Blanchard HS Band

We have a very exciting year ahead of us! From honor band clinics and concert contests to our trip to New York City, it's going to be a great spring semester!

Thank you to everyone for your help with Breakfast with Santa! It was once again a big success!

Also, thank you to everyone who came out to the Winter Concert. It was the largest crowd EVER and the kids performed wonderfully! We appreciate the many kind emails you sent to let us know how proud and pleased you were with their performances. We are so blessed to work in a community as great as Blanchard!

• January 15th, All Solo & Ensemble fees due
• January 18th, No School
• January 20th-23rd, OMEA All-State Honor Band
• January 25th-29th, Pass off music for SWOBDA All-Region HB
• January 26th, Band Booster meeting @7pm; HS band room
• January 29th, HS band lock-in; HS band room
• February 1st-5th, Pass off music for OSSBDA All-State HB
• February 5th, Parent-Teacher conferences (directors unavailable)
• February 5th-6th, All-Region Honor Band; Weatherford
• February 8th, 4th trip payment due
• February 11th-13th, OSSBDA All-State Honor Band
• February 15th, No School
• February 19th, Pre-district Contest
• February 21st, Mattress Sale
• February 27th, District Solo & Ensemble Contest
• February 29th, OU Concert; we will go watch this performance; optional

If your student is a member of All-Region, OSSBDA All-State, or OMEA All-State, itineraries with information will be sent home as soon as possible. These will be filled with info, so please read them carefully! There is a $25 hotel/dinner fee for All-Region members that is due by the first day of the honor band, February 5th, or anytime beforehand.

All students will need to pass off their honor band music to a director or private lesson teacher in order to attend, so don't delay! The deadlines are in the calendar section above.

Students wanting to participate in solo & ensemble need to sign up and pay by Friday, January 15th. We will have three large ensembles (woodwind, brass, percussion) that students do not need to pay for in order to participate. Percussionists must participate in the percussion ensemble.

This is a great opportunity for students to work on their own or in small groups! Costs are as follows: Solo - $10; Ensembles of 2-6 - $18 (to be divided equally among the participating members).

If you need some flexibility on the payment deadline, please let me know and we'll make it happen.

Please remember there is a trip payment is due on February 8th. If you need any special arrangements, please let Ms. Kauffman know now and we'll get things situated so it works best for you! This trip is shaping up to be EPIC! A full payment is $250 for students and $300 for chaperones. Remember to check Charms to see what your student fundraised so you know how much you owe.

If you are behind in your payments or you would like to get ahead, there are no payments due in December and January so you have some room to wiggle until the next payment is due.

For students interested in going to the Tuttle Band Lock-In, the information is here. They have invited all Tri-City area bands and it's sure to be a good time! We will not be traveling as a band, so you need to provide your own transportation. Have fun and represent Blanchard Bands well!

We are having our own lock-in on January 29th from 7:00pm-1:00am at the high school. The theme is Star Wars! The cost is $5 per person. We need parents to help out, so sign up on Charms!

There will be games in the gym, movies in the percussion room, video games in the drama room, board games and hanging out in the band room, and food and drinks in the commons. There is sure to be something for everyone!

The main course will be pizza. Below, check out what your section is assigned to bring:

Flutes - drinks

Clarinets - desserts

Saxes/Horn/Oboes/Bassoon - cups, plates, utensils, napkins

Low Brass - snacks

Trumpets - snacks

Percussion - desserts

Guard - drinks

Remember to talk up our upcoming mattress sale! More info will be out soon, but mentioning it now wouldn't hurt. Our sale will be Sunday, February 21st in the HS Commons. We will have a parent meeting before the sale to get you all the info you need to make this a super successful sale for you and your student!

Please remember that if you didn't fill out your form with Brenda at uniform checkout and get her a copy of your driver's license, you'll need to get that done prior to volunteering. The cost of the background check is $12.50 and is required if you want to work directly with our students. For more information, contact Brenda at breardon@blanchard.k12.ok.us

Our Blanchard HS Band Students of the month for January are Nova Aragon & Aubrey Ellis!

• Nova is a junior trombone player and is first chair in her section. She is also a member of Leadership Council. Nova had a very unique situation in December. Our Winter Concert had to be moved and in turn, her family was already scheduled to be on vacation on the date of the concert. This meant that Nova was going to be in band practicing everyday for a concert she would never perform. For many kids, this would be zero inspiration to do anything. Instead, Nova moved around in her section and learned other parts, playing with the younger students and helping them learn their music better. So instead of learning one part for the concert, she learned lots of parts in order to help others and in turn help her section and her band. Our hats are off to you and all that you do to help yourself and your band improve. Thank you, Nova!
• Aubrey is a senior percussionist and also a talented banjo player. He is very musically inclined but is known to be a bit of a goof and he doesn't always apply himself to his fullest ability. Needless to say, when he took his chair test in December a whole new Aubrey appeared! It was clear that he had practiced and done so in a consistent, methodical manner. His playing was finally representing what we knew all along - that he's a great percussionist and a wonderful musician! This is his last semester in high school and these will be his last performances with the Blanchard Band. We're so proud that they the band will benefit from the great playing of this talented, corny joke telling, banjo playing young man. Keep it up, Aubrey, and let's go out on a high note!

The purpose of the monthly newsletter is to make sure that students and parents are all on the same page and know about all band activities. To get credit, a parent needs to send an email to the Blanchard Band directors that has the following info: student name, grade, parent name, and that the newsletter has been read. This earns you 100%! If you don't have the ability to email, please have your student get a hard copy from a director and it can be signed and returned for the same grade.

Remember, newsletters are only accepted during the month of the newsletter. Once the month has passed, that newsletter can no longer be submitted.

Don't forget to find us on Celly!

Email: blanchardbands@gmail.com
Website: www.blanchardbands.com
Phone: 405-485-3392