THE Houston Band

Hello Houston Band family,

Today, I'm thankful for the hard work of so many young musicians that led to the exceptional "All West" results we achieved. We're proud of every student who auditioned, and we are excited to keep working with every member of our band as they improve their craft.

We have a busy few weeks when we're back from Thanksgiving break, so please read the Announcements section carefully!

With excitement and gratitude,

Mr. C

I still have my high school band ornaments. Two are at my parents' house, one is at my home, and one goes on my office tree at work. I love hanging up ornaments every year and thinking back on the memories associated with them. We are excited to continue offering amazing ornaments as a fundraiser and a way to hold memories each holiday season, created by the amazing Alison Coons (former Band President extraordinaire!).

Buy an ornament (or a few--they're fantastic grandparent gifts!) today at the booster's Givebacks page, for pickup at the Holiday Concert!

https://houstonhighband.givebacks.com/shop/items/1139302

CONGRATULATIONS to the fifty students that made the All West list this year! That's almost half of our band!! We can't wait to go downtown and represent Houston High School at this annual event. For folks' who are going with us for the first time, we stay downtown overnight. Find a rough outline of what that event looks like below:

Thursday early morning: Jazz students arrive, drop off bags, blue band students audition for All-State, begin rehearsals. Jazz students should pack an easy lunch for this day

Thursday late morning: All other students arrive (eat before arriving!), drop off bags, start rehearsals

Thursday evening: Students check into their hotel rooms and are served dinner at the hotel

Thursday night: More rehearsals, followed by room check

Friday morning: Breakfast in your room (most people bring pastries/fruit/etc., but you can also buy breakfast in the hotel lobby), followed by rehearsals

Friday late morning/early afternoon: Students walk to Texas de Brazil together and eat lunch

Friday afternoon: More rehearsals

Friday evening: Students are served dinner at their hotel

Friday night: Orchestra and jazz concerts (all HHS students attend the concert)

Saturday morning: All other band concerts, students dismissed to parents after conclusion of concert

While all west audition fees are included in every student's band dues, all west clinic fees are not. We will have an exact amount to send out soon, but we anticipate this year's clinic/hotel/food for each student costing approximately $250-$300. Ideally, students will pay this before the clinic, but if people need a payment plan that goes through the second semester, that's fine. Just communicate ahead of time. We lean on the side of charging a little under the anticipated cost, with our amazing boosters covering anything that goes over.

If you're unhappy with chair placements or all west results, please consider asking about private lessons. Mr. Sims and I are happy to give all students a few free one-on-one lessons each year before or after school. We are also happy to provide recommendations for great lessons teachers in the area for students that want to push themselves further as individual musicians. Our core goal as a band is ensemble musicianship, and lessons are a great way to supplement that instruction.

Private lessons make a great gift and can help students secure potential music scholarships and honors ensemble experiences! All five of our All-State students this year are enrolled in regular private lessons.

If you are a handy individual who wants to contribute to our band, we are working on overhauling the trailer over this off-season to better serve the needs of our program. If you'd like to help, please reach out to Mr. Sims and me. brian.sims@gmsdk12.org; kevin.carpenter@gmsdk12.org

Another email went out to families who are missing payments of band dues. Please check your spam folder for an email from kevin.carpenter@gmsdk12.org if you're not positive you've paid in full yet. We are happy to work together to find a payment plan that works for every family.

Our school district provides a bit over $60,000 to run our program each year, and it costs significantly more than that to operate at the level we do. A large portion of those funds comes from band dues, our amazing boosters, and generous private donors.

If you want to keep the spirit of Audrey II alive, consider contributing in our silent auction for this amazing costume created by band alumnus Emma Tunnell! The student who purchases the costume is allowed to wear it in the Germantown Holiday Parade this year if desired!

I cannot wait for our annual holiday concert on Thursday, December 11th at 6pm. Doors will open at 5:30pm. The concert will likely conclude by 7pm.

