Band Notes - Week of March 30

General information that applies to all students and parents can be found towards the top of every newsletter, while information specific to your child's ensemble can be found in that particular section by scrolling all the way down.

Feel free to contact a director if you have any questions and our contact information is at the bottom of this newsletter. Thanks for reading!

Fill out this form ONLY if you are ordering an 8th Grade Band Shirt, which will include nicknames created by the directors on the back. PLEASE ONLY USE ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON. RESUBMIT THE FORM FOR ADDITIONAL SHIRT ORDERS.

The cost is $15 per shirt and your order and money are due by Thursday, April 2 at 4pm. If no money is received by Thursday, we will not order you a shirt. Students can use their fundraising credit to pay for their shirt! CLICK HERE TO PAY FOR YOUR SHIRT ONLINE.

Last week in class, your student received their individualized eligibility packet (below) regarding our spring trip to Typhoon Texas in Austin on Saturday, May 9 from 8:30am-6:00pm. The last page of the packet and any payments are due no later than Friday, April 10 by 4pm. This is a hard deadline and we are unable to accept any late forms since we have to order tickets ahead of time.

We accept cash, checks made out to BMS, or online payments that can be made at this link: https://bit.ly/bmsbandspringtrip. After all forms are collected, we will then send out a required permission slip and medical release form to be returned before students sign up for a bus partner.

We will have a Spring Trip Parent Meeting on Monday, May 4 at 5:30pm here in the BMS Band Hall for all parents going on the trip or those wanting to find out more details. Please message Mr. Pulley in ParentSquare if you have any questions.

Our End-of-Year Placement Auditions will begin April 20 during class for all 6th & 7th grade students. This audition serves as the individual assessment of each student's musical skills mastered from this school year. Think of this as the individual STAAR test for Band.

Audition results are final and will be posted on Friday, May 8 at 8:00am on our Announcement Window in the hallway. Please read the attachment below for more details.

Please click here to see all of the Band Events for this new school year in order to plan your family's activities. Remember, performances are a required part of our curriculum, so please contact a director ASAP for any conflicts.

Click on this link to sign up to become a district volunteer and complete the background check. Even if you have done this before, this process must be repeated every school year: Parent Chaperone Sign-Up. Please sign up for volunteer opportunities on your CutTime MagicLink.

We want to interact with you on social media, so be sure to Like, Follow, and Subscribe on all of the following platforms you use:

• YouTube Channel
• Parent Square Group
• Facebook Page
• Instagram Account
• Band Website
• Google Photos Album
• SoundCloud Channel
• Smore Newsletters

In the Belton MS Band, we form a partnership between teacher and student where both share responsibility in their musical development. Our team of teachers include middle school directors, private lesson instructors, high school directors, and even hired clinicians, masterclass teachers, and adjudicators. We also strive to communicate and produce strong partnerships with parents since their support is vital in their student's growth.

To that end, we as the teaching team provide Introduction, Comprehension, and Demonstration to students for their instruction. However, each student has a responsibility as well to facilitate Repetition in the form of practicing daily for at least 25 minutes, 5 days per week.

This means that instruments go home everyday to practice the concepts, patterns, and music that we go over daily in class. This leads to student Mastery of their music and ultimately of their instrument. Students have homework everyday in Band as they practice their instrument in preparation for performances and to continue their musical growth. Reach out to a director if you would like more information on how to better help and support the musical growth of your student.

Students should take their instruments home daily and we expect them to practice 5 days a week for at least 25 minutes. Students may also practice before school in the Band Hall starting at 7:30am every school day.

Parents, we implore you to help set up a consistent practice routine at home for your student. Students will not improve their musical skills on their instrument without practice outside of regular class time. The directors, we will teach your student what and how to practice, but we need your help in establishing when and how much they practice. The more they practice, the better they will get faster. Please review the How To Practice and Weekly XP Chart attachment below:

Click here to see the Calendar page of our website to find all of the current events, including special rehearsals, contests, and performances for the whole school year. We provide this so you can plan your family's activities. Remember, performances are a required part of our curriculum, so please contact a director ASAP for any conflicts. Be sure to view the List of Band Events that can be found clicking on the link.

We are looking for Beginner students and parents to help run our Advanced Solo Contest on Saturday, April 11 at BMS. Volunteers will help judges, monitor rooms, run forms to the directors, and keep the performance times on schedule.

This is a great opportunity for those students who need service hours with Scouts, NJHS, or other organization. Sign ups are in 2-hour time slots and use this form to sign up: https://bit.ly/solocontesthelper Thanks in advance!

Symphonic Band will have their next performance on Saturday, April 11 anytime from 9am-12:30pm at BMS. Students will prepare a solo to be performed one-on-one for a judge who is a professional musician who will give them comments, critique, and a rating.

Students must be academically eligible to attend this event. If they are not, they will perform their solo for a director earlier that week at school. These students' parents have already been informed via private ParentSquare message.

Students will need to arrive 10 minutes before their performance time in order to warm up before proceeding to their room to perform. After performing, students are then free to leave and can look up their rating afterwards on a shared Google Doc.

Our schedule is now open for parents to sign up their student for a time. Use the appropriate link below to sign up:

• Winds (woodwinds & brass): https://bit.ly/advancedsolo
• Percussion: https://bit.ly/percussionsolocontest

Wind Ensemble will have their next performance on Saturday, April 11 anytime from 9am-12:30pm at BMS. Students will prepare a solo to be performed one-on-one for a judge who is a professional musician who will give them comments, critique, and a rating.

Students must be academically eligible to attend this event. If they are not, they will perform their solo for a director earlier that week at school. These students' parents have already been informed via private ParentSquare message.

Students will need to arrive 10 minutes before their performance time in order to warm up before proceeding to their room to perform. After performing, students are then free to leave and can look up their rating afterwards on a shared Google Doc.

Our schedule is now open for parents to sign up their student for a time. Use the appropriate link below to sign up:

• Winds (woodwinds & brass): https://bit.ly/advancedsolo
• Percussion: https://bit.ly/percussionsolocontest

Email: beltonmsband@gmail.com

Website: beltonmsband.org
Call/Text: 254-262-3050

Address: 1704 Sparta Road, Belton, TX, USA

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