THE Houston Band

Hello Houston Band family,

I'm so excited for our students to perform at the "Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium" (the Liberty Bowl) next Saturday. We have three more rehearsals and three more performances of our show before this marching season ends.

I'm so proud of the growth of this band. For a band that is 2/3rds underclassmen (including half of our winds being freshmen!), we are achieving at exceptional levels. It's always rough to start a group this young, and it's never a guarantee that it will be great. Our students defied the odds this year and are doing amazing things on the field!

I can't wait to continue this momentum into the rest of our year. For those that are new to our band family, we pride ourselves on our honor band participation rate (typically between 50%-60% in recent years). That is a number other bands dream of. If you have not heard your student preparing for All West auditions yet, make sure you're encouraging them to! Students should be preparing their audition excerpts, practicing sight reading, and memorizing their 12 major scales. All West auditions are one month from today (11/22/25) and are mandatory for all students in Varsity Band and Varsity Percussion. As soon as we have audition times locked in, we will let students know.

Find below:

• Recording session itinerary
• Cville game itinerary
• Bandmasters itinerary
• Contest etiquette
• Calls for candy and photo donations

With excitement and gratitude,

Mr. C

A reminder from our previous newsletter:

My pride in our band community extends into the stands at competitions. I'm so grateful to our spectators for cheering on our band AND other bands, uplifting all performers wherever we go. I heard that parents from other bands at a previous competition were saying all kinds of unkind things about other bands after performances and during the awards ceremony. I'm so happy that the Houston Band Family knows that art music is about uplifting and empowering young people. Band is NOT about trophies, judge tapes, or one school's students being "better" than another's. That is ludicrous. Thank you for cheering on all the bands, no matter what!

In addition to basic decency, please observe the following "contest etiquette" basics:

• Do not enter or leave the stadium while a band is performing. Wait until they are finished with their entire show.
• Do not talk during performances; you never know if someone is getting to see their kid/ grandchild/ neighbor/ etc. perform for the first or last time!
• Cheer for all bands, not just our own! If something is great, let those performers know!
• If you are bringing a young child that may or may not be able to stay quiet, please sit in a less-crowded area, ideally close to an exit.

Mrs. Ortiz has been doing amazing work for our spirit nights and other FUNdraisers! Check out some of the upcoming dates below (remember to MENTION the band!). We will of course share these closer to them happening, as well!

October Tuesdays (ongoing) - Zaxby's Houston Levee

October 31 - Baskin Robbins

and more to come!

Dining in/near Germantown, supporting the band, and seeing your band friends! Win, win, win!!

5:45pm - Directors arrive

6:00pm - Students arrive, get in uniform

6:20pm - Warmup outside (full contest warmup sequence)

6:40pm - Spot checks

7:00pm - Recording starts

7:45pm - Ideal finishing time

8:00pm - Hard stop, begin teardown

8:30pm - Directors leave

THIS MAY SHIFT A LOT BASED ON WEATHER!! Rain date Nov 8th!

5:15pm - Band room opens

5:30pm - Call time (in HALLOWEEN COSTUME or band spirit gear)

6:04pm - Drumline leaves for stang walk

6:40pm - Leave band room

6:47pm - On field ready to go

6:48pm - National anthem

6:55pm - Run in/fight song

7:00pm - Kickoff

HALF TIME - Homecoming performance (with field show!)

THIRD QUARTER - Off

3 mins left in third - Call time (do not be late!)

3:00 after game end: dismiss to band room via field access using STAIRS unless ramp is necessary

20:00 after game end: nonemergency number called for students not yet picked up

30:00 after game end: all staff departs

Please pick up your students promptly after the game concludes. Thirty minutes is enough time to arrive here from the Hernando de Soto bridge, so it is enough time to pick up a student from anywhere you should feasibly be the evening of a game. Please plan on being ready for pickup at any time between 8:45 and 10:30 for home games, with extended outliers either way.

Due to the football game taking place on Thursday, the band will rehearse after school Friday the 31st from 3:00-4:45. We will dismiss students early to celebrate their last rehearsal with candy, photographs, and a good time. Attendance to the rehearsal part of this day (typically done by 4pm) is MANDATORY and has been on the calendar for months.

10:30am - Facilities open

11:00am - Call time (READY TO GO, not pulling in)

11:45am - Full ensemble dress rehearsal

12:30pm - Load trailers and buses

1:15pm - Depart HHS (WE WILL LEAVE ASAP after loading. We will not wait for 1:15pm unless we absolutely have to. This is our hard departure time.)

2:00pm - Arrive, unload, concessions, watch bands

4:10pm - Prop transit!!

4:30pm - Judge dinner break (backfield props on field staged and ready)

4:45pm - In uniform, ready for visual warmup

5:15pm - Travel to warm up

5:30pm - Warm up

6:00pm - Move to field

6:10pm - Staging at field

6:15pm - Perform!!

6:28pm - Off field, travel back to staging area

6:45pm - Back at buses, changing

7:15pm - Bulk of students travel back to stadium for Clinton, Arlington, Marion, Bryant, and Bartlett performances. Loading crew stays to load equipment.

8:45pm - University of Memphis exhibition performance

8:55pm - Awards. ALL HHS students TOGETHER, except drum majors on field. Parents stay a bit away from the band if they wish to stay for awards–not required.

9:30pm - Load buses, depart

10:00pm - Arrive at HHS, unpack

10:30pm - Directors leave HHS

SUBJECT TO CHANGE FOR WEATHER! Leave the full day

If you are still missing merch, Mrs. Ortiz (fundraising and merch supermom!) has been hard at work figuring it out and getting things that were never received. Please hold off on reaching out to the vendor or me until you hear about merch in another newsletter.

