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Message from the Director To Members of the Westfield Band Family (May 2010)First I want to say how proud I am of the students that went on the band trip to Disney. As I told them, all of the accolades and awards are great, but what was most important was that these students represented the Westfield community in the highest fashion. The Gold Mickey we received is an indication of the excellence that we have in the band program and I am grateful for your support in allowing us the opportunity to be heard on a national level. From the comments from the judges, they feel Westfield is in an elite group of bands nationally. It was a great trip all around. The following information pertains to the final weeks of band and hopefully will clear up any questions you may have about the numerous events of next week. Please read this carefully and if you have any questions, please feel free to call me. The Concert Band will have rehearsal on Tuesday from 2:30-3:30. The Symphonic Band will have rehearsal on Wed from 2:30-3:30. The policy regarding band rehearsals has been the same all year. Unexcused absences to rehearsals will result in the student not playing on the concert. It will affect their grade. The policy regarding students participating in Westfield based sports has been the same as well. Students are to come to the first hour of band. Practice/Game vs concert, student comes to concert. Game vs rehearsal, student goes to game. We have students in band playing every sport at Westfield this spring. I have had no after school practices for regular band since March. I even moved practices before festival to accommodate students in crew. I held spring trip practices at night to help students in sports, so they would not have to make a choice. In these last two weeks though, I have had to revert to our original schedule. I cut each of these to one hour so students could get to sports. Crew kids were released even earlier. One hour each week is all that I have asked for. After May 2, there will be no after school time required for band students until next year. So, two hours of after school rehearsal since March does not seem like a great deal. Next week, we will be hosting and giving a series of concerts celebrating the 10th anniversary of Westfield High School. On April 28 @ 7pm we will have our guest artist concert featuring our Jazz Ensemble and Vincent Gardner from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Vincent is one of our countries greatest musical treasures. On April 30 @ 7:30pm, we will be hosting the UVA Wind Ensemble in their first ever performance in NOVA. Mr. Schnepper and I feel strongly that in addition to performing, the students must be exposed to a wide variety of listening experiences. Students must have a concert listening grade each nine weeks. We told the students TWO months ago that their fourth nine weeks grade would be comprised of two band practices, the performance on May 2, participation in solo and ensemble and the attendance at the two concerts listed above. Usually in nine weeks, there are two major playing grades. We told the students we would waive the playing tests for the fourth nine weeks in exchange for attendance at these two concerts. Most students were happy with that. For those of you that are not, you will have the option of attending one, both, or none of the concerts. If you attend one concert, you will be assigned one playing test. If you attend none of the concerts, you will be assigned two playing tests. If you attend both concerts, you will be assigned no playing tests. Those of you playing in each concert will of course get the customary bagels and donuts!! Finally, the concert on May 2, entitled, THE WORLD WE LIVE IN, will feature music from around the world. We will culminate the evening with the world premiere of " Despite All Else, Here We Stand", written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the school. Concert Band and Symphonic Band play at 5pm(call time 4pm). We are working on a pasta dinner at school for all at 6:15 pm. More info to follow, but projected cost if you choose to dine with us is $10.00. The Wind Symphony will play at 8pm(call time 7:30pm). All students will attend each other’s concert. This is standard policy for the band program. As always, Mr. Schnepper and I are here to help you. If you have any questions or concerns, just pick up the phone or drop us an e-mail. We will be glad to help you in any way we can. |