GTJHS Band Weekly Newsletter

Long Time, No Speak! I apologize for the lack of newsletters since the new year has happened. I have been pretty swamped with professional and personal aspects of my life and I appreciate everyone's patience and flexibility. I hope everyone's 2nd Semester is off to a great start! I definitely miss seeing so many of my Fall students and Marching Band members every day, but I am enjoying working with a new group of students (with many familiar faces) in Concert Band, Piano, and Music Technology! Now back to our regularly scheduled program!

Indoor Percussion and Color Guard! Both programs are pushing forward very well and are preparing for their first show in 2 weeks at Century High School! Please see below for the TENTATIVE schedules for the competition! Moving forward, we will have rehearsals every Saturday, the times are subject to change due to facility usage and other conflicts within the school.

Check the Lost and Found! Final call! All non-collected items will be taken to the school lost and found at the end of the week!

All County! Congratulations to the following students on their involvement in the HS All County Band Ensemble on Saturday, January 25th: Rita Durum, Grey Fell, Josh Lavo, Janelle Neely, Cora Preda, and Wesley Smith. The Concert was wonderful and they represented our band program with pride!

Course Registration! Course registration for next year is due at the end of this week! Please make sure you register using the google form located on your respective Class Year Schoology Group (example: Class of 2026 Schoology Group). Below you will find the letter sent out to the middle schools regarding the instrumental music programs at GTJHS and a sample schedule showing how students can take a music class year round and still have room in their schedule for other electives during their time in High School.

Academic Planning! Please consider coming out to Academic Planning night on Wednesday, February 5th from 5:30-7:30 PM to learn more about the courses offered here at GTJHS and potential avenues for student achievement during their time in High School. I would love to have some students come help out and stand at the table that we will have set up!

Pep Rally! There will be a Pep Rally on Friday, February 14th at the end of the school day. The Drumline has been asked to perform at the end of the pep rally (per usual). We will run the same outdoor line (Marching Band) for this performance unless otherwise I say otherwise. The Marching Band will also be getting recognized with the other Winter Sports Teams for their accomplishments during the Fall Season. I will send more information next week about this.

Thank you!

- Mr. Gasemy

Monday, February 3rd

Indoor Percussion Rehearsal 6:00-9:00 PM

Tuesday, February 4th

Pit Orchestra Rehearsal 2:30-4:00 PM

Indoor Color Guard Rehearsal 6:00-9:00 PM

Wednesday, February 5th

Academic Planning Night 5:30-7:30 PM

Thursday, February 6th

Pit Orchestra Rehearsal 2:30-4:00 PM

Indoor Percussion Rehearsal 6:00-9:00 PM

Indoor Color Guard Rehearsal 6:00-9:00 PM

AFA Music Compositions Performance 7:00 PM

Friday, February 7th

Nothing Band Related! Go Support our friends on Academic Team

Saturday, February 8th

Indoor Percussion Rehearsal 9:00 AM-4:00 PM

Indoor Color Guard Rehearsal 9:00 AM-4:00 PM

KIDA!!! Mark your calendars! March 8th is our Annual KIDA Indoor Percussion and Color Guard Competition. We currently have 38 (THIRTY EIGHT!!!) groups registered for our show (including our very own Indoor Percussion and Color Guard Programs). We also have 7 Independent Programs registered! This is huge for us. This also means that we will probably have a lot of people just coming out to our show to see these groups and they may have no affiliation with a school or anything. This show is a massive undertaking and this information is only making the event larger than ever!! This is an all-hands-on-deck! We will have tentative schedules coming out soon!

