Hello everyone. Great show last Friday night. I was so proud of all the work that went into getting the show on the field. From memorization of music, working through the drill, helping rookies gain an understanding of our system of learning and performing, to parents organizing uniforms, dinner, and getting the trailer set up and going the first time! There are so many details that have to line up to actually perform at a football game or marching competition. THANK YOU, students and parents, for your dedication to each other and the SM West Bands!
Let’s look at this week.
Tuesday – Marching Band Rehearsal 6:00p-8:00p (Everyone) 6-9p for drumline & pit. PLEASE bring your water bottles – it’s supposed to be another hot one. We will take frequent water breaks. We will have this years 8th graders joining us for pregame this Friday so they will join us for rehearsal at 6p on the practice field. Drum Majors, and a couple of percussionists – I will need your help with passing out instruments and T-shirts from the band room.
The game plan for this rehearsal after we are finished with 8th graders is to learn 5-7 sets of drill for Movement 2, PLUS assign the ensemble their microphones and attach them. We will also balance all the pit and bass amplification, along with assigning students to move sound equipment and backdrops on the field for any given rehearsal or show. For efficiency, we want people assigned to each piece of equipment so we are ready for each event.
ALL Parents – There is a BAW meeting on Tuesday evening at 7:00p. This will be an opportunity to review the activities of last week’s game along with looking ahead to upcoming fundraisers, and festivals needing support.
Wednesday – Can we have some MB students and our MB student helpers (Freshmen Roadies) for a couple of hours to work with this year’s backdrop and lighting truss? If there are any adult Roadies available that would be helpful also since loading the truck will probably come into the discussion. We need to learn how to put the truss and backdrop together and take them apart and where it goes on the field so we can set it up for Friday night and subsequent shows. I have a plan, we just need people to execute the plan at our shows. Let’s meet at 7:00. We’ll be finished by 9p or before.
Friday – Home football against Mill Creek. Call time is once again 4:00p in the band room to load, bus to the stadium, rehearse, eat dinner (with the 8th graders) and perform. It looks to be a warm one again so we will perform in Band T-shirts and BLACK athletic shorts, black marching band shoes and BLACK LONG socks.
Freshman playing test. This is a memory test of playing the Alma Mater. Parents, they should be bringing their instruments home to practice. Your student will need to play the Alma Mater from memory with no more than a couple of bobbles/stops or less to receive credit. The next one up is the Fight Song in the same manner.
SATURDAY – MEGA CAR WASH. 9a-4p as it was scheduled for two weeks ago. Same locations, same assignments. You will have this week to obtain more donations or pledges! Our spring group lessons as well as your trip fundraising depend on how much you hustle your pledges. Can you fill the sheet with people pledging 3 cents per car? If you do AND we wash 400+ cars like normal we can go crazy and have the best car wash ever! Let’s blow the top off of this year’s MEGA CAR WASH! Please share with friends in the area. We have paid advertising on Facebook for the car wash, please forward it to your friends. It makes a difference!
Next week is a slower week with no home football game. We’ll need to finish Movement Two and get Movement Three on the field as the Shawnee Mission Marching Festival is only three weeks away.
Again – thanks for your work. You’ve done well. Also, thank you for getting your forms turned in. We only have a few that need cleaned up (forgetting signatures in some places, not having one form or another in the packet etc.). We’ll try to fix all of that this week.