Hudson Hawk Band Updates

We are so excited to start the 2025-2026 school year! We hope you have had a wonderful summer and are ready to join us for an exciting year. We have been busy getting the band hall ready for you and are just about there. We also now have access to Portables 3 & 4 and will be using them for beginner tuba and percussion classes and sectionals. We have been receiving new instruments all summer and can't wait to start issuing these beautiful new instruments to our students!

On the first day of school, students DO NOT need to bring their instruments! We will spend that day going over procedures and expectations, issuing lockers, and getting to know each other.

You will receive a Smore newsletter once a month for band. Please take the time to read through the WHOLE thing each month. This is the best way to stay informed and the answers to MANY of your questions can be found within the Smore. Sometimes we do make updates to the Smore throughout the month and add details about events. When this happens, we will let you know to review the Smore for those updates. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read everything and know what's going on! Please make sure you have an accurate email address in Skyward so you receive all the information.

Starting the 2nd day of school, our procedures are as follows:

Morning Drop-off

The back door #11 (exterior band hall door) will open at 7:40am. Students may come in and drop off their instrument in their band locker. From 7:45-8:15am, students will be required to exit the exterior band hall door, walk around to the front of the school, and enter near the bike racks to sit in the cafeteria. After 8:15am, students will be allowed to leave the band hall and go inside the building to either the cafeteria or gym to wait to be released to 1st period. The only students allowed to stay in the band hall are band aides, students who have a morning sectional that day, or students who have a private lesson. On Monday mornings ONLY, the band hall will be open to all students for practice from 7:45am-8:40am.

**Students who are caught loitering outside of the band hall (exterior or interior door), will receive a warning the first time, a parent contact the 2nd time, a detention the 3rd time, and an office referral the 4th time. Student's placement in the band program will be in jeopardy if they reach a 4th time.**

Afternoon Pick-up

Band students are allowed and encouraged to come down to the band hall after school to pick up their instrument/binder and take them home to practice. Students will receive a sticker to place on the back of their student ID to identify them as band students. Parents can pick up band students at the back of the school (where the traffic is typically better anyway) outside of door #11. YOU MUST STOP IN THE LEFT LANE, WAIT FOR YOUR STUDENT TO LOAD THE CAR, AND ONLY USE THE RIGHT LANE AS A DRIVE THROUGH. Parents who repeatedly use the right lane to stop and pick up their student will not be allowed to continue using the back exit! Please be patient and cautious during drop-off and pick-up. STUDENT SAFETY IS OUR TOP PRIORITY!

PLEASE READ OUR MONTHLY SMORES! Most of the answers to questions I receive regularly are already in the Smore. We take a lot of time to try and keep you informed as much as possible. Please do your part by reading ALL of the information.

With a band program our size, it is important to follow a chain of command. If you have a question or an issue, please start by contacting the teacher of your student's class:

Mrs. Becker - Wind Symphony (Varsity), Beginner Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Saxophone

Mr. Clark - Honors Band (Non-Varsity), Beginner Trumpet, French Horn, Euphonium

Ms. Ball - Symphonic Band (Sub Non-Varsity), Beginner Trombone, Tuba

Mrs. Manaois - Advanced Band Percussion

Mr. Tucker - Beginner Percussion

If your child's teacher cannot help, they will help connect you with the person who can!

The best way to contact the band directors is through email. Please know that we team-teach our classes and each of us only has one 45-minute conference period each day. If you haven't received a response to your message within 48 hours, please message us again. We all strive to respond within 24 hours, but that isn't always realistic.

We have turned off notifications on Parent Square and the Band App in an effort to disconnect from work while we are not at school. Through the Band App, you will have many parents who can chime in and help answer your questions there. We have a lot of families who are on their 3rd and 4th child in our program and who are great at helping answer questions.

We are all setting boundaries to leave work at work (as much as possible), so we can be more present for our families at home. We will not be responding to emails on weekends/holidays. We spend many extra hours and days with your students, who we love, but our families must come first. Thank you so much for your understanding and for showing us grace as we put these boundaries in place.

