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ALL-STATE BAND/ORCHESTRA/JAZZ BAND AUDITONS POSTPONED!

Greetings on a frigid day!

Please read below, as All-State Band/Orchestra/Jazz Band auditions have been postponed and rescheduled for Saturday, December 21st.

Please feel free to respond with any questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability and/or inquire for a better answer.

Have a great Saturday off!

Clifton D. Thurmond

***
The Missouri Bandmasters Association strives to promote better bands in Missouri through several events, the largest being the Missouri All-State Band. The current weather system that is affecting the southern half of our state has created concern among the MBA Board of Directors for the safety of those students traveling to Columbia on Saturday, December 7. MBA recognizes the hours of preparation that takes place for students to prepare for this important audition. To exclude a large portion of the state from an audition opportunity would not create a fair representation of the very best musicians from our state. Therefore, All-State Band auditions will be postponed for Saturday, December 7, 2013 and rescheduled for Saturday, December 21, 2013 at Hickman High School in Columbia, MO.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this change of date. We realize the impact on the Hickman Band Boosters, Hickman staff and students who work at the auditions, judges, and band directors who may have plans to attend the Midwest Clinic. However, inconvenience is a much better route to take than to risk the safety of our students, parents and teachers.
All rules and regulations will remain the same. Late registrations will be allowed under the same policy; $25 late fee assessed. Refunds, if necessary, will be allowed only to those schools who have pre-paid. Schools possessing a pre-printed check for a lesser number of auditions should make arrangements to have a new check printed.

Thanks for your understanding,

MBA Board of Directors

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Music Parent meeting and Taste of Lee's Summit

Just a quick reminder that the music parent meeting is on December 5th at 7pm. We’ll be discussing the Washington DC trip, Taste of Lee’s Summit, information from the music directors and how we’re supporting the music program.

I try not to send out emails anymore than needed but please see below for assistance that’s needed.

Taste of Lee’s Summit:

Mark Hereford has already graciously offered to donate his valuable time to be on the committee for this event but we’re in need of another volunteer or two. This is a short term commitment as the 15th annual Taste of Lee’s Summit is being held on March 1st, 2014. We need a small committee to help coordinate getting donations to be auctioned off and to recruit volunteers; you’ll receive all the information needed at the planning meeting.

The Lee’s Summit Education Foundation is a nonprofit organizon dedicated to raising private funds to help support programs within the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District. For more detailed information on their mission and what they do for the community please visit www.lsedfoundation.com. Not only does participating in this great function benefit the community and our school disctrict the music parents get a donation that goes towards our operating budget.

There will be a planning meeting held on Monday, December 9th from 5:15pm-7:00pm at the Stansberry Leadership Center with a light dinner served. If you’re interested please let me know so that I can get your RSVP to the Foundation for the meeting.

Look for more information to be coming in my December informational email once I get that from the committee.

Go Titans!

Brent Grigsby
LSWMP President
lswmusicpresident

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Titan Pride Update, Upcoming important dates!

What a weekend it was! Titans bring home their 3rd State title in 10 years. We had a blast, as I hope your kids did as well. They represented the school very well, in both pride and performance.

Here are a couple of dates and bits of information for your reading pleasure:

Saturday, December 7th
All-State Band Auditions
This only effects a few, those who made All-District Band, but I wanted to share a little.
Students will need to be on campus at Hickman High School in Columbia, MO sometime after 8:30am. Upon arriving, please locate Mr. Thurmond and get your audition number. At that time you will go to the room and sign up for an audition with said number. Auditions begin at 9am. You should plan to stay until you have seen “callback” lists posted. If you are on that list, you will need to audition again. If you are not on that list, you are free to go home.
Come prepared for a LONG day. Bring something to do, and stuff to eat. You will be doing a lot of sitting and waiting.

Tuesday, December 10th
Winter Concert, Symphonic Band/Concert Band/Percussion Ensemble/Titan Jazz, 7pm
Symphonic Band – Call time is 6:45pm in the PAC audience (reserved seats)
Concert Band – Call time is 6:30pm in the Choir Room
Titan Jazz – Call time is 6:30pm on stage
Percussion Ensemble – Call time is 6:30pm on stage
All members of Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and Titan Jazz MUST be in concert uniform. Boys are to wear a tuxedo (jacket, pants, cummerbund provided), and are to wear a white, ribbed tuxedo shirt with bowtie underneath (purchased by you), and black socks/dress shoes. Girls are to wear purchased concert dress, hose and black shoes.
All members of Percussion Ensemble are to wear ALL BLACK dress clothes. Boys must be in slacks and a black, long-sleeved, button down dress shirt, with black socks/shoes. Girls are to wear the female equivalent of this (flexible).
Students should expect to stay for the ENTIRE concert as an audience member before and after their performance. Seats will be reserved.