Important info at a glance:

• The order of the concert is: Silver Note Collective (jazz band), Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble.
• Students must stay the full length of the concert. Do not plan on leaving early--students supporting their peers is the most important part of the night.
• There will be an in-person merch sale at the concert, featuring some great Houston Band branded items!
• Hot cocoa will be available for sale both before the concert and during the transition from the jazz ensemble to the concert ensembles.
• Students will wear their concert attire to this performance. Students were fitted for this in August, and it will be passed out in the coming weeks. If your performer has grown significantly since then, please reach out ASAP. We can size up as needed.
• Both concert ensembles are performing a combination of secular and nonsecular holiday music. If you have a reason to not allow your student to perform and/or rehearse secular and/or nonsecular music, reach out immediately. We will get a plan together for alternative assignments for your young musician if there is a religious reservation to participation in this cycle. Those requests are due this Friday, 11/21/25.

The annual Germantown Holiday Parade takes place on the second Saturday of December every year (rain date on the immediately following Sunday). This year, the parade will be on December 13th (rain date 12/14). Per our syllabus and multiple email communications dating back months, the ACT is not a valid conflict for this event. Our call time will be in the mid-late morning, and the parade festivities will go through the mid-afternoon. Please let me know if you have a conflict ASAP.

We will rehearse after school on Friday December 12th, which will go as late as 4:45pm. Typically, we finish by around 4pm. If the rehearsal is rained out, we will rehearse the morning of the parade.

Note: Per our syllabus, if you have a conflict with the RAIN DATE you must communicate that ahead of time with one month's notice, just like any other conflict. "We have an event tomorrow" will NOT be a valid reason to get out of the rain date performance. Please plan ahead and reach out ASAP if you have a conflict with that rain date.

Our next ensemble auditions/chair placements will take place on December 15th and 16th. Those auditions will feature the following:

• an 8-24 measure excerpt from that concert cycle (released to students December 1st)
• a full range chromatic scale
• one (randomly selected) major scale
• a 4-8 measure sight reading excerpt

Those auditions will be fast-paced to get done in two days. Be ready!

Color guard drill camp will take place on December 14th (or December 13th if the parade happens on the 14th). Information around time/expectations will be sent out by Mrs. Roberts. Basically, this is like a day of band camp for our color guard students in anticipation of their indoor season, which goes through Q3 and the beginning of Q4.

As we approach school/elective choice season this winter, please know that word of mouth is our best recruiter for the amazing band programs here at Houston High School and within the GMSD Bands. I hope you have seen firsthand the transformative power of instrumental music education and band as an activity.

If you have a friend, neighbor, family member, or ANYONE else in your life in 4th or 5th grade within GMSD, let them know about the transformative experience band has been in your students' lives. If you know an 8th grader that wants to be in a great band but doesn't live in Germantown, let them know about our academies. We are so excited to continue building our program's numbers back to more sustainable levels, but that takes work from everyone. Thank you for helping with that work!

If anyone has ANY questions about band at any level, I'm more than happy to field those questions.

From booster president Deanna Gilbert:

Our Booster Board is looking to fill some vacant spots and this is a perfect opportunity for some of our new families to join in behind the scenes of supporting the band. Specifically we are in need of a Booster Secretary (takes minutes at monthly Booster meetings and invites various admin, city leaders and school board to events), a Uniform Co-Chair or 2 (will assist Uniform Chair Erica McCarrens in getting our students ready for games and competitions), and a Publicity Chair (takes pictures at events, updates social media and assists in event promotions). If you are interested or have any questions please reach out to Booster President Deanna Gilbert at dlgilbert3@bellsouth.net.

It is extremely important to plan ahead for ACT dates when you are in band, as we often have Saturday events outside of our scheduling control. The ACT dates with no conflicts are (2026:) April 11 for most students, June 13, and July 11.

