Cherokee Band Notes
February 2026 NEWS LETTER
Hello!
Dear Band Students & Parents,
We have a busy 2nd Semester ahead of us. Please take a look at the following schedule.
The Cherokee Jazz Band will be performing at two upcoming Jazz Festivals:
Saturday, February 28th - Drury Jazz Festival
- 8:45 am - Arrive at Drury - FSC (student center, see attached map). Students will need to be brought by parents. We WILL NOT meet at Cherokee that morning, and no bus. Parents are ENCOURAGED TO WATCH THE PERFORMANCE! :)
- 9:00 am - Warm-up
- 9:30 am - Performance in the Student Center Ballroom. (GOOD LUCK!!!!)
- 9:30 am - Performance will be over and students/parents may leave.
- 5:30 pm - Awards ceremony (students are not required to be there).
Friday, March 6 - Pitt State Jazz Festival
- 8:00 am - Depart Cherokee for Pittsburg, Kansas (Pitt State University).
- 9:45 am - Unload at McRay Hall
- 10:30 am - Warm-up
- 11:00 am - Performance in the Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall - McRay Hall. (GOOD LUCK!!!) Parents/family are welcome to travel to Pitt State to watch the performance.
- 11:30 am - Pack up instruments and load on bus. Head for lunch on main strip. (Students pay for their own meals - McDonalds, Subway, etc.).
- 1:00 pm - return to Pitt State to listen to more Jazz Bands.
- 3:00 pm - Depart Pitt State for Cherokee.
- 4:45 pm - Arrive back at Cherokee (in plenty of time before the dance).
Friday, May 1 - KC Jazz Summit in Kansas City, Kansas (more info later).
- 2:00 pm performance time
The 8th Grade Band will be performing at the Missouri State/Palen's Concert Clinic on Tuesday, March 24th. This is an opportunity to have our older students work with clinicians before going to District Band assessment. Here is our tentative schedule:
- 7:15 am - Arrive at Cherokee and load busses.
- 7:30 am - Depart Cherokee
- 7:50 am - Arrive at MSU (Wehr Band Hall), unload and head to warm-up.
- 8:00 am - warm-up
- 8:30 am - performance
- 9:00 am - load buses and head back to Cherokee
- BREAKFAST? . It would be nice to do something for the students, so any suggestions/solutions from parents would be appreciated! Doughnuts seem to be the overriding favorite over the last few years.
7th and 8th Grade Bands work towards the SPS Large Ensemble Band Assessment/Fest
Both the 7th and 8th Grade Bands have been working on their Spring Band Assessment music for their April 2nd performance at Kickapoo H.S. This is a Large Ensemble, judged event. We are assessed on the musical capabilities of our performance. Here is a brief overview of our upcoming schedules (approximate) for that day:
8th GRADE BAND
- 7:10 am - Meet at Cherokee to load buses
- 7:30 am - depart for KHS
- 7:40 am - Arrive at KHS, unload, and set up for warm-up.
- 8:30 am - Performance!! Good luck.
- We will stay and listen to the 7th-grade performance at 9:10.
- 9:45 - Load buses and head back to Cherokee.
- 7:45 am - Meet at Cherokee to load buses
- 8:00 am - depart for KHS
- 8:10 am - Arrive at KHS, unload, and set up for warm-up.
- 9:10 am - Performance!!! Good luck
- 10:00 am - Depart KHS for Cherokee.
- 10:15 am (We will do our "Food and Fun" activity at Urban Air the following week.)
We will be holding our own Solo & Ensemble event at Cherokee on the following date:
- 7th and 8th Grade Band Members - Friday, April 10th
Solo & Ensemble involved all of our band students preparing solos on their instruments and/or preparing an ensemble piece within smaller groups in the band. We will have judges that will provide students with a rating and constructive comments. We usually have participated in the District event in the past, but starting last year (due to scheduling conflicts) opted to host our own event so that it could involve all of our 7th and 8th grade students.
Students who have signed up to play a solo should be signing up for before school times to work with Mr. Thomas, unless they are already in private lessons.
We will have more information on Solo & Ensemble in the coming weeks, as well as a schedule so that parents can come watch their child perform at Cherokee!
- 6th GRADE BAND - W8EKAN2M
- 7th GRADE BAND - C2GDV5F7
- 8th GRADE BAND - WSHUFKED
- CHEROKEE JAZZ BAND - TWUE2P8W
As a reminder - the Cherokee Band Calendar lives in sportsYou. Just check out "calendar".
- Saturday, February 28th - Drury Jazz Festival @ Drury University. 9:30 performance.
- Friday, March 6th - Pitt State Jazz Festival @ Pitt State University.
- Tuesday, March 24th - Missouri State/Palen Music Concert Band Clinic (8th Grade Band)
- Thursday, April 2 - SPS Middle School Large Ensemble Assessment/Festival - 8th Grade Band performs at 8:30 am; 7th Grade Band performs at 9:10 am. Parents/families are encouraged to come watch.
- 7th Grade Band Trip to Urban Air - the week after Large Ensemble. Final date not confirmed.
- Friday, April 10th - Solo and Ensemble Festival @ Cherokee. More information to come.
- Thursday, May 14th - 6th and 7th Grade Bands Spring Concert. 6:00 pm in the Cherokee Gym.
- Thursday, May 14th - Jazz Band and 8th Grade Band Spring Concert. 8:00 pm in the Cherokee Gym.
- Wednesday, May 20th - 8th Grade Music Department trip to Silver Dollar City. All Day