THE Houston Band

Hello Houston Band family,

It was so great to see everyone at Baskin-Robbins for our first spirit night and then at the high school for uniform fittings. After a few days of school, I'm already excited for how much learning has happened and to see just how far we will go as a band this year!

I'll start this newsletter with one simple and exciting statistic. Our band program has grown by 64 students in the last two school years. This growth has been so exciting to see. I can't wait to see what opportunities we can provide as we continue to build our program!

With excitement and gratitude,

Mr. C

In your email (for active members; if you are a former member who wants to fundraise, reach out!), you have received calendar fundraiser information. This is a FAST fundraiser, and we need everyone to participate as much as possible. You have a link to an individual webpage for your student. On that webpage, there is a calendar-like grid of boxes, from 1 to 31. Each box corresponds to a number of dollars that are needed to "fill" the box. Our goal is to "fill" all of the calendars.

This fundraiser is great for a few reasons:

1. Everyone can participate. Not everyone has $31+ to donate, but just about everyone in your family's life can spare a dollar.
2. You can fundraise hard without having to distribute 1000 pounds of frozen goods in a few months.
3. Extended family, out of town friends, and online community can all contribute in a way that is not possible with traditional fundraising.

If everyone in the band fills their calendar, we will raise around $80,000. This will greatly reduce the burden of fundraising the remainder of the year and allow us to pay for many of the things that make our band great without increasing the burden of band dues:

• Adjunct staff
• Instruments
• Repair
• Camps
• Food/Drinks at events
• Uniforms
• Much, much, much, more!

If you didn't receive this email from me earlier this afternoon, reach out ASAP!

Pit Crew volunteers help move equipment for the marching band at home football games and competitions throughout the season. It’s a great way to support the Houston Band Boosters, and meet other band parents, and be directly involved in your student’s band experience.

Best of all, helping the Pit Crew puts you right there with the band, where you'll have a front row seat for every performance! No experience necessary, just a willingness to be part of the team!

Please click on the button below to sign up. Thank you!

The Houston Band Pit Crew Sign-Up

You have ONE week to order merch!

Show your Mustang pride and support THE Houston Band at football games this fall. Grab your WE WERE BORN READY! merch now — this store closes August 17. If we receive enough sales, we can have this merch ready for pickup before the first home game. Follow the link in our Instagram bio (@thehoustonbandboosters) to shop or go to this link. Let's pack the stands in band gear!

Thanks again,

Keri

The easiest way to pay band dues is by check (no cash) on any school day. Give the check to Mr. Carpenter with your member's full legal name clearly printed on the memo line. You can pay in full if you are able ($550) or just the first payment if needed ($275, due August 15). Online payments (with a significant processing fee out of band staff control) will be collected via SchoolCashOnline soon if you prefer that option.

If you registered later or this is your first newsletter you've received, please don't over-stress about timeliness of band dues. I don't expect everyone to be able to send a $275 check with four days' notice. If you're able to send them on time, please do. If not, just have a plan and reach out me (kevin.carpenter@gmsdk12.org) with questions!

If you work for or own a company that makes charitable contributions to nonprofits, please reply and let me know. I'll put you in contact with our booster parents on how to make a tax-deductible donation to our HHS Band Boosters, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports our band operations!

Please read these few bullet points, follow the simple instructions, and make a huge impact on the future of a young musician and our band program!

Please know that word of mouth is our best recruiter for the amazing band programs here at Houston High School and within all 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 5th grade within GMSD, let them know about the transformative experience band has been in your students' lives. The HMS and RK8 band programs are some of the biggest activities on their respective campuses, and they immediately plug students into social and musical opportunities! JOIN THE BAND
• If you know a GMSD 7th or 8th grader that loves band and is considering private school options, please encourage them to reach out to me about our amazing band (along with curricular and extracurricular) offerings at HHS! We offer deeper, more diverse instrumental music opportunities than the vast majority of schools that HMS and RK8 students transfer into, and many families frankly don't know that's the case because of how much some schools highlight the more limited programs in their brochures.
• If you know a talented non-GMSD 8th grader that wants to be in a great school band program, let them know about our academies, which enable a limited number of non-Germantown students preferred-transfers into our amazing school district. Some of our most musically-talented, strongly-contributing, highly-involved members are part of our band through these life-changing academy opportunities! Academies often stay open until the beginning of the school year!
• If you are a freshman or parent of a freshman with friends in the RK8 or HMS band programs, reach out to those friends/family friends about continuing their band journey at HHS! Get the "band" back together! Your call or text can be the difference between a student joining and not joining. It is not too late to add the band elective if a student wants to participate.

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 GMSD Bands at any level, I'm more than happy to field those questions. Folks can email me at kevin.carpenter@gmsdk12.org.

They can also check out our info page about band here: https://www.thehoustonband.com/join

Any day during class when the weather is nice, we will be outside (including tomorrow)! Please plan ahead with sunscreen, water, and a change of clothes if needed. We will start with more transition time this week and build the skill of getting outside/ready faster as we progress into our first full week of school next year.

We will be out basically every day we can. Our class time is now our full rehearsal time because we have access to the field in the morning instead of the parking lot at 3pm. It will be much nicer but still HOT! Let me know if you have any questions.

If you feel like dues are restricting your ability to participate in band, please reach out ASAP to see what we can do for you to ensure you have access to our amazing programming!

Unless you need a hardship extension (email me!), band dues will be frontloaded to the beginning of the school year. We do this to open up the rest of the year for (optional) trip payments and to make sure we stay in a good financial position through marching season.

Payment 1: $275 due on August 15

Payment 2: $275 due on September 15

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 upcoming ACT dates with no conflicts are: October 17 and February 27, 2027.

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: September 19 (Mini Camp Rain Date), December 12 (Gtown Holiday Parade). Please plan accordingly.

As we get closer to next school year, we will know more dates that will/won't work with the ACT for the spring of 2027 semester.

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.

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.

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