Creekland Middle School Band Blog

The latest news in CMS Band!

-First of all, don’t forget our BAND PARENT MEETING on Monday September 13 at 7pm in the cafeteria!  We will be discussing activities of our band booster program, electing new officers, giving tutorials on Charms, and discussing ways for your child to be successful in our program.  Don’t miss it!

-We had a FANTASTIC time at 8th Grade Night at CHHS last week.  Mr. Bybee told us that these students were the best group of 8th graders he has seen!  We have many pictures and videos that will come in a future post.

-All 7th and 8th grade classes now have their pass-off lists, and pass-offs are due Friday, September 24. Remember that pass-offs can be submitted on any device (tape recorder, cell phone, YouTube, flash drive, CD, SmartMusic, etc.).  If your computer has an external microphone, I recommend using the Charms recording feature or Audacity software (link to the right).  We also have tape recorders available for a 2-day check out.  We will also have before-school sign up sheets beginning next week.

-District Band Audition forms are due TOMORROW!!! We meet every Thursday morning at 8 to help students prepare for their audition.  8th grade honor band students must also turn in their forms, even though the audition is mandatory.

-Jazz band is in full force!  We meet every Wednesday morning at 8.  This year we are happy to welcome orchestra students to our ensemble as well, and look forward to the new sounds and opportunities they will provide.  All students who participate in jazz/pep band must turn in a signed permission form.

Thank you for all you do!  We look forward to seeing you on Monday at our parent meeting!

Please read the following article about the importance of cleaning your instruments!! The article discusses professional musicians whose instruments were growing harmful bacteria because they were not diligent about cleaning them!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129725678

Wow what a busy week it has been!  Contained in this post is a band-wide update, followed by updates by grade and/or group.

First of all, we finally got our band binders!  Everyone who has purchased a band binder and/or band book should have received their materials yesterday or today.  We will continue to sell materials until every student has what he or she needs, and a copy of our order form can be downloaded from Charms.  Quarterly pass-offs (playing tests) for all classes will also come home early next week.

6th grade:

By now most students have assembled and played the first note(s) on their instruments!  It has been an exciting week getting to share those experiences with your students, and we look forward to polishing those sounds and pushing through to more notes.

7th grade:

We need help fitting our students for uniforms!  If you are available next week Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday from 9:20-10:20 (7A) or 1:10-2:00 (7B), please email us or sign up on Charms.  7B has a concert at the end of September, so we need to get moving on it!

8th grade:

8th grade night permission forms came home on Tuesday and are due on Friday.  This event is mandatory and attendance will be counted for a grade.  Students tell us every year that this night is one of the highlights of their time in middle school band!  They will be receiving a free t-shirt to wear next Friday.  Please check our calendar (or download the permission form) on Charms for more information.

Honor Bands:

7th and 8th grade Honor Bands received information today on auditioning for GMEA District Band and All-State Band.  The first audition costs $2 and the second one costs $18 (for a total of $20).  8th grade is required to take the first audition, and 7th grade is strongly encouraged.  Registration forms are due September 10, and there will be help sessions offered every Thursday morning at 8.  Last year we had a 7th grade student make the all-state band!  Anything is possible!

Jazz Band:

Jazz Band starts next week!  This group is open to any 7th or 8th grader who is interested and willing to make the commitment to rehearsals.  We meet every Wednesday at 8:00.  Later in the semester this group will transition to become the Pep Band and play at all CMS home basketball games.

Don’t forget about our parent meeting on Monday, September 13 at 7pm!  As always, please email us with any questions or concerns.  Thanks for checking in!

Our band binders should have been here 3 weeks ago, but they are on back order from Staples. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they will arrive ANY DAY now!

We are anxious for their arrival because in 7th and 8th grade we can’t hand out any new music until the students have binders to put them in! Band books are being handed out at various times this week in 7th and 8th grade, and for 6th grade we will wait on the band binders.

Thanks for your patience! We are almost losing ours waiting for these supplies!

If you know you have paid for a band packet or other supplies, but your statement on Charms still says you owe money, don’t worry! We are working on processing all the payments and we will post yours when it is entered.

We appreciate your patience as we handle the paperwork of 450 students!

If this is your first visit to our blog, welcome!  If you discovered this blog before now, welcome back!  I hope we have many new visitors today who received this website from the papers we sent home with students.  Please also visit Charms (www.charmsoffice.com), take a look around, and update your information accordingly!

A few announcements we covered in class:
-School-owned instruments (oboes, bassoons, french horns, baritones, tubas) will be sent home later this week.  Please return the signed rental agreement with a check for $60 (made out to Creekland Band Boosters) as soon as possible.  Parents of students with large instruments will need to schedule a time to pick up the home instruments – bus drivers will not allow tubas on the bus!  These large instruments can stay at home and will not need to come back to school until concert time.

