Happy New Year Titan Pride Family,
I’m sure you have missed my weekly emails, so I decided to stay in touch with some new bits of information and exciting news! As always, feel free to email me or Mr. Harrel with any questions or concerns.
Pep Band at Basketball Games
We will NOT be performing at tonight’s game, as your student should have told you. In lieu of that, we will be performing at the basketball game on Tuesday, February 25th. Please add this date to your calendar as all band members are to attend and perform.
All-State Band and Jazz Band
We are excited to announce that four of our band members were selected to be members of the Missouri All-State Band or Jazz Band. Please congratulate the following students the next time you see them, this is a huge accomplishment and they auditioned against over 1000 other high school band students in the state for these positions.
Shayla Brown, piccolo (alternate)
Courtney Bingham, 1st chair english horn
Allyssa DeJarnette, 3rd chair clarinet
Isaiah Carter, jazz vibraphone
Percussion Orchestra
This is a percussion ensemble that includes all percussionists in the Concert or Symphonic Band. They rehearse outside the school day every Thursday through March.
If you have any questions concerning this ensemble, please direct them to me or Mr. Will Braune (the director of the ensemble). His email address is will.braune@leesummit.k12.mo.us
Percussion Class
Students enrolled in the 3rd Hour Percussion Class are also working as a percussion ensemble in preparation for District Contest in March. Each student is required to take a solo to contest, as well as participate in one of our two percussion quintets. All rehearsals are during class. Please encourage your student to be practicing at home regularly.
In addition, I have asked that all students in this class have their snare stand (from home) in class every day starting THIS Monday. If they don’t have one, they are to purchase one, either online, or at a local music store. (Shining Light Music in downtown LS is a good option)
Solo/Ensemble Contest
All members of the band will be performing either as a soloist OR small ensemble member at MSHSAA District Contest (which we happen to host). This occurs on Saturday, March 22. More on this later, but please make sure this is in your calendar to prevent conflicts from arising.
Washington DC 2015
In case you haven’t heard, the music department is taking a trip to Washington DC in March of 2015. To make paying for this trip as easy as possible on you, we have devised a payment schedule running from February 1st of this year through February 1st of next year. Any student wishing to go on the trip MUST be registered through Music Celebrations International by February 1st (which is only a few weeks away). Please stay on top of this. We also need several parents to go as chaperones, so, if interested, you will need to register as well. Here is the information you need to get registered for the trip (you can also find it on titanmusic.org). Note: Absolutely NO Payments will be handed in at school, all will be handled through the company organizing our trip.
(See attached file: Individual Registration Form – Lee’s Summit.pdf) (See attached file: Online Payment Instructions.docx)
Have a GREAT weekend!
Clifton D. Thurmond
Director of Bands, Lee’s Summit West High School