Welcome to this last planned regular email of the year. Below you will find information about the Graduation Band performance, band camp, instrument rental, London, and an upgrade to our online database.
Seniors
Again, congratulations and thank you for the incredible memories and milestones. I do hope you will be able to join us for alumni events in the coming years. Photos and videos from the last two events will be posted here as well as the Band Facebook page.
Graduation
This coming Wednesday is graduation. This is our last planned performance of the year. Call time for all concert band members to be at South stadium is 6:15p. Since it will during rush hour and a ton of people are trying to gain entrance to the stadium, please plan to arrive earlier than you think. Every year, people are late because they didn’t expect it to take as long as it does to get from your home to the stadium. We begin playing at 6:40p. Dress is nice casual, much like our last concert. Nice slacks/dress pants and polo or dress shirt, or dress, or skirt and blouse. Please no tennis shoes or jeans. Current temperature predictions are for a high temperature of only 66 degrees on Wednesday. Therefore by 8:30/9:00p (the conclusion of the ceremony) it will be in the lower 60’s. Plan ahead as we will be sitting on the turf for the entire ceremony. Students need to bring their own instruments – including percussion hand instruments and mallets/sticks.
Live Performance of How to Train Your Dragon
Someone has been in contact with Dr. Thomas about possibly playing for the Kansas City movie premiere of How to Train Your Dragon. This would be open to ALL Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble members (even recent graduates). I hope to be obtaining more information tomorrow (Monday) and will pass along once that is received. The date is June 3. We would be playing highlights from How to Train Your Dragon that the Wind Ensemble played on the spring concert. When more information is received it will be passed along to see if it is a possibility for us to perform at the event – and then be able to stay for the screening. Stay tuned for more information regarding this exciting opportunity!
London Trip
London Trip Payments – Tomorrow is the date for the next installment for our upcoming London trip. Have you made that payment in the last week or so? If you have not, please send your payment this week to the band office or our trip treasurers.
Passport? – It takes about 6-8 weeks to obtain your passport. If you have not gotten your yet, now is the time. Here is the website to begin the process. https://www.usa.gov/passport If the student is under 18 years of age, there are specific instructions on this webpage. Soon after school resumes, I will begin collecting the passports of all travelers since we will have to have EXACT names as they appear on the passport as well as the Passport Identification Number, to obtain everyone’s airline tickets. When school resumes, we will be very busy with marching band activities as well as London activities and deadlines. The sooner everyone has their passport, the less stressed you will be.
Summer Instruments
Renting an instrument for the summer? – please obtain a rental form from Dr. Thomas or Mr. Hupe. You may pay for just the summer portion ($30) or summer and school year ($90). This is a great way to stay in shape for the return to Marching Band!
New Database and Communication System Coming!
Cut Time migration – We have an exciting opportunity to improve our communication with parents and students next school year. It is a text-based system that allows for our band calendar, communications, instrument rentals, forms collection, volunteer sign-up, band fee and trip payments, finance tracking, and much more to all come under one platform. As we begin to move in this direction, be on the lookout for requests for information including cell phone numbers. This will not be spam, but movement to improved communication with parents and students. It is called Cut Time.
Band Camp July 2025
Please have band camp marked on your calendar for July. All times are 8a-4p at West
- July 21-23 – Percussion
- July 24 – Student staff
- July 25 – Rookies and student staff
- July 28-Aug. 1 – FULL Band
- Aug 1 – Exhibition and first performance of this year’s show. 7:30-9:00p
These collective dates equal almost two months of school rehearsals! We will learn this year’s pre-game drill and music along with show music and the opening movement or two of drill. PLEASE make plans to be in attendance.