The BAND app is the quickest way for us to communicate with you and we use it often. You can sign up for the BAND app by clicking on the link for the group you wish to join: ALL Band Parents & Students, 25-26 Beginner Band, Symphonic Band, Honors Band, Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, Parents ONLY. We will send reminders about upcoming concerts, when practice records are due, sectionals, etc. Please sign up for this wonderful service!

You can find all of the Beginner Band supply lists for each instrument on our band website. They're found on the handouts page, where there's also a list of our recommended music stores that can help you rent instrument or purchase necessary supplies. Don't wait to get your supplies ordered - it takes a few days for the stores to fill the orders and you don't want your student to miss out on the first sounds of the year with their class!

Much like the beginner band year, as students continue with band there are new/different/extra supplies that will be needed. Many of these are the same supplies that we requested for this past year, so if your student will be an 8th grader, they likely already have these supplies. Please make sure your student has these supplies when we start school. The supplies on the list have been linked to Amazon to try and make it super easy for you - just add to cart and check out!

This year we will be using a fine arts management program called Presto (the same program we used last year for our returning families). This program allows us to keep track of band finances, inventory, music library, uniforms, communicate with members, and much more. On Friday, August 15th, all new parents and students will receive a welcome email from Presto with details on how to log in. You will be able to see upcoming events, outstanding balances, make online payments, keep track of your student's school-owned uniforms and inventory, etc. This system works very well for our unique program needs and we hope you'll take the time to explore the program and watch the quick video tutorial below.

The BEST investment you can make for your student's musical education is with PRIVATE LESSONS! We have the most wonderful group of private teachers around who are dedicated to providing quality one-on-one instruction to our students. Most of our teachers have been working with our students already this summer at our camps and have already told me how much they are enjoying getting to know your students. To sign your student up for private lessons, fill out this enrollment form and get it back to us ASAP. The teachers will schedule students as soon as they receive their enrollment form, so be first to get the most desired lesson time! Private lessons are $25 each week, payable directly to the private teacher. If finances are the only thing keeping your student out of lessons, we do have limited scholarship money available to help. This private lesson scholarship application is due Friday, August 23rd. We will issue scholarships at that time to as many students as possible, based on financial need. If you would like to contact the private teacher for your student's instrument, you can find all of our teachers' contact information on this page.

All band students will be issued a band locker on the first day of school. Band lockers are for storing band instruments and band binders during the school day. We expect all students to take home both their binder and their instrument EVERY DAY because consistent practice is the best way to improve on an instrument. We do have combination locks available to students who request one, but we do not initially issue locks with the lockers. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND students to keep their locker locked all the time. Students are welcome to bring their own locks, however, they are REQUIRED to either share the combination with the band directors or give us a copy of the key. We do our very best to keep things safe, but the best way you can help yourself is to lock your locker and LABEL ALL OF YOUR BAND SUPPLIES! I purchased THIS LOCK for my own child to use for ease of use and time constraints at the beginning and end of class.

All band students will receive a packet with 4 required band handbook forms that need to be returned by August 29th. The 4 required forms are:

1. Handbook Acknowledgement Form

2. Hudson Band Fees Form

3. Video, Image, and Audio Release Form

4. Field Trip Release Form

There is a link to the band handbook at the bottom of this Smore. We will also go over all of this in detail (including the required fees) at our band parent meetings on August 21. You can find the forms here, but they will also be given to your student on Tuesday, August 12th in physical form.

Music for All is hosting a Zoom meeting for parents of participating students. There are 2 options for the meeting: August 18th or August 25th. Both evenings the meeting will begin at 7pm. Please make plans to attend one of these 2 Zoom meetings. The MFA staff will be sharing a lot of information about the festival and will be able to answer many questions. Mrs. Becker will email the link to the Zoom meeting as soon as it becomes available to her.

Students in the Advanced Bands will begin their biweekly before/after school sectionals the week of August 25th. Sectionals are required and grades will be given during sectionals. Please make arrangements to schedule appointments on the off days or weeks so your student does not miss these important rehearsals. Please see the links below for the sectional schedule for each band.

