THE Houston Band

Hello Houston Band family,

It's almost time for band camp! Please carefully read this email to get information about the busiest week of our band's year!

It is critical that many members make the recommended donation of chips, desserts, water, and sport drink to ensure an effective camp. Please see the announcements below for which classes donate which items, along with our other important announcements.

With excitement and gratitude,

Mr. C

We are excited to see everyone at the upcoming ice cream social/ member meeting Sunday, July 19th! This is an opportunity for everyone in our band family to come together to share a tasty treat and get on the same page for the year.

Ice cream starts at 3pm, and the meeting will begin at 3:30pm. We should be finished no later than 4:15pm. It will either be in the band room or the cafeteria, depending on construction status of spaces at the end of this week. If possible, please bring dues to this event (see info below).

Please fill out this emergency contact form ASAP! If you have not completed it yet, it is late! https://forms.gle/nuzJFN9KyNSZkVCX9

Because most percussionists don't have access to their specific instrument at home, we offer open practice time during percussion camp week from 3:30-4:30. It is important that as many members as possible take advantage of that time to practice their individual parts! Please encourage your student to stay the full length of camp, to 4:30.

If you have not filled out the volunteer form or committed to bringing lunch items, please read the "Volunteering and Lunch Donations" section under "Repeat Announcements."

Please donate according to your student’s grade level where possible (though all items are accepted from everyone):

• Freshmen: Individually wrapped chips
• Sophomores: Individually wrapped desserts
• Juniors: 12 oz. bottles of water and Gatorade
• Seniors: Individually wrapped chips

We would also love fresh fruit donations throughout the week from anyone who is able swing by with any each morning.

We still need more hands to help serve lunch and keep our first aid tent staffed. Thank you!

The easiest way to pay band dues is by check (no cash) at our member meeting/ice cream social. Give the check to Mr. Carpenter or Mr. Sims at the door 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). Once the school year starts, online payments (with a significant processing fee) will be collected via SchoolCashOnline if you prefer that option.

If it is not a major burden to frontload your payments, please consider doing so. Taking care of this ahead of time on Sunday 7/26 enables us to immediately fund the needs of our season without waiting for the first payment deadline of 8/15.

HHS is offering reserved, chairback season tickets for the first time this year. If you are interested in regular season tickets closer to the middle of the field, you can find info here: https://gofan.co/season/177933

Note: most band parents sit closer to the band rather than in the middle section. Up to you!

Find below a message from our booster vice president John Hagan:

Houston Band Families,

It’s almost time for summer band, and we are excited to get this season started! These camps are such an important part of building a strong, successful, and connected band program, and we need our amazing band families to help make it all happen.

Please take a few minutes to review the dates, volunteer needs, and donation requests below. Every shift covered and every item donated makes a real difference for our students.

Band Camp

Dates: July 20–25
Time: 7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Full Band Camp is one of the biggest weeks of the year, and it takes all of us working together to make it successful.

We need parents/guardians to help with first aid each day.

Volunteer shifts needed each day:

• 7:30–11:30 a.m.
• 12:30–4:30 p.m.

We also need parent volunteers to help with lunches each day of Full Band Camp.

These needs are essential. We truly cannot run these events successfully without parent and guardian support, and we are counting on everyone to pitch in where they can.

Lunch Donation Requests

The Band Boosters will provide the entrees for lunch during Full Band Camp. We are asking families to help round out the meals by donating additional lunch supplies.

Items may be dropped off during the Ice Cream Social on Sunday July 19, or when students are dropped off for camp on Monday morning July 20.

Please donate according to your student’s grade level:

• Freshmen: Individually wrapped chips
• Sophomores: Individually wrapped desserts
• Juniors: 12 oz. bottles of water and Gatorade
• Seniors: Individually wrapped chips

We would also love fresh fruit donations throughout the week from anyone who is able to contribute.

Volunteer Sign-Up

Please sign up for a volunteer shift here: VOLUNTEER SIGN-UP

If you would like to help but cannot volunteer for a specific shift, please contact me directly at john.r.hagan@gmail.com.

Thank you for showing up for our students, our directors, and this incredible band program. When everyone does a little, our students gain a lot. Let’s make this a great start to the season!

Sincerely,
John Hagan

Vice President, HHS Band Boosters

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!

As we close out school/elective choice season, 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

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: July 11, 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 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!

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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