I'm very sorry for this inconvenience, but as we get more information about this, it seems like an employee did not organize things very well and then left the company. The company has been working directly with Mrs. Ortiz to try to resolve this problem, and I hope it can be sorted out in the next week or two.

If you are interested in helping with either fundraising or merch this year (or looking ahead to next year), please reach out!

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 ACT dates with no conflicts are (2025:) June 14, July 12, September 6, October 18, (2026:) April 11 for most students, June 13, and July 11.

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: December 13 (Holiday Parade), February 14 (All West), and April 11 (for All State Students only). Please plan accordingly.

We always finish the rehearsal at the end of October with a celebratory sharing of candy and photographs! Please send in any bulk candy (this is easy this time of year--if you see a big bag on sale at a good price please grab it and send with your student!) and physical photos to my office for that rehearsal. Students also love getting the photos off the trifold boards, because many of them don't have a lot of physical photos! If you have great photos (band shots/closeups/etc.), please send them in!

The road to all west starts today! The band room will be open to practice in the mornings from 7:00-7:45 and after school M/W/F until 4:30pm. If you want specific one-on-one help, ask Mr. Sims or Mr. C in advance for a free 20-30 minute lesson!

If you work at or own a business (big or small!), please consider sponsoring the band. Our booster president Mrs. Gilbert has created the following sponsorship document that is printable to present to interested parties. We are grateful to all businesses that support arts education in Germantown.

If you weren't able to help with camp because of weekday obligations, please check out the weekend volunteer opportunities below!

https://forms.gle/Wvyy41YRBpo8hAni9

Please do not just scroll past this form. Take a moment to find something you can help with this school year. As our band grows, so does our need for our exceptional community to rally around it.

From booster president Deanna Gilbert:

Our Booster Board is looking to fill some vacant spots and this is a perfect opportunity for some of our new families to join in behind the scenes of supporting the band. Specifically we are in need of a Booster Secretary (takes minutes at monthly Booster meetings and invites various admin, city leaders and school board to events), a Uniform Co-Chair or 2 (will assist Uniform Chair Erica McCarrens in getting our students ready for games and competitions), and a Publicity Chair (takes pictures at events, updates social media and assists in event promotions). If you are interested or have any questions please reach out to Booster President Deanna Gilbert at dlgilbert3@bellsouth.net.

Our band dues will not be raised moving into this year. Last year, we reduced band dues by $225 to make band as accessible as possible to all students. It's important to participate in our year-round fundraisers to supplement that cost. If fundraising is NOT your thing, please consider just writing a check for $225 (or donating that amount online) to offset what students will typically fundraise over the year if they fully participate in everything. Please note that while there are no consequences to not participating in fundraising efforts, it hurts our band when lots of people don't.

Total mandatory dues: $500 (two payments of $250, one due on August 15th and the other due on September 15th)

Total booster requested donation: $225 by the end of the year - note that this is not a mandatory payment but greatly appreciated by our amazing boosters to alleviate some of the fundraising burdens they have.

If you are unable to pay dues on time (or in full), please reach out to Mr. Carpenter immediately. We will do everything we can to fundraise, provide scholarships, etc. Band is an expensive activity, and these funds are necessary for travel, staffing, instruments, repair, show design, concert music, and much more. Our dues are lower than many other municipal band in the area, and we are incredibly proud of that.

You can pay via check any Friday of the school year or via card on SchoolCashOnline.

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!

If you are interested in private lessons, please reach out! We are happy to recommend teachers for students of all levels at any budget. The time to start preparing for regional honors ensembles (All West/ All State/ Memphis/ etc.) is NOW, not just the two weeks leading up to those events.

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.

If you have a friend, neighbor, family member, or ANYONE else in your life in 4th or 5th grade within GMSD, let them know about the transformative experience band has been in your students' lives. If you know an 8th grader that wants to be in a great band but doesn't live in Germantown, let them know about our academies. We are so excited to continue building our program's numbers back to sustainable levels, but that takes work from everyone. Thank you for helping with that work!

If anyone has ANY questions about band at any level, I'm more than happy to field those questions.

Find upcoming dates for performances, events, and one-off rehearsals below. Note that regular rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays, with sectionals on Mondays.

You can always find our full calendar (including Google and iCal integration links) here: https://www.thehoustonband.com/calendar

Upcoming Dates

• 9/13/25 - Marching Band Mini Camp (all day)
• 9/27/25 - Contest #1 (TBD - Olive Branch or Bartlett most likely)
• 10/4/25 - Contest #2 (Champions @ Collierville)
• 10/10/25 - Football v. Arlington
• 10/25/25 - Recording Session (@ HHS)
• 10/30/25 - Football v. Collierville
• 11/1/25 - Contest #3 (Bandmasters @ Liberty Bowl)
• 11/7/25 (and following Fridays through November) - Potential Playoff Football
• 11/8/25 - Recording Session Rain Date (@ HHS)
• 11/11/25 - Holiday concert rehearsals begin (Tuesdays Concert Band, Thursdays Wind Ensemble)
• 11/22/25 - WTSBOA All West Auditions
• 12/11/25 - Holiday Concert (@ HHS, 6pm)
• 1/8/26 - After school rehearsals begin for CPA cycle (Tuesdays or Thursdays, depending on ensemble)
• 1/28/26 to 2/1/26- Spring Trip - Universal Studios!!
• 2/12/26-2/14/26 - WTSBOA All West Clinic
• 2/21/26 - CPA/Festival Mini Camp (@ HHS, all day)
• 3/12/26 OR 3/13/26 - WTSBOA Concert Performance Assessment
• 4/9/26-4/12/25 - TnMEA All State Clinic and Conference
• 5/5/26 - Tentative Band Concert (dependent on GPAC)
• 5/8/26 - Graduation

Instagram | Facebook | Website | Google Calendar