That is more than enough dates to take the ACT an adequate number of times. Missing a band event for the ACT is NOT excused. We understand the inconvenience of not having these dates available, but all of these Saturdays are outside of our scheduling control. Our ACT date conflicts this year are: December 13 (Holiday Parade), February 14 (All West), and April 11 (for All State Students only). Please plan accordingly.

The road to all west starts today! The band room will be open to practice in the mornings from 7:00-7:45 and after school M/W until 4:10pm. If you want specific one-on-one help, ask Mr. Sims or Mr. C in advance for a free 20-30 minute lesson!

If you work at or own a business (big or small!), please consider sponsoring the band. Our booster president Mrs. Gilbert has created the following sponsorship document that is printable to present to interested parties. We are grateful to all businesses that support arts education in Germantown.

Please note, students that miss rehearsals and performances without prior approval will be penalized with grade deductions. All you have to do is give us as MUCH heads up as possible, emailing me the reason for missing and (when relevant) a doctor's note. Please note that the closer we get to a date, the less likely exemption will be granted. Give us time to plan for other students' success when sending us your reasonable conflicts due to health, religion, family emergencies, etc.

Please look ahead in our calendar when scheduling routine doctor or dental care. Your appointment may have been scheduled for six months, but our calendar has been set for 18 months. If you have an immovable appointment, let me know ASAP, not the day before. The former will be exempt, and the latter will not.

Thank you for your understanding and commitment to our band's success!

Mr. Sims has created a list of some practice resources for students. If you have any additional resources that have been helpful for you, please feel free to share them!

• The Woodwind Fingering Guide
• "Fingering Chart by Tremolo" on iOS
• PlayScore 2
• Sight Reading Factory (see Mr. C for activation instructions at the start of band camp)
• MusicRacer.com (note that there are strobing lights in this game)

Additionally, students have reported having improved outcomes utilizing the Tonic App. I've heard comparisons to the popular running app Strava, but for music. Parents, please feel free to explore this option for your young musician but be advised that there is a social media element to this app.

Find upcoming dates for performances, events, and one-off rehearsals below. Note that regular rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays, with sectionals on Mondays.

You can always find our full calendar (including Google and iCal integration links) here: https://www.thehoustonband.com/calendar

Upcoming Dates

• 11/11/25 - Holiday concert rehearsals begin (Tuesdays Concert Band, Thursdays Wind Ensemble)
• 11/22/25 - WTSBOA All West Auditions
• 12/11/25 - Holiday Concert (@ HHS, 6pm)
• 1/8/26 - After school rehearsals begin for CPA cycle (Tuesdays or Thursdays, depending on ensemble)
• 1/28/26 to 2/1/26- Spring Trip - Universal Studios!!
• 2/12/26-2/14/26 - WTSBOA All West Clinic
• 2/21/26 - CPA/Festival Mini Camp (@ HHS, all day)
• 3/12/26 OR 3/13/26 - WTSBOA Concert Performance Assessment
• 4/9/26-4/12/25 - TnMEA All State Clinic and Conference
• Possible Spring Concert Dates: April 30, May 1, May 5 (awaiting venue confirmation)
• 5/8/26 - Graduation

• July 13-18, 2026: Color guard and percussion camp

• July 20-25, 2026: Full camp

• July 28, 2026: Summer rehearsal 1

• July 30, 2026: Summer rehearsal 2

• August 6, 2026: Begin after school rehearsals (every Tuesday/Thursday)

• September 12, 2026: Mini camp

• September 19, 2026: Possible contest "0" (unlikely but possible depending on rest of season's schedule--leave open!)

• September 26, 2026: Contest 1

• October 3, 2026: Contest 2

• October 24, 2026: Contest 3 or Film Session (do not schedule an ACT test)

• October 31, 2026: Contest 3 or Film Session

• November 7, 2026: Possible contest 4 (depending on Bandmasters scheduling, TBD by UofM football schedule)

• December 10, 2026: Holiday Concert

• December 12, 2026: Holiday Parade

• December 13, 2026: Holiday Parade makeup date

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