Director's Newsletter #30-18, April 7

Director’s Newsletter #30-18, April 7, 2019

Good afternoon everyone! There is a large number of items to cover this week so I’ll get right to it.

This week’s newsletter will have information on the following items:

•UIL Concert & Sightreading Recap

•Winterguard Championships

•Fredericksburg Jazz Festival

•FIESTA Schedule

•Monthly Booster Meeting

•Preliminary Marching Band Auditions

•Spring Leadership Training

•Spring Dinner Tickets & Event

•Band Banquet Invitations

•Band 101 Meeting

•Cornyval Parking Fundraiser

UIL Concert & Sightreading Recap

Congratulations to all 3 of our concert bands for their outstanding work and performances on Wednesday and Thursday at the UIL Concert & Sightreading Contest. Both the Sub Non-Varsity and Non-Varsity earned straight 1s in Concert & Sightreading, and the Varsity ensemble received straight 1st in Sightreading. All 3 ensembles played wonderfully and each received quite an amount of praise from those in attendance. Thank you to all of the students for committing to our extensive rehearsal schedule and taking time to pass off their individual objectives at a level which allowed us to be successful. You represented our program, school, and community at the highest level with your performances.

I’d like to thank Trini Suggs, Leslie Marroquin, Michelle Crittenden, Mercy Aguirre, Jonnie Tristan, and Letty Reyes for taking time to chaperone our groups during this event. We always have parents willing to volunteer for the sake of our kids and I hope you know just how much we all appreciate it.

Winterguard Championships

On Saturday, our winterguards have their final contest, participating in the TECA Championships at Southwest HS. The JV unit will perform at 11:21 am, and the varsity unit performs at 5:52 pm. Come out and support our great guards as they wrap up their season!

Fredericksburg Jazz Festival

Our jazz ensemble will also be participating in their final jazz contest on Saturday at the Fredericksburg Jazz Festival, hosted at Fredericksburg High School. If you missed the Temple performance, this is a great opportunity to catch their contest program one last time. Below is an itinerary for the day.

8:30 am - Report to BHS

9:00 am - Depart for Fredericksburg HS

11:00 am - Warm Up

11:30 am - Brandeis Jazz Performance

12:15 pm - Depart FHS for BHS

1:30 pm - Arrive at BHS/Parent Pick Up

Best of luck to our outstanding jazz ensemble!

FIESTA Schedule

FIESTA events are fast approaching, starting with a color guard and percussion rehearsal next week. All rehearsals have been posted on the band website events page. Please take a look at those to see what is upcoming. As we get into events for each week, I’ll be sure to let you know about them in the weekly newsletter.

Monthly Booster Meeting

This Tuesday will be our monthly booster meeting in the band hall at 7 pm. As we are now about to make the turn into the final weeks of school and the new marching season as well, I hope all can attend. We will be in the process of discussing upcoming elections for future positions as well.

“Band 101” Meeting

In the next week or so, I will announce the date to our very 1st “Band 101” meeting for all of our existing parents. This will be a meeting where I take time to explain the ins and outs of the band program, particularly for those parents who did not participate in band themselves, or have general questions about the program. Some of the items covered in this meeting include student band placement, marching spot auditions, and other important areas. I hope that all of you will take the time to attend. Speaking a little bit about marching spots…

Preliminary Marching Band Auditions

The first half of the marching show music is nearly completed and we are getting to the point of having to send our drill writer information on how many of each instrument to write for. We will go into more detail about this process in our Band 101 meeting, however we are limited as to how many of each instrument we are able to write for. Therefore, we will be having preliminary marching auditions to gather those numbers of spots per section over the next week and a half.

While this audition DOES NOT determine if your student has a spot in the 2019 show, it is definitely an opportunity for students to display the refinement of their skills and take a positive step forward to earning a spot in next fall’s show.

Spring Leadership Training

We will have a meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the current BLT to start our Spring Leadership Training. We will be covering the topics of creating and developing positive relationships and attitudes in a team setting. I’d also like to extend this invitation to any sophomores and juniors who are interesting in applying for a leadership position next year.

Spring Dinner Tickets & Event

Spring Dinner tickets were passed out on Friday to all students in the program. Each student received 8 tickets, with each ticket costing $8. Last year, the program sold 640 tickets to the dinner. This year, the students have come up with a goal of selling 1,000 tickets prior to the event! We are also running a contest based on class periods. The class period with the highest average number of tickets sold per student will win a class period party! A meter has been placed on our board in the band hall and will be regularly updated for us to track our team goal.

Please remember that all students need to turn in money to myself. DO NOT drop them in the safe without checking in with me first. Also, any students that need extra tickets, please see me for that as well.

We are in need of parent volunteers as well for this event. Please check our sign up genius page HERE to see how you can help!

Band Banquet Invitations

Band banquet invitations were passed out to students on Friday. Please be sure to read the details regarding purchasing tickets for the banquet if your student wishes to attend. For those wondering what banquet is, think of it as “Band Prom” where students get dressed up, have dinner, and dance. Awards are also given out at the banquet as well. The banquet is also open to all parents to attend as well with the purchase of a ticket. While it is not required for students to attend, we do hope that everyone attends to celebrate a great year!

Cornyval Parking Fundraiser

Just a friendly reminder about our upcoming Cornyval Fundraiser coming up! Flyers were sent home with students on Friday. Please make a note on your calendar as I hope you can help with this great event for the program.

Please be sure to check the calendar below for this week’s events and as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at Daniel.Asgari@nisd.net.

GO BRONCOS!

-Mr. Asgari

SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK

4/8/19 - Monday - JV Winter Guard Rehearsal, 4:30 pm - 6 pm

4/8/19 - Monday - Jazz 1 Saxes & Brass, 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

4/8/19 - Monday - Director and Drum Major Battle of the Bands Meeting, 5 pm @ Alamo Stadium

4/8/19 - Monday - Marching Band Uniform Refittings, 4 pm - 6 pm

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4/9/19 - Tuesday - Jazz Combo, 7:30 am

4/9/19 - Tuesday - Marching Band Uniform Refittings, 4 pm - 6 pm

4/9/19 - Tuesday - BLT (ALL) & Future Leaders Spring Training (Soph. & Juniors), 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

4/9/19 - Tuesday - Varsity Winter Guard Rehearsal, 6 pm - 8 pm