Cookie Sales! Thank you to all who sold cookies and everyone who is making cookies for the boxes. Pickup is from 11 AM-2 PM in the Band Hallways at GTJHS (enter through the back doors by the band room). We also need some help with packing up the cookie boxes the night prior at 7 PM on Friday, February 7th! Please contact for Rebecca.lavo@gmail.com for any questions or you can sign up on the following Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054BABAD2AA1FC1-54240412-valentines#/

IHOP Fundraiser! We have an IHOP fundraiser on Tuesday, February 11th at the IHOP near Wegmans! In order for them to keep us on the schedule and get the fundraiser, we have to have 20 people RSVP. Please use this link if you would like to RSVP! Thank you! https://www.groupraise.com/events/293778

Booster Contacts. If you have any questions or concerns, please use the following contacts for the Executive Board of the Band Boosters:

• Moira Fisher, President - tjbbpresident@gmail.com
• Sherry McCoy-Quinones, Vice President 1 - tjbbvp1@gmail.com
• Cindy Canizales, Secretary - secretarytjbb@gmail.com
• Kim Belisle, Treasurer - tjbandtreasurer@gmail.com
• Student Accounts - tjbbstdntaccts@gmail.com
• Nick Gasemy, Director - Nicholas.Gasemy@fcps.org

Don't forget that we should be filling in absence forms for any known rehearsals that we will be missing!

Here is our TENTATIVE schedule for the KIDA Century Competition for both Percussion and Color Guard. The reason I say it is tentative is because some groups may drop or add up until 1 week prior to the actual show. Our time frame won't change too much if this changes, but there is a chance. I have included specific times for both Color Guard and Percussion as well as big picture times for both groups together.

FAQs

Are both the Percussion and Color Guard traveling together? YES. Both ensembles will be traveling together for the entirety of the regular season (everything minus Championships which are on separate days).

How do these competitions differ from Marching Band? These competitions are very similar to Marching Band, but as the name suggests, they are operated out of the Indoor aspect of the schools. All of the warm up locations are inside of the building and the competitive arena is in the gyms of these schools. We will obviously have to unload our equipment outside of the building and move it inside, but for the most part, we are inside. I encourage everyone to go to a show at some point prior to our home show to see the overall flow of things and get an idea.

Are there still pit crew and chaperone volunteers? Yes! We will still need some help to move equipment and help students out. Definitely not as much as marching band as there is less things, but we will still need the help. I will coordinate with the boosters for how many we will need and we will reach out for the help that we need in the coming week!

KIDA Century 2/15 - TENTATIVE

Everyone

9:00 AM - Rehearsal Begins

12:00 PM - Load, Pack, and Eat

1:15 PM - Depart GTJHS

2:00 PM - Arrive at CHS

2:15 PM - Unload/Bathroom (Guard Staff and Gasemy to Gym for Sound Check)

2:30 PM - Students go to Staging Area (Most likely Auditorium)

2:50 PM - Guard to Warm-Up

Guard Schedule

3:01 PM - Body Warm Up (Location B/Band Room)

3:15 PM - Move to Equipment Warm Up

3:18 PM - Equipment Warm Up (Location D/Aux Gym 2)

3:32 PM - Leave Equipment Warm Up

3:35 PM - Gate

3:42 PM - PERFORM (TJ Percussion will help with Floor/Equipment)

3:49 PM - Return to Trailer and Load up

4:15 PM - Go back into the School

5:17 PM - Old Line Independent Color Guard Performance (TJCG help with Floor/Equipment)

5:37 PM - CG Awards

6:00 PM - Go Support Percussion!

Percussion Schedule

3:00 PM - Go Support Color Guard!

5:37 PM - CG Awards

6:26 PM - Warm Up (Location A/Stage)

6:42 PM - Leave Warm Up

6:45 PM - Gate

6:53 PM - PERFORM (TJCG help with Floor/Equipment)

7:01 PM - Return to Trailer and Load

7:54 PM - Old Line Independent Percussion Performance (TJ Percussion help with Floor/Equipment)

8:14 PM - Percussion Awards

Everyone

9:00 PM - Depart CHS

9:45 PM - Arrive/Unload at GTJHS

10:15 PM - Dismissal from GTJHS

For those of you who are still returning next year (sorry Seniors :( we will miss you), please don't forget to fill out your class registration google forms in your respective Schoology Classes! If you are looking for ways to help build your schedules, please see the attached letter sent out to 8th grade families at our Feeder Middle School programs. On page 2, there is a sample schedule of what a 4 year schedule might look like if a student registered for Music courses year round and how they can make it work to still have 4 extra elective courses in their schedule.

Please let me know if there are any questions. I will also have physical copies of this at Academic Planning night tomorrow night.