Honor Winds Update

Sorry, this looks like a lot, but I promise it's not that bad!

Last listening assignment due by midnight!

• Our final listening assignment of the quarter was sent out this Friday after our rehearsal. This is our last assignment of the quarter.
• ALL grades / videos / assignments are due by Thursday at midnight

Recording session tomorrow at 8:30AM!

• Students need to be in the auditorium at the start of 1st period wearing their full black formal uniform.
• BRING SCHOOL CLOTHES TO CHANGE INTO!!!!
• Bring a hanger for your formal uniform and a way to label it!
• This one is NOT open to the public because it is during school hours on campus
• We will head to 3rd period after finishing.

Recording session 2, Wednesday call time 6:30PM @Argyle High School:

• This one is open to the public:
• Call time: 6:30PM at Argyle HIGH SCHOOL wearing full black formal uniform including TALL BLACK SOCKS, SOLID BLACK SHOES, etc.
• Track students: after you finish your events, change and come join us. You should be done by the time we start.
• Parents, PLEASE READ the notes under 7:00

Sectionals this week... Here's who WILL have a sectional:

• Monday PM Trumpets
• Tuesday AM Flute/Oboe
• Clarinets, we would love to see you there if you can make it!
• Tuesday PM Drumline
• No other sectionals this week
• NO Tuesday PM Passoffs this week

Passoffs

• The entire front of your student's blue sheet should be passed off and signed now! You can ask them to show it to you at any time so you can know if they're keeping up with their work!

Passoff days this week:

• Monday AM with Ms. Kunkel
• Thursday AM with Mr. Gutic (LAST CHANCE to get passoff grades up before Spring Break)
• Any day other than Monday during advisory, request an e-hallpass on Google Classroom

Class on Thursday

• Chromebooks/Headphones needed
• We will be at UIL with Symphonic Winds, you will have a Chromebook assignment.
• No instruments needed unless you have a lesson or Jazz Band this day

Band hall closed after school on Wednesday / Thursday

• No hanging out after school these two days!

Locker check on Thursday

• Lockers must be COMPLETELY empty and CLEAN before we leave for Spring break
• NOTHING left in lockers!

Marching band show reveal and parent meeting, Thursday March 6th (ALL 8th graders)

• EVEN IF YOUR STUDENTS THINK THEY AREN'T INTERESTED IN TRYING HIGH SCHOOL BAND, they should attend this to get all of the information!
• Every year we have students who see their friends enjoying their high school band experience and tell us they regret not doing high school band who then ask us if they can rejoin and it ends up being an uphill battle for them to rejoin and jump back in with their peers. I encourage every student to try it their freshman year!
• Thursday, March 6th at 6:00 PM @ Argyle High School, more details coming from Mr. Fletcher / Mr. Bird.
• Check out the hints on the High School band instagram and Facebook accounts (@ArgyleHSBand)

High school hosting a UIL band contest Wednesday / Thursday

• If you're available and willing, we're in need of some parent volunteers those days

Your students will get to experience what a real professional recording session is like this year! We will have 2 recording sessions as a part of our application for the Midwest Clinic. (Click here and search for "Midwest Clinic" if you'd like a refresher on what that's for, I know it's been a while!).

This one will take place during school hours in the AMS Auditorium and is not open to the public. We will share recordings with you as soon as we receive them!

Location - AMS Auditorium during school

Attire - Black formal uniform, to include black formal shoes, TALL SOLID BLACK socks, etc.

8:30 AM - Warm-up starts on stage

9:00 - Recording session starts on stage

10:00 - Performance ends on stage, students change into normal school clothes and head to classes as normal

10:15 - Students head to classes as normal

Track students - After you complete your events, get cleaned up and join us!

Location - Argyle HIGH SCHOOL Auditorium, enter through the front of the school.

Attire - Black formal uniform with SOLID black formal shoes, TALL SOLID BLACK socks, etc. The judging panel does look at those details in the video submission!

6:30 - Arrive at Argyle High School

6:45 - Warm-up and sound check starts on stage

7:00 - Professional recording session begins

• This will be structured VERY differently than a normal concert! You are absolutely welcome to come watch, but before each piece, we will ask everyone in the audience and all students to be completely still and silent, including phones (NO shutter sounds / video recording sounds from your phones).

• After each piece, we will ask you NOT to applaud for several seconds so that the auditorium can “ring” and resonate.

• We will close and lock the doors before each recording “take” so that nobody enters and ruins the recording and open the doors between takes

• If you have children who might make noise, please sit in an aisle so you can immediately leave if they start to disrupt the performance

8:00 - Recording session ends. Remove stands from stage, make stage look nice, take formal picture

8:15 - Case up, students head home

We will get all mastered audio and video files after both recording sessions are done and I’ll share them with you.

I encourage every student to try marching band their 9th grade year. It is SO different and so unlike anything they've experienced in middle school and I'm sure they're going to enjoy it.

I hope all of your kids consider continuing band in high school! I never want to push people into it if they really don't want to, but I'm going to encourage them all to give it a shot. Speaking from personal experience, high school band absolutely changed my life and it's what made me want to continue in music after high school. While it does take up a lot of time, I can assure you it is worth every second and your students will make new friendships and develop skills that will help them through the rest of their lives.