We will set the sectional schedule by the beginning of the 2nd week of school, after finding out which students are involved in certain school activities so we can avoid as many conflicts as possible. Check back here on August 19th to see the published sectional schedules for the fall semester.

As you are doing your back-to-school shopping, if you feel inclined to donate any items to the HMS Band, we do have an Amazon wishlist for our classroom. We are so grateful for any and all donations we receive, as well as just your support! Other items that we use frequently and would gladly accept any donations of are paper plates, bottled water (8oz bottles are wasted less than 16oz bottles), and reams of copy paper.

August

• 19 - Wind Symphony Music for All Zoom Meeting (7:00pm) - link will be sent via email
• 25 - Wind Symphony Music For All Zoom Meeting (7:00pm) - REPEAT MEETING ONLY ATTEND IF MISSED ON AUGUST 19
• 29 - Practice-a-Thon kick off in all band classes

September

• 22 - 7th/8th Grade Football Game performance for ALL Advanced Bands @ Sachse HS (5-8pm)
• 26 - Practice-a-Thon Fundraiser @ Hudson MS (6-10pm)

October

• 3 - Middle School Band Night w/ Sachse HS Band @ HBJ Stadium (5:00-9:30pm) - ADVANCED BAND STUDENTS ONLY
• 6 - 7th/8th Grade Football Game performance for ALL Advanced Bands @ Sachse HS (5-8pm)
• 7 - Beginner Woodwind Demonstrations @ HMS (during student band class period)
• 9 - Beginner Brass & Percussion Demonstrations @ HMS (during student band class period)
• 18 - Jazz Band Wheels of Hope Performance @ Downtown Garland (8:30am-12:00pm)
• 29 - Advanced Bands Fall Concert @ SHS Auditorium (6:00pm)

November

• 8 - GISD All-District Auditions for WS & HB @ Lakeview Centennial HS (time TBA)
• 15 - TMEA Region 3 All-Region Auditions for WS & HB @ Rockwall Heath HS (time TBA)

December

• 9 - Advanced Bands Epic Waters Festival
• 11 - Beginner Band after school rehearsal @ Hudson Band Hall (4:15-5:30pm)
• 12-13 - GISD All-District Band Clinic/Concert for qualifying WS & HB students @ Lakeview

Centennial HS (time TBA)

• 15 - Beginner Band Holiday Concert @ Sachse HS (stay after school - perform @ 6:00pm)
• 16 - Advanced Bands Holiday Concert @ Sachse HS (6:00pm)
• 17 - Wind Symphony Holiday Elementary Tour @ Sewell, Lister, & Armstrong

On August 29th we will kick off our Practice-a-Thon fundraiser for ALL band students! This fundraiser is the biggest one we do all year long and the most fun for our students. All students will receive a PAT packet with materials explaining the fundraiser, scripts to use, business letters to share, and of course prize info! Parents will all receive an email on that day with a link to your student's personal fundraiser website to share with friends, family, social media, etc. The funds we raise will cover clinicians, music purchases, instrument repair/maintenance, copier maintenance, field trip discounts, and more! We hope that you will all participate and join us for our Practice-a-Thon party on September 26! Be on the lookout for more details about how you can help with the fundraiser party and donations we need to make the party a success.

It’s never too early to get a jump-start on reaching out to corporate band sponsors! This year we have multiple levels of band sponsorships so potential donors can decide how they would like to support our band. Corporate sponsors in any of the five sponsorship levels will have their business logo included on our band website and in concert programs the entire school year. Feel free to print this flyer about the Hudson Band and the sponsorship levels and reach out to businesses in your life. (The flier is being updated and will be added soon!) Have your student ask a band director for copies of the flier too! Feel free to contact us at fundraising@hudsonband.org if you have any questions because we're excited about fundraising and the opportunities we want to provide our students this year!

Heather Becker - Director

Chris Clark - Assistant Director

Rachel Ball - Assistant Director

Sue Manaois - Percussion Director

Garrett Tucker - Sachse Cluster Percussion Director

Website: www.hudsonband.org

Phone: 972-675-3070 ext. 52218
Facebook: facebook.com/hudsonmsband

Instagram: instagram.com/hudsonhawkband