-Students should return 3 items to us on their next class day: signed grading policy, signed handbook, and band supplies order form.  Please see a previous post for more information about ordering band supplies.  You can keep track of whether your student has turned in these forms in Charms.

-Students should begin bringing their instruments to school either tomorrow or Wednesday – we will not see our morning classes tomorrow (7A, 6A, 8A) because of an assembly, and we will not see our afternoon classes on Wednesday (7B. 6B, 8B) due to another assembly.

-6th grade students who have not yet been assigned an instrument will be tested in our next class.

-All 6th grade students – we will begin using our instruments as soon as possible, so if you have not rented one yet, please do so very soon! We cannot recommend specific instrument stores due to legal reasons, so I recommend doing a Google search for “music store Lawrenceville” and shopping around.

We are excited about this school year, and hope you are too!  As always, please contact us with any questions!

Here is the list of supplies needed for each specific instrument:

Required Materials for each instrument:

• Flute – Cleaning Kit with swab and polishing cloth
• Oboe – Cleaning Kit with swab, 3 good reeds with a 3 reed case, cork grease
• Bassoon – Cleaning Kit with swab, 3 good reeds with a 3 reed case, cork grease
• Clarinet – Cleaning kit with swab, a box of reeds(size 2)(Vandoren or Rico Royal reeds, not just Rico) 4 reed container to hold usable reeds, cork grease
• Trumpet – 5C mouthpiece,  Cleaning Kit, slide grease, valve oil, a rag to wipe it down.
• French Horn – Mouthpiece, Cleaning Kit, slide grease, rotary valve oil, rag to wipe it down.
• Trombone – 12 C  or 6 ½ AL mouthpiece, Cleaning Kit, Slide Cream or Pond’s Cold Cream (not slide oil), Slide Grease, Spray Bottle, rag to wipe it down
• Baritone/Euphonium – 12 C mouthpiece , Cleaning Kit, Valve Oil,  Slide Grease, a rag to wipe it down
• Tuba – Size 18 or 22 mouthpiece, Cleaning Kit, Valve Oil, Slide Grease, a rag to wipe it down

Other Required Supplies:

• Folding Music Stand – for practice at home and use for concerts
• Playing & Maintenance Supplies (reeds, mouthpiece, sticks, mallets, oils, greases listed above)
• A pencil to mark music
• A band packet  purchased from us at the beginning of the year through registration (includes band binder, name tag, band book, uniform)

As always, please let us know if you have any questions.

There are certain required materials that your child will need for the Creekland Band program.  We are selling “band packets” at registration this year that include the following:

• BLACK 1″ binder with 10 sheet protectors
• Name tag for instrument
• T-shirt (for 6th grade) or tux shirt package (7th grade)
• Standard of Excellence band book (Book 1 for 6th grade, Book 2 for 7th grade)

All students are required to have a BLACK 1″ “band binder” and the specific band book for his/her class.  We sell these specific items through the Creekland Band program, so there is no need to purchase them individually.  Binders are $3 and band books are $10 each.  Percussion books are an additional $5 for an extra book.

T-shirts are optional for 7th and 8th grade, and can be purchased for $10.

Please make checks payable to “Creekland Band Boosters,” and we prefer checks over cash because it is safer.  If you send cash, please send exact change only.
Here’s to a great beginning of the school year!

Welcome to the Creekland Band Blog, and  welcome to the 2010-2011 school year!  We are excited to share two new resources that we hope will help the year run as smoothly as possible.  We encourage you to use these resources as much as possible to help us stay in closer communication with you.

Firstly, we have started this site – a Creekland Band Blog!  We will update this website regularly with announcements we make in class, information about concerts and activities, and resources for home preparedness.  We may periodically post photos of events, so please contact us via email if you do NOT want pictures of your child to be posted. (We do not have records of Media Release Forms that students turn in to homeroom).

Secondly, we are now using an internet system called Charms as our electronic information database.  It is similar to the GCPS Parent Portal, but it contains all band-related information, including:

• Our band calendar for the school year
• Volunteer opportunities
• Copies of major forms and handouts
• Instruments or books assigned to your student
• Individual fundraising information

The website is www.charmsoffice.com (also linked to the left), and login and access information will be sent home with students.  Grades will still be listed on the GCPS Parent Portal.

Lastly, we need your help!  Please log onto Charms and make sure the contact information we have for you is correct.  Instead of filling out the information sheet we send home, if you have verified your information on Charms please just write “Charms!”

We look forward to the opportunities that these updates will bring to the Creekland Band program this year.  We hope you will join us at our Band Parent Meeting (date and time TBA), where we plan to share more news about the band program and discuss these resources further.

Welcome to the Creekland MS Band Blog!  The purpose of this website is to keep everyone up to date with the happenings of the CMS band program and to improve communication between the program and the families.  Check back often to stay informed!