Just this year, we've already had several freshmen reach out asking if they could rejoin band next year because they've heard from their friends about how much they've enjoyed it and I don't want your students to miss out on that experience.

One of the most frequently asked questions is how do students balance their academic course load and participate in activities in HS? We have many systems in place to ensure that your students succeed. Whether it is required mega-lunch tutorials, or peer mentoring, all students in band can be successful.

With regards to long-term success, take a look at this short video as questions are asked directly to college admission advisors about what is valued on a student's transcript and high school experience!

Below is a video of some interviews from College admissions counselors and their input on what colleges are looking for when it comes to the admissions process. It's not just about grades, they look for students who have been committed to being a part of a group long-term.

Every year, we have a big unveiling of the marching band show for next year. This is always an exciting event and the high school kids try to guess the show theme based on hints the high school staff drop on the @ArgyleHSBand instagram.

By this meeting, the full calendar is usually finalized and the fees are usually pretty close to final as well and you will get all of that information from the high school staff. This is another great chance to get all of your questions about marching band answered.

You will also get forms at the meeting that need to get turned in and get more information about the upcoming season. ALL of our high school band students will be expected to attend and 8th graders should go with at least one parent in attendance.

If you are unable to make it but your student plans on being in marching band, please let us and the high school band directors know so we can get you the packet, forms, and information.

8TH GRADE PARENTS: There is a facebook group mostly used by our high school band parents. If you'd like to join it, here is a link to it:

For woodwind/brass member questions, please email Evan Fletcher at evan.fletcher@argyleisd.com

For percussion-specific questions, please email Christine Mollenkopf at christine.mollenkopf@argyleisd.com

For color guard-specific questions, please email Erica King at erica.king@argyleisd.com

For any other questions, please email Jason Bird at jason.bird@argyleisd.com

Next week, 3/5 and 3/6, Argyle High School will host the Region 2 UIL Concert and Sightreading Band Evaluation. We need several adult volunteers to assist with checking in parents, guardians, and students throughout the day.

I have created a "Sign Up Genius" to select spots you want to volunteer. This is a great service to the students in Argyle and throughout Lewisville, Justin, Northlake, and Denton.

If you have any questions, please email me directly at jason.bird@argyleisd.com.

Jason Bird

We're back to normal!

Trumpets will end at 5:00PM.

March:

• Monday, March 3rd - Recording session during school in the AMS Auditorium
• Wednesday, March 5th, ~7:00PM Recording session @ Argyle High School Auditorium
• Wednesday, March 26th (During school) - Honor Winds Pre-UIL

April:

• Wednesday April 9th at 5:10PM @ Byron Nelson High School
• Friday April 25th - North Texas Festival of Distinction (SB 10:15, SW 10:45, HW 11:15)

May recording concerts:

• Saturday, May 3rd - Argyle ISD Solo contest
• Monday, May 5th - Recording concert immediately after school
• Tuesday, May 6th - Spring concert (With a contest recording immediately after school)
• Monday May 12th - Recording concert immediately after school
• Tuesday, May 13th - Recording concert at St. Andrews church in Plano, transportation and dinner provided (~6:00PM). We have reserved this venue as the acoustics are STUNNING

Please keep our performance schedule in mind as you schedule students to get braces, retainers, expanders, or any major dental work.

As you can tell by the schedule above, your students will stay very busy with performances and competitions this semester. The best time to do this is either right now or over the summer if possible.

It’s important that all band students stay in playing shape for the entire semester. Please do not schedule your students to get braces, have them removed, or have any major procedures done within 2 weeks of a performance if possible. These can take your students out of playing shape for several weeks sometimes as they learn to adjust the way they play and get used to the braces.

It’s also important to make sure you don’t have braces tightened within a few days of a performance as that will affect your students pretty dramatically as well.

If you plan on going to Archery nationals, please do NOT book a flight until Friday afternoon / evening after we have performed. Our competition on Friday, April 25th is extremely important and we purposely scheduled an early time so that you could take a later flight and still make it for the competition on Saturday!

Students will not be excused from this competition for archery travel as we have specifically picked a time to schedule around archery nationals! Our performance times are listed below so you can plan now:

Symphonic Band performance - 10:15 AM

Symphonic Winds performance - 10:45 AM

Honor Winds performance - 11:15 AM

The concession stand had to close twice due to a lack of parent volunteers. On a typical night, the concession stand brings in about $500 to the band boosters so we unfortunately lost out on that. If every band parent just volunteers one time per year for concessions, we can easily fill up every time slot!

If we continuously struggle to staff the concession stand, there have been talks of it going to a different organization in the district, which would be a huge financial hit to our band boosters.

All of the money goes back to your kids in the form of scholarships, supplies, paying for lesson teachers to come in for master classes, paying for clinicians to come in and work with the kids, help to pay for food for kids, and much more.

We also need a coordinator of middle school concessions, please contact Deni Day at concessions@argylebandboosters.com or 206-265-3377

All of our events for this school year are already on the calendar! We use Google Calendar in the district. Please add the middle school band calendar to your calendar and you'll always be in the loop when it comes to upcoming events!

Director of Bands

Argyle Middle School

Email: bojan.gutic@argyleisd.com
Website: www.argyleband.com
Location: Argyle Middle School, U.S. 377, Argyle, TX, USA
Phone: 940-262-7777 31324
Facebook: facebook.com/argylemsband