Friday, January 10th
Pep Band Performance at Girls/Boys Basketball game, Time TBA
We will be playing at one basketball game this year, on this date. Please reserve this in your calendars now. More information to follow.

Band Fees
There are still a handful of students with an outstanding balance for marching band fees from the fall. Please take care of this as soon as possible. As of December 6th, I will be placing a fine card on the student in the front office. I need to wrap this up before THIS Friday.

Percussion Orchestra Contract
Members of the battery are a part of the Percussion Orchestra in the Winter/Spring for Contest. They were to fill out the attached contract and return it to me signed by a parent and the student by Friday, November 22nd.
There are still 7 out of 13 that have not turned it in. If you have not taken care of this, please do so at once.

Percussion Ensemble Contract

Have a great week.

Clifton D. Thurmond

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Concert Band Playing Tests

Below you will find a list of playing tests for Concert Band. A very small number of students have spoken with me about not being able to access Charms. These are the kinds of things we’ll have to struggle with when it comes to technology. Thanks for trying your best to make arrangements to get it recorded through Charms.

If that’s not possible, please try to get me an emailed recording or — like we used to do back in the day — a tape recording. Anything will work. The important thing is that the students are practicing on these very small excerpts among other things. I will accept any and all playing tests through Monday of next week so that we can get scores in the grade book. After that (after the concert) it’s not really m uch use to the ensemble to have the playing tests done.

*Please note, percussionists are being grading on ~3 page readings on mallet technique, timpani history, tuning/technique, etc… and DO NOT have to submit the playing tests via Charms.

Thank you,

Shawn Harrel

CB-Christmas Declaration 1 11/18/2013 Play 8 times. You may insert a measure of rest. Keep the tempo steady. -Flutes, Oboe, Clarinets: m. 22, Bass Cl, Tuba: m. 45-46, Alto, Tenors: m. 35, Tpts/Horn: 38-41, Trb./Bar.=62-65 Concert Band
CB-Christmas Declaration 2 11/25/2013 Play 3 times. Fl, Cl. 47-51; Ob. 38-41; Bs. Cl, Tuba: 42-45; Saxes, Horn 32-36; Tpts, Trob, Euph. 28-32 Concert Band
CB Playing Test 3 Christmas Dec or Snow Day Celebration 12/2/2013 Play 4x: CD: Fl. 62-65; Ob., Cl., Saxes 55-58 SDC: Tpt., Hn. 30-33; Trb., Bar., Tba. 26-30 Concert Band
CB-Snow Day Celebration 12/9/2013 Play 4 times Fl, Ob, Bass. Cl. 24-28 Cl, Alto, Hn. 22-25 Tpt. 19-23 Trb, Bar. 31-34 Tuba 41-45 Concert Band
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All State Band info

Good Evening!

State band auditions are this weekend and I thought I would pass along some information that I have learned the last couple of years.

Auditions are held at Hickman High School, 1104 N Providence Rd, Columbia, MO. I believe the school opens at 8:30 a.m. and auditions start at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Thurmond is the only person that needs to officially check-in and he normally does this when the school opens. There is no set time that you need to arrive…you just need to be there before the auditions close for your child’s room. Kayla and I usually get there around 9 a.m.

Once you get to the school, you will need to find Mr. Thurmond. Typically he will be in the lobby until all students have arrived. He will give the student their registration form and it will list their audition number. You will want to make a note of the audition number…the student will turn in the registration form at their audition and all call-backs will be announced using the audition number instead of name.

Continue reading “All State Band info”

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State Football Itinerary and last minute information!

Hi all!

Are you ready for Saturday? I’m trying to be, but there’s still a lot to do. Wish me luck!

1. Here is the itinerary for Saturday:
(See attached file: State-Championship1.doc)

2. We anticipate being back in LS by 1am, however, there is no way to be certain of that, so here is the plan

  • Once we leave St. Louis, we will stop somewhere outside the city for a QUICK bite to eat. They will need cash for this.
  • Once we leave this eating establishment, I will have them text you to give you a better idea of our ETA.
  • Once we drive through Odessa (about 25 minutes from LSW), I will have them text you again and tell you to go ahead and leave the house so that your are waiting for us once we arrive
  • We will NOT be unloading equipment at this time, so please be on time so your child can exit the bus and enter your car to go home. At 1am, no one will want to be waiting around for a ride, including me.

