Welcome to the new school year and our first Freshman Band Announcements of the year. I try to send out Freshman Band announcements weekly. The idea is to keep everyone as up to date as possible with the going’s on of the Lakota West Band Program, with special emphasis on the Freshman. Here’s what’s new for this week-
1. School starts on Thursday, Aug 22, 2013 (in case you didn’t know J). Freshman Band/Jazz Band students will NOT need their instruments on the first day of school.
2. The schedule this year forces us to hit the ground sprinting, not just running. Here are the important things happening within the 1st couple weeks of school
- a. Monday, August 26, 2013-Cuuriculum/Back To School/Meet the Teacher Night. Lakota West Freshman School. You’ll visit all of your child’s classes for 10 minutes.
- b. Tuesday, August 27, 2013-Freshman Band Parent Meeting, Lakota West Freshman School Auditorium, 7:00 pm. This meeting is extremely important and will be an in depth meeting where we talk about all of the things that are going on with the band program, the Upbeat Club will make a presentation and discuss all of the things they do for the band and all of the ways that parents can become involved. This is a very important meeting, which is why we have it on a different day from Curriculum Night.
- c. Wednesday, September 4-the Freshman will be transported from the Freshman School to Main Campus immediately after school to rehearse with the Marching Firebirds to prepare for Freshman Night at the football game. Rehearsal runs from 3-5:30, but the Freshman portion of the rehearsal will be done at 4:00. The Freshman are welcome to stay for the entire rehearsal, but they are free to go at 4:00 pm. Parents should plan on picking up the students anytime between 4:00 and 5:30.
- d. Thursday, September 5-the Freshman will rehearse with the Marching Firebirds under the lights. This is a special evening, called Silvers Under the Lights (you’ll understand why it’s called that when you come for the first time). The rehearsal starts at 7:00 pm and is held in the Freshman Football Stadium. The Freshman will rehearse with the Marching Firebirds from 7-8:00 pm. After that, we encourage you to stay and watch the remainder of practice, which will end with a run through of Lakota West Side Story, our competition show.
- e. Friday, September 6-Freshman Night. There will be a pizza party outside the Main Campus band room starting at 5:00 pm for all of the band members. The Freshman will be the guests of the Marching Firebirds (free pizza and pop). At 6:00, we will all go inside the Main Campus Auditorium for warm up, we line up at approximately 6:30 and the Freshman will march to the stadium with the Marching Firebirds and will perform at halftime of the football game.
- f. Saturday, September 7-TAG DAY. This is the ONLY fundraiser of the year where we need the students to raise money. It lasts from 8:30 am to about 12:30 pm. We typically raise over $25,000 in this 3-4 hour time period. All of the funds raised are used to support the band program. Many more details about TAG DAY will be explained at the Freshman parent meeting on Aug 27.
3. Things you need for the start of school-Everyone who was at Lakota Ridge or Lakota Plains received a letter and some music at the end of school last year. There were a few things that everyone need to do/obtain before school started.
- a. Freshman band registration form-this is not a school registration form, this is something that we have everyone fill out for just the band. This form can be found on the band’s website, www.lakotawestbands.org. Click on the Freshman Bands tab on the left side of the home page, or, use this link, https://lakotawestbands.org/
lakota-west-freshman/ and then, follow the instructions to complete the Freshman Band registration form. - b. Order and pay for the band t-shirt (it’s all about the t-shirt) online on the website. T-shirts will be distributed to the students the week of Sept 2nd.
- c. Obtain a flip folder. This is the device that hold the music while you are marching. Local music stores carry these and they can be obtained on amazon.com or musiciansfriend.com
- d. Obtain a lyre for your instrument. This is the device that connects to your instrument and holds the flip folder. Also available at local music stores or amazon or musiciansfriend. If you go to a local music store and you are a brass player, take your instrument with you. Certain instruments have to use certain types of lyres and the store folks will be able to help you. This is not necessary for woodwind players. Flute players, ask for a flute flip folder. This does not require a lyre as the flip folder attaches to your arm.
This is a lot of information, but, we have to move fast. Our first performance is 11 days after the start of school. We’re all really excited about the band this year and looking forward to getting going. We’ll see you soon. If you have any questions or problems, please email Mr. Chumley at phillip.chumley@lakotaonline.