on Veignes Rd.  We’ll get you directions later. I will be cooking my famous “roadkill” gumbo for this. Bring your own drinks of choice (may be “adult” in nature) Please note this is for PARENTS ONLY!  No students!  We will be discussing the band trip and we will be kicking off our preparations for our only fund raiser of the year, our annual Moonlight and Jazz event.

Thanks for all you do.

Musically,

Doc

Congratulations to our Louisiana All-State Musicians!  Amanda Crump (first chair All-State Jazz Ensemble), Eric Stanford (second tenor saxophone All -State Jazz Ensemble), and Tess Grodner (clarinetist in the All-State Concert Band) will represent St. Michael at this year’s LMEA State Conference. These three students were chosen among students from across the state after having completed a strenuous audition regiment. St. Michael has been well represented  in All State ensembles for the past four years. I am extremely proud of these and all my students who auditioned for the All-State Ensembles.

As long as I’m recognizing All-State musicians, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Mary Grace Eddington earned a spot in the Louisiana American Choral Directors Association State Honor Choir. Mary is a freshman who plays alto saxophone and will be doing some vocals with our Jazz Ensemble. She will be performing at the LACDA Conference later this month.

Doc

Next week we enjoy one of our busiest week’s of the whole year. We have an early morning pep rally Friday morning at 6 AM and a big district football game at the Leadership Institute Friday night. Saturday is our only marching band festival of the season and we perform at the St. George Fair Sunday afternoon. Students should report to school in their pep band shirts at 5:30 AM with appropriate pants (seniors get to wear jeans).

Here are the details for Saturday and Sunday:

First of all, please know that under normal circumstances we would perform at the festival, change over there and remain to listen to other bands and leave after the awards ceremony. With our very busy weekend and a longer-than-usual festival we (Mrs. Fell, Mrs. Tate, and I)  have made a decision not to force students (other than captains and officers) to attend the awards ceremony (which will not conclude until 8 PM).

Saturday’s schedule:

Band students will report to the band room Saturday morning at 10:45 AM to change into their formal marching uniforms. We will depart on school busses to Dutchtown at 11:15. Upon our arrival at Dutchtown, we will unload and warmup at noon. We stage at 12:30 and perform at 12:40. Cost for admission to the festival for adults is $5. $3 for children.  Once we finish our performance, we will pack our gear and load the busses for the return back to school. Once we get back to school, we will unload the uniforms only. The band trailer will remain packed with marching band instruments. We will add Jazz Ensemble folders, instruments, and sound equipment to the trailer for Sunday’s performance. Students will be free to go home or return to Dutchtown under their own supervision. I will be leaving school again on a bus to make it back to listen to other bands and  for the awards ceremony. Anyone needing ride back to Dutchtown can ride on the bus with me. The awards ceremony will begin at 7:20. My drum major, drum captain, and my brass and woodwind section leaders will have to be back at Dutchtown for 6:45, dressed in uniforms for the awards ceremony.

Sunday’s schedule:

All students will report to St. George for 1:30 to warmup and prepare for our performance (both marching and jazz) at the fair. Our performance begins at 2 with the marching band. Upon conclusion of our performance, we will load the trailer for the return back to school.  The trailer will need to be unloaded back at school, so I need some students and parents to follow us back to school to unload for school the next morning. Dress for the St. George fair is pep band uniforms with black pants.

Whew! I think that’s it. This is why we prepare. So we can perform. I am looking forward to sharing our gifts and talents with our community,

Musically,

Doc