3. IF YOUR CHILD IS NOT RIDING THE BUS TO ST LOUIS WITH US, here is your plan:

  • We will be eating, at Golden Corral (I think) in St. Charles, MO
  • Address is 1850 ZUMBEHL ROAD, (636)947-0999
  • To get your child with the band, you have two options: 1. bring them to Golden Corral (2:30pm) and let them ride to the game with the bus OR 2. meet us at the Cole St entrance to the dome. (4pm)
  • Ask your student if they remembered to bring their instrument home this weekend. If not, they are responsible for taking care of someone else getting their instrument loaded Saturday morning.

4. IF YOU ARE PICKING UP YOUR CHILD AFTER THE GAME TO RIDE HOME WITH YOU, here is the plan

  • After the game is over, you will need find our buses/trailers outside the Cole St entrance to the dome
  • I MUST see you with your child in hand. Please do not leave without checking out with MR. THURMOND himself. I will be nearest the trailers.

5. Tickets to the game are $11. You can buy them at the ticket window when you arrive at the dome. OR until 3:30pm today in the front office of the school.

I HOPE I covered everything, but don’t hesitate to ask if I didn’t cover something you’re thinking about.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! See you Saturday!

Go Titans!

Clifton D. Thurmond
Director of Bands, Lee’s Summit West High School

State Championship.doc

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Giving Thanks

Dear Choir families,

We want to personally thank all of you for attending the

Concert on Sunday afternoon at Redemptorist Church. We were blown away by the amazing turnout and

response to each of the choirs. The kids

had a tremendous experience. Thanks to your generous donations, over $900 was

collected on Sunday.

After a concert like this one, it is incredibly obvious that

the LSW Choral Program serves a very diverse group of kids who are worth

recognizing for their fine achievements outside of the choir. Here are some facts about the 84-member Concert

Choir that you might find interesting:

–

68 members take Advanced Classes

– 27 members have over a 4.0 weighted GPA

–

35 members are taking at least 1 IB Course

–

6 members are currently perusing the IB Diploma

–

24 have played a Varity Sport

–

32 have played a Junior Varsity Sport

–

29 members are in Band or Orchestra

–

33 members take private voice lessons

Parents, thank you for supporting your child’s involvement

in choir throughout their high school career.

We are indeed thankful to work with such an intelligent, hardworking,

and diverse group of kids.

Warmly,

Amy Krinke, Ryan Sullivan, and Terrin Pabst

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Christmas in the Park Volunteers

Don’t forget Christmas in the Park is this Friday!

Our organization was selected to help Jackson County with the Christmas in the Park light display at Longview Lake. In turn for providing volunteers to collect donations, the LSW Music Parent group will receive a portion of the monies collected for the general fund…up to $1,000! We could still use a few more volunteers.

The details are:

* Day — Friday, November 29th

* Time — 5:00pm to 11:00pm

* Where — Longview Park

In order to receive our share of the funds we have to have at least 6 adults there at all times. Children 16 and older can also volunteer, but no one under the age of 16 can assist.

We can split the night into shifts; however, any volunteers that come after the park opens will need to wait in the line of cars to get to the park. The Friday after Thanksgiving will be a very busy night so that will make it difficult to volunteer for only the second part of the night. If you would like to volunteer for the just the second part of the evening, please let me know (I think I have Plan B that will work and only involves a short walk thru the woods.)

You can sign up to volunteer in Charms:

Go to www.charmsoffice.com
Select Enter in the upper right-hand corner
Select Parents/Students/Members
Enter school code: lswhsmusic
Click on the Public Calendar icon
Click on the hand to volunteer

Thank you!
Nancy Shaeffer
Volunteer Coordinator

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Titan Pride Update, Turkey and State Football edition!

Well, the Titans did it again. 42-14 was the final tonight over the Kearney Bulldogs. We are headed to STATE! Our last performance of the season will be in the Edward Jones Dome on Saturday, November 30th at 5:30pm.

This brings with it plenty of challenges, given we only have two days of school remaining before break. Please read the following carefully, so our trip logistics can run smoothly.

  • IF, for any reason, your son/daughter will be traveling one direction without the band (meaning they will not be on the bus), we NEED written verification of this.
  • IF they are riding to OR from with someone other than their own parents, they MUST fill out the approved travel release form that I will provide them MONDAY during class. This MUST be signed and returned NO LATER THAN Tuesday, November 26th at NOON!
  • IF they are riding to OR from with a parent, a hand-written note or email will suffice.
  • We will TRY to go outside to rehearse on MONDAY or TUESDAY during school. Please tell your son/daughter to come prepared to go outside in the cold those days.
  • I have a lot of things to iron out before I can give you an itinerary, but we plan to leave mid-morning and return LATE (as in after midnight).

Lastly, I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving! Have a relaxing time with your families. And don’t forget to put EVERYTHING on your Thursday dinner table between two pieces of bread on Friday! (That is my favorite part)

Clifton D. Thurmond
Director of Bands, Lee’s Summit West High School