Thank you for attending the parent meeting this past Wednesday! It was great to see everyone!
If you missed the parent meeting, here are some notes discussed:
Our band website: http://www.grapevinemsband.com
School-Owned Instruments: If your student is playing a school-owned instrument (oboe, bassoon, french horn, euphonium, tuba, percussion), we will let you know when Skyward is ready for you to pay the $100/semester GCISD Maintenance Fee.
Lockers: Everyone has a band locker and each student will need to bring their instrument to the school by the end of the first week of school. If you ordered through Bell's Music Shop, your items have been delivered to GMS and we will store it in your student's band locker. You may provide a combination lock (no key lock) if you would like. We are in the band hall at times and keep it locked when we are not there. We will ask students to give us the combo number so we can assist if needed. It is your choice whether you would like to get a lock.
Before and After School: Band students are only allowed in the band hall. Non band students will be asked to wait outside as we have expensive equipment inside our classrooms. Band students are allowed to practice before and after school in our classroom or practice rooms. This is where a lot of the fun is! A band director will be in the classroom and students are not left unattended. Students may also hang out before or after school in the band hall if they do not want to go to the cafeteria.
1st Few Weeks: Band Curriculum begins the second day of school. Instruments need to come to school on the first day of school. We will be focusing on fundamentals, maintenance, fight song, alma mater, scales, region music and fall concert music.
Band shirts and Hoodies will be ordered at the end of next week.
Private Lessons: Click here for information. We have an INCREDIBLE staff. Check out their bios here.
Fundraiser: Please save your money for our Fan Pledge fundraiser coming up soon on September 18th. Students will collect 20 contacts and call family and friends asking for donations of $25 or more. Students who participate in our live blitz on September 18th and have 20 contacts entered will automatically be eligible to attend our Exclusive Party at Grapevine REC on Friday, September 27th from 7-9:00 pm! We will send a separate email with detailed information as we move closer to this date.
Communication: Weekly Newsletters, Grapevine MS Band Facebook Page, Twitter @gmsPONYband, and Rooms/Thrillshare (be on the lookout for information in Mrs. Alexander's newsletter).
Sectionals: Sectionals are weekly group sessions of your student's instrument only. For example, trombones will meet once a week before or after school beginning the week of August 26th. Flutes will meet at a different time once a week, etc. The schedule will be created after talking to the students regarding their personal schedules. Sectionals will never be on game days and we work with all coaches to work out conflicts. We work together because we share a lot of students and we all feel everyone should participate in multiple things in middle school to find out what they like. When football and volleyball season is over, we will change the schedule to accommodate cross country and basketball. We also work with the Pony Pride and Cheer Sponsors.
