Good morning, all!   Mrs. Prater and I are excited to see everyone next week to kick off the 2019-2020 Western High School marching band! 

Here are three new sections of information for everyone, followed by the original email sent before school ended, so that it’s all in one place. 

1. We still need a few parent volunteers to assist with lunches. Please click here to volunteer:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f45aea82ea4f85-2019

1. We provide main courses from the band deposits for five lunches, but we also ask each student to bring one item to help round out their lunch choices.   It’s only needed once, unless we email later in the week if we’re running low on anything.   

What to bring to band camp to cafeteria on Monday morning, July 22nd, to help with meals 

(divided by section)*

Flutes/Trumpets:                                 a large bag of chips, any kind (potato,Doritos, etc.)

Clarinets:                                         2 package of cookies, or 4 dozen, if homemade

Percussion/Color Guard:                      Case of water.16 oz bottles, buy the store brand, *nothing expensive*.

Saxophones/Mellophones:                 Fruit (a couple bags of grapes, apples) or veggies

Trombones/Baritones/Tubas:          case of water.16 oz bottles, buy the store brand, *nothing expensive*.

3. The drumline has been having themed days for band camp for years.  Amber Griswold (brass), and 

Mia Cunningham and Faith Christoff (woodwinds), came up with themes for your sections,too! Color Guard will decide theirs as well (Hanna and Ayla?).  Please dress appropriately for the weather, but do your best to dress in the theme provided for your section for daily spirit tallies and pictures:

Themes for band camp days

Monday:

Woodwinds---Grandparents day (dress old)

Brass---Disney/disney bounding day

Tuesday:

Woodwinds--Tourist day 

Brass---Beach day

Wednesday:

Woodwinds---Duo or Twins day

Brass----Crop top day

Thursday:

Woodwinds---Meme/TikTok day or character day

Brass---Christmas in July

Friday:

Woodwinds---Western bands day

Brass---Western bands day

Thanks, all!  Below is the original email.  

Dear Western High School Band Student and Parents:

Greetings!  Hope you all have a great summer!  Here’s the scoop on band camp.

We hold marching band camp in the last full week of July due to make sure students who are in the County Fair or on any sports teams are able to participate.  We also hold the camp at the school to accommodate the driver’s education session (who report at 11 a.m.) and to those with football events. To those not involved in these events, we like to look at it as having two summer vacations…one “before Band week” and one “after Band week”, with a little Monday night touch-up (5:30-8:00 p.m. on August 5, 12, and 19 before school starts, and Mondays through the Fall except Labor Day)!  These rehearsals add up to nearly 11 weeks of school, and our first performance is the first week of school, so it is important that we have you/your student there to learn and be prepared with pregame, halftime, and stand cheers.

Also important to note: band camp is required for two years to earn Phys Ed credit.

The 2019 Band Week will be held from Monday, July 22nd through Friday, July 26th . The rehearsals run from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. from Monday through Friday, with a closing "for the fans" performance on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. 

If you need to have your student dropped off earlier than 8:15 a.m., just let us know so we can have a place for them to be in the building.

Our theme is Escapades: By Land, Air and Sea! The selections are “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Africa”, “Danger Zone”, and “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

The marching show we prepare includes everyone signed up for marching band,including varsity football players, as it is one we perform at the annual Vandercook Lake Marching Invitational in late September. 

The staff will include Mr. Bickel and Mrs. Prater (directors), Mr. Bill Cryderman (brass, marching instructor), Kevin Krieger (woodwinds),  Katti Chivington (color guard instructor), WHS science teacher Ruth Bocka (marching and music), Jack Tallman and Pete Alderman (drumline instructors).  A few more graduates (Brian Collins, Parker Vancalbergh) will be helping out, as well!

We provide students with a lunch every day, and they are dismissed before dinner.

CHECKLIST OF WHAT TO BRING TO BAND CAMP:

1. INSTRUMENT, LYRE, AND FLIP FOLDER WITH MUSIC HANDED OUT IN CLASS (9th Graders paid for flip folders---other students need to find theirs or buy one at Playford Music before the week of band camp).

2. TENNIS SHOES AND SOCKS

3. SHARPENED PENCIL

4. LAYERS OF CLOTHING (HOODIE/LONG PANTS) FOR VARYING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

5. SUNBLOCK

6. CONTRIBUTION FOR LUNCH BY SECTION (TO BE ANNOUNCED VIA EMAIL & FACEBOOK PAGE)

7. OUTFIT THEME FOR EACH DAY (TO BE ANNOUNCED VIA EMAIL AND FACEBOOK PAGE)

8. SUNGLASSES 

Thanks, everyone!  Please email your questions.

Sincerely,

Paul Bickel and Christina Prater

Western High School Marching Band

Band Event Calendar 2019-20 and Confirmation Form---click on link below (identical to what was handed out to all students in high school band next year in class). Please print and return page one, signed by student and parent. Please keep page two, so that you have the events to add to your calendars.

2019-20 WHS Bands Event Calendar and Confirmation Form

Upcoming Western High School Bands events

Sunday, May 19th---Spring Extra-va-BANDS-a Concert, 2:00 p.m.

**NOTE: The 2019 Spring Arbor Memorial Day Parade has been cancelled due to construction

Friday, May 24th--Commencement, Symphonic Band performs, 7:00 p.m.

Monday through Friday, July 22nd-26th---Band Camp at Western, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. daily

Mondays after that unless otherwise notified---Marching Band practices, 5:30-8 p.m.

The following students qualified as soloists or in groups to perform at the STATE Solo/Ensemble Festival in February (to compare to sports, think of them having had an in-school parade last Friday).  They did so by earning a blue medal, first division rating at the District Solo/Ensemble, and then signing up for this top level evaluation.

They performed at Okemos High School on Saturday, March 16th.

Here are the students and their results:

Mary Long and Shane Gollakner performed a clarinet duet. They earned a first division (blue medal) rating at the State level, with four "A"s and one "A-"s for an overall "A".  

Emily Buratovich, McKenna Jones, Shane Gollakner, Aaron Miller, and Mary Long performed as a woodwind quintet. They earned a first division (blue medal) rating at the State level, with four "A"s and one "A-"s for an overall "A".  

Garrett Hovanec performed his 10th Grade Trombone solo, earned a first division (blue medal) rating on State Proficiency 3 (highest level), with 25/25 on his scales exam, 23/25 on his sight-reading exam, and 43/50 on his solo, earning him 91/100. This is one of the higher trombone Proficiency 2 scores Western has ever had.

Alyssa Ladd performed her 11th Grade clarinet solo, earned another first division rating,  with 24/25 on her scales exam, 24/25 on her sight-reading exam, and 43/50 on her solo, earning her 92/100.

Congratulations to these WHS students on earning 9 medals at the MSBOA State Solo/Ensemble Festival!