SLHS Instrumental Music Newsletter

As April sets in we are starting to shift gears and focus on performances outside of school. Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra are set to go to CHSAA Festival, and Concert Orchestra is excited to attend Metro State's Orchestra Celebration. We are so grateful to all the parent volunteers who have leaned in to help in all the ways that have including driving students, offering to pick up pizza for area festivals, and working bingo sessions.

We are once again reminded of how strong our community is and how lucky we are that your support stays so strong.

Sincerely, Crissy Duran and Ben Williams

• April 21, 2022, from 7-9 pm.
• All parents are always welcomed to attend!
  
• Self Nominations for board positions are welcomed and encouraged.
• Positions open include President-Elect, Treasurer-Elect, and Fundraising Coordinator.
• Please contact SLMB president Amanda Wyse with any questions!

There are several opportunities for you to get involved as we prepare to celebrate the hard work of our band and orchestra students! We need help with the awards banquet and senior recognition. Click here to learn more!

There are three upcoming/end-of-year concerts coming up in April and May.

Wednesday, April 27 - Spring Concert for Concert Band and Wind Ensemble at 7 pm in the SLHS Auditorium.

Thursday, April 28 - Spring Concert for Gator Blues and Signature Blues at 7 pm in the SLHS auditorium.

Wednesday, May 11 - Spring Concert for Concert Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra at 7 pm in the SLHS auditorium.

Please join us for these concerts as we say goodbye to our senior class for their last concert as a Gator. Band and orchestra students will also be performing at the graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 19th.

Ms. Duran will have a student teacher in her classes for the next several weeks. Parents and students should welcome her to our Standley Lake family. Here is some information about her.

McKenna Jansky is a Senior in the Flute Studio at Colorado State University, studying Music Education. She is currently in her final semester, in which she is student teaching with Crissy Duran. Ms. Jansky’s first 10 weeks of the semester were spent at Shepardson Elementary in Poudre School District, and she is wrapping up her semester at Standley Lake High School. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing and being outdoors. Ms. Jansky is hoping to begin teaching in Colorado in May.

Indoor Percussion has made some big improvements in the last few weeks. They will be competing on Saturday, April 16th at the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association Championships. This year the championships are being held at the Auraria Event Center 1255 10th St. Plaza, Denver, CO. 80204. This is the first time in many years that the championship is being held in the metro area.

Saturday, May 14th, 2022

6:00-9:00 PM

SLHS Cafeteria

Stay tuned for Details!

Pictures from this school year are needed for our slide show! Please share any and all appropriate pictures

On Wednesday, April 6th our Standley Lake Camber Orchestra traveled to Mountain Vista High School to participate in their first festival in a few years. They received a rating of Excellent from all three judges. For those of you not familiar with festival ratings, they are backward from marching band and winter percussion ratings. In the marching world, a "5" is the highest rating. With festival ratings, a "1' is the highest. A one is called a "Superior", a two is called an "Excellent", a three is called "good", a four is called "Fair" and a five is called "poor".

After their performance on stage, they went to the instrumental music room and sight-read a piece for another judge. That judge had a lot of fun with our group including a couple of the parents in the room. The judge gave the chamber orchestra a "Superior" rating. This of course the highest possible rating that the group could receive. After the festival, the group stopped at Colorado Mills mall for dinner.

Thank you to the parents who drove and of course thank you to Mr. Williams for giving our students this opportunity!

Marching Band is back!

• Kick-Off for all members May 20th, 5-8 pm, Parent Meeting 7 pm
• Look for percussion and color guard clinic dates to come in early May!

Band camp dates are July 25th -28th and August 2nd - 5th. All rehearsals are from 1-8:30 pm.

Students who are interested in being in marching band should fill out the following survey.

• We are still in need of a few mallet players and a couple of easy synth parts need to be covered.
• We currently have enough instrumentalists that have completed the survey which is equal to 89% of last year's instrumentalists. The 8th graders have not received a link to the survey yet, and we still have 8 veterans from last year that have not taken the survey!

The applications for senior instrumental music scholarship applications are due on April 18th.

The boosters will also once again be honoring our seniors on social media. The directors will be sending out a link for you to provide a senior picture.

Hey SLIP and GPMB members! We need to get caught up on fees for marching band and winter percussion! These programs are not funded by the school and exist completely on student fees and booster fundraising.

You can find your account balance on Charms. If you have any questions, concerns, or a request for a scholarship to cover fees due to financial hardship, please don't hesitate to reach out to our treasurer, Laurie Hutchings or Mrs. Duran.

Please remember that all fundraising and payments are applied to the oldest balances first.

Did you know we have a Venmo as an easy way to pay your dues?

Venmo: standleylakembtreasurer@gmail.com

Thank you to all of the parents who came to support the SLAM concerts last month. It was great to see all of the students playing together in the gymnasium once again! Some of our families get to watch all their children play at the same concert when they attend different schools in the area. Thank you to the Standley Lake Directors who put so much time into the planning of this wonderful event for our students.

Many of you might have noticed the smaller than usual size of the sixth-grade groups this year. The class of 2028 will be the smallest class of musicians because of the impact that covid had during their 5th grade beginning band/orchestra year. This decrease in enrollment could affect middle school staffing in the next couple of years. It could also affect high school staffing when they become freshmen.