Dear band community,
Prelims:
“Extremely enjoyable individual tone
quality and articulation” “Very musical phrasing, well handled (percussion),”
“Nice woodwinds” “Show has great potential!” “Good incorporation of body and
equipment (colorguard)” “Strong training evident (colorguard)” “Great confidence
on posture, nice defined cut-offs, great posture (drum
major)”
Finals:
“Really strong woodwinds.” “Consistently
good (balance & blend)” “Fine percussion contribution, all sections
contribute nicely!” “Very strong here!!! (accuracy and definition)” “Vertical
alignment is a strength!” “Nice pit” “Very demanding show” “This package has
great potential!” “Audio to visual coordination is positive” “musicality of
visual ideas well done!” “Strong battery” “Some brilliant moments in battery”
“Good tempo control in direction changes” “Above average form
awareness”
These were all
comments from the judges’ sheets from the Wakefield competition on
Saturday. I am pleased with both performances on
Saturday, but I think we can all agree that our finals performance was the best
performance yet. The energy was fantastic, in your
music, your visual package, and your overall performance
level. As we prepare for our next performance this
Saturday, remember how good you felt after putting forth all of your energy
which resulted in an outstanding
performance.
The character
trait for the week is “Respect.” Respect is a very
important part of what we do. This word
encompasses how you respect your peers, your teachers, your parents, and
yourselves. All of us have been taught how to
respect each other in our words and actions. As a
team, cooperation and mutual respect by all parties is vital in order to
succeed. You must respect your fellow band
members, the parent chaperones, and the staff. We
are all working together to achieve a common goal, and we deserve to be
respected. By making poor decisions, you are
demonstrating a lack of respect for yourself by going against your own judgment
of what is right and wrong, and you are demonstrating a lack of respect of
whoever your poor decision is affecting. Be sure
to always treat each other like team members. We
all rely on each other to give our best so that we all can do our
best.
The Green Hope
Falcon Regiment has a tradition of dressing up on Fridays before
competitions. It saddens me to see students who do
not participate in this tradition. I’m sure that
many of us prefer to be in casual, comfortable clothes, but by dressing up and
looking nice, we are showing our respect and pride for our
group. The football team either dresses up or
wears jerseys every Friday that they play. Could
you imagine if someone did not participate in this
tradition? Everyone joins in on the tradition
because they are proud of their team. If the
football team and other sports teams can be proud of what they do, we definitely
have a lot to be proud of as well. This Friday,
look past the jeans, shorts, and t-shirts in your
closets! Let’s all show the school that we are
proud of our Falcon Regiment by dressing in our
best!
We all want to be
a part of something great. The Green Hope Band
program is something that we should all be proud
of. Thank you for your hard work in rehearsals and
performances this week, and congratulations!
As a reminder, here is a weekend
schedule through October:
Saturday, October 10 West
Johnston comp (see FINAL schedule below)
Friday, October 16 Home football
Saturday, October 24 Sanderson comp (schedule should be
similar to Wakefield , although we may practice in the
morning)
Friday, October 30 Home football (Senior night) *IMPORTANT:
see below
Saturday, October 31 Competition (see notes below)
**
Wednesday's Study Hall:
The following
students have told me that they will be attending the study hall this Wednesday
from 2:10-3:10 in the Commons. If you plan to stay on campus and are
not on this list, you must email Mr. Myers no later than noon on
Monday to let him know. Also, if you are on this
list and shouldn’t be, email Mr. Myers as well.
<< The names were removed from this
document before posting it; see e-mail for details. >>
* = every Wednesday unless I am told
otherwise.
October 31
Competition:
Due to budgeting concerns and the fact that our last
few fundraisers have fallen short of our goal, we have revisited our final
competition during the regular season. I wanted to
consider supporting Cary HS by attending the 51 st annual
Cary Band Day instead of Havelock . I
proposed the idea to our student leadership, who voted overwhelmingly to attend
Cary Band Day. Not only was the majority vote in
favor of Cary Band Day (17-7), the senior vote was almost
unanimous. Thus, we will be attending
the Cary Band Day on Saturday, October 31 in
lieu of Havelock . We
will not be participating in the
parade.
