General information that applies to all students and parents can be found towards the top of every newsletter, while information specific to your child's ensemble can be found in that particular section by scrolling down. Feel free to contact a director if you have any questions and our contact information is at the bottom of this newsletter.

Our annual Band Social at Spare Time is this Tuesday. The times are 5-7pm, and the band program will provide 2 slices of pizza and unlimited drinks for all band students and registered chaperones FREE! Students and parents are responsible for providing money for games, such as the arcade, laser tag, etc.

If your student would like to participate in the Shaker's Backyard activities outside (go karts, ropes course, etc.), a parent will need to attend to supervise and sign the liability waiver. Directors and Chaperones will not be supervising these areas.

Please note that we will be providing pizza and drinks only to current band students and registered chaperones, for which we are now full. Directors and Chaperones will stop supervising students promptly at 7:15pm. At that time, parents will again assume the responsibility of their student whether or not the student leaves the facility at that time.

Congratulations to the 26 students who participated in rehearsals all day on Saturday, and then put on a fabulous concert Saturday evening at Belton High School. These students will be recognized at our Holiday Concert and be awarded their Region Patch to be sewn onto their band polo shirt. Click here for more pictures from Saturday, and feel free to add your own to share!

Click here to see the Calendar page of our website to find all of the current events, including special rehearsals, contests, and performances for the whole school year. We provide this so you can plan your family's activities. Remember, performances are a required part of our curriculum, so please contact a director ASAP for any conflicts. Be sure to Subscribe to our calendar using the instructions provided on the website. Alternatively, you may prefer the List of Band Events format that can be found clicking on the link.

All 8 classes of the Beginner's Ensemble will combine after school 2 days after school in order to prepare for the upcoming Holiday Concert. This will occur Monday & Tuesday, December 11 & 12 from 4:00-5:00pm in the Band Hall. There will be an announcement made to call students down to the Band Hall, and a grade will be taken for both of these required rehearsals. Please pick up your student in the BMS bus loop by 5pm.

Practice Records are due every Monday and follow this grading rubric: 5 days=100, 4 days=90, 3 days=80, 2 days=70, and less than 2 days=50. A new updated practice record will be given to students and this cycle will continue for the rest of this school year.

Practice Records are each student's responsibility, and must be stored in their binder at all times. The penalty for late practice records is a 5-point reduction per day. Late practice records will not be accepted after Friday since it rolls over to the next week's practice record. Please note that not turning in practice records is the #1 reason students fail Band.

Help your student create a daily practice routine that is scheduled at the same time each day to build consistency. Have them use a timer in stopwatch mode instead of timer countdown mode to ensure they are getting the full 25 minutes of practice time.

Students are welcome to practice before school starting at 7:30am if they show their band sticker on their student ID to the teacher on duty when entering the hallway. Please remind your student to have a director sign their practice record in order to count this time as practicing, as long as they have practiced the full 25 minutes.

If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for our Remind texts for the Beginner's Ensemble here. Students may do this as well with parent permission. This is important piece of communication to receive reminders throughout the year.

Would your tuba or euphonium player like to play at a performance that features ONLY tubas and euphoniums? Want to get in the holiday spirit? Then sign up to participate in Tuba Christmas on Friday, December 1 at the Lake Belton HS PAC.

We will rehearse together starting at 5:30pm with a public performance starting at 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Click here to sign up: https://forms.gle/9XxmBmqasGgFcoHD6

If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for our Remind texts for Symphonic Band here. Students may do this as well with parent permission. This is important piece of communication to receive reminders throughout the year.

Would your tuba or euphonium player like to play at a performance that features ONLY tubas and euphoniums? Want to get in the holiday spirit? Then sign up to participate in Tuba Christmas on Friday, December 1 at the Lake Belton HS PAC.

We will rehearse together starting at 5:30pm with a public performance starting at 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Click here to sign up: https://forms.gle/9XxmBmqasGgFcoHD6

Wind Ensemble will be spreading some holiday cheer on Wednesday, December 6 at Miller Heights, Sparta, and Leon Heights elementary school. Students will wear their casual band uniform and can dress up in festive holiday attire, such as reindeer antlers, lights, garland, Santa hats, etc. as long as it doesn't interfere with their ability to play their instrument. Each student should be prepared to play a short (8 measure) tune on their instrument in order to showcase their instrument's sound for the 5th graders. *Parents* click here if you would like to sign up to chaperone for this event.

If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for our Remind texts for Wind Ensemble here. Students may do this as well with parent permission. This is important piece of communication to receive reminders throughout the year.

We will be having a rehearsal after school on Tuesday, November 28 at the Belton HS PAC from 4:45-6:00pm in order to prepare for our Jazz Holiday Concert when we combine with the jazz ensembles from South Belton MS and Belton HS.

Our performance at the Christmas On the Chisholm Trail celebration in downtown Belton will occur on Saturday, December 2. Rhythm Section and Loading Crew will meet at BMS at 1:00pm in order to load up chairs, stands, and equipment into parent vehicles. All other students need to meet at the Bell County Courthouse downtown Belton at 1:45pm to set up for warm-up that starts at 2:00pm. We will then perform at 2:30pm and pack everything back up and return it to BMS around 3:00pm.

Our Jazz Holiday Concert will be held at the Belton HS PAC on Tuesday, December 5 starting at 6:30pm. Students should arrive at the Belton HS Band Hall for warm-up by 6:00pm, and our portion of the concert will be around 6:45pm. Afterwards, we will still at watch the Belton HS Jazz Band performance and then actually perform with them and the jazz ensemble from South Belton MS towards the end of the concert.

If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for our Remind texts for Jazz Band here. Students may do this as well with parent permission. This is important piece of communication to receive reminders throughout the year.

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Email: beltonmsband@gmail.com
Website: beltonmsband.org
Location: 1704 Sparta Road, Belton, TX, USA
Call/Text: 254-262-3050
Facebook: facebook.com/beltonmsband