I did seriously consider every email that I received,
and I made the decision based on what I felt you wanted and what I felt was best
for your program. Thank you, student leaders, for
your honest input.
At 11:30 on Friday, October 30, we will be
participating in the Corn Maze at Phillips Farms on Green Hope Church
Road in
Morrisville. The cost is covered by your fair share, so we hope you
will participate (although it is not required). For every student
that goes, $1 goes to the Kay Yow Cancer Research Foundation.
Just by attending, you are not only enjoying the activity
and the company of each other, but you are helping to support cancer
research. The corn maze is a 2-stage maze and
involves trivia questions at stages throughout that guide you through to the
exit.
Here is the preliminary schedule:
Friday, October 30 (Senior Night)
11:30-1 Corn Maze
2-5 Practice
5:00
Dinner
6:00
Dress
~6:45 Seniors move to
stadium, band warms up
~7:20 Pre-game show
begins (seniors join band on field)
SENIORS PLEASE DROP OFF YOUR "SENIOR QUESTIONNAIRES"
IN THE PURPLE
BOX IN THE FRONT OFFICE BY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8TH!! WE NEED THEM FOR RECOGNITION ON SENIOR
NIGHT!!!
We also need some parent volunteers to help with senior
week/night. If you are willing to help, please email Karen Byrd at Byrdbchillin@aol.com
Cary YMCA Event, THIS THURSDAY, October
8: We have been asked to send a few people
to the Cary YMCA to perform for a “Kick-Off Night” for their volunteers
beginning a campaign to drum up interest in their community outreach program.
Here is some information about the program:
The Cary YMCA is currently able to
offer opportunities for underprivileged youth and teens in our communities to
attend programs, including tutoring, after-school and summer camp programs, and
leaders’ club. The majority of these programs are offered at no cost to the
participant. In order to make this possible we hold a campaign every year to ask
the community to give of its resources. Volunteers from all walks of life
participate and support these programs financially.
Every year we hold a “Kick-Off”
Night for all the volunteers to really get everyone pumped up for our one-month
campaign.
They would like for us to play from 6:15-6:30.
They want to hear the fight song and anything else we would like to play.
I will ask for volunteers during practice.
West
Johnston Competition, Saturday, October 10
If you are taking the SAT, come
to practice as soon as possible after you have
finished. Hopefully, you won’t be very late, if at
all.
1-4pm Practice
4:30pm Load trucks and
buses, depart
5:30pm Arrive West
Johnson, eat dinner (provided)
6:30pm Dress
7:30pm Warm-up
8:15pm Performance!
After we perform, we will recap in
the parking lot, change, then go back into the stadium as a group for the last
1-2 bands and awards.
9:30pm Awards
~12:00pm Arrive
at GHHS
**Please remember your committee
responsibilities upon our return home.
Bus Policy:
Students are
required to ride the bus to competitions and are expected to ride back on the
bus so that they can complete their committee responsibilities upon return to
school. If a parent wishes to take a child back with them, a note must be
submitted to Mr. Myers prior to departure. Only a student's
parent/guardian can transport his/her own
student.
Home Football Game, Friday, October
16 :
We will be performing our normal
pregame routine and halftime show. As a reminder,
here is our schedule:
4:00
Practice
5:00
Dinner
6:00 Dress
6:45
Warm-up
7:20 Pregame
show
~8:30
Halftime
~10:00 Game ends,
students are dismissed as a group to change
Be sure to remember your committee
responsibilities before you leave campus.
Rehearsal schedule post-season:
Rehearsals are
generally on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15-5:00 in November and
December. A full schedule was distributed before registration.
It is now available on the website.
Please be sure to put all dates on your personal
calendar. As always, attendance is expected at all rehearsals and
performances.
Schedule Change:
Please note that
the Raleigh Christmas parade is now on November 21, not the date that was
originally on the band calendar.
This week:
Keep that energy level up
during practices, and we’ll improve our visual package and make our show even
more effective this week. We also have some minor timing issues to work out once
and for all. Be
sure to read the judges’ comments, highlight comments that you think others
should read, and watch the video at least once this
week. We want to use as much feedback as possible
in preparation for our next performance this weekend at West
Johnston! Let’s have
another great week!