Southeastern High School Orchestra

The mission of the Hamilton Southeastern High School Orchestra Program is to challenge, inspire, understand, and represent through the art and communication of music performance.

Welcome Southeastern Orchestra Families!

We hope you enjoyed your long weekend and are feeling good about the beginning of this school year. It's hard to believe we are now in September! Please take a moment to read through the important information in this months newsletter as well as Miss Kim's message below! We have really enjoyed having her on our team this semester!

Heather Nieto, Director of Orchestras

Hamilton Southeastern High School

hnieto@hse.k12.in.us

Charles Kunz, Associate Director of Orchestras

Hamilton Southeastern High School

ckunz@hse.k12.in.us

Hello parents and families!

I cannot believe it’s already September! I have had a great time meeting and working with the students in each of the orchestras these past 4 weeks and can’t believe how fast the time has flown.

I have had the pleasure of leading tuning, warmups, and a few pieces in August, and I must say that the students are making some amazing progress even in this short time. For the past few weeks, I have been focused on getting myself and the students into a routine for the start of class and working on establishing healthy playing habits during tuning and warmups. Furthermore, the directors and I have been focusing on perfecting posture and right, left hand technique to further enhance the students’ playing in the repertoire. It is remarkable to see how fast the students are progressing and learning the music as well as their eagerness to improve and apply feedback. I am excited for them to continue learning these fundamentals and start to build more advanced skills to prepare for the October Fall Concert!

Minjung Kim, Student Teacher-IU

mkim@hse.k12.in.us

Hamilton Southeastern Orchestra family, friends, and fans -

Today we kicked off our Annual Southeastern Orchestra Fundraiser in Pathways through Fan Pledge! Students have been setting up their accounts this week and were asked to enter at least 20 contacts. Fan Pledge is an easy and effective way for families and friends of the Southeastern Orchestra to support the program. While we use Fan Pledge to help reach out, we do take straight donations as well and checks can be made payable to "Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters". Please take a moment to check with your place of work to see if they offer matching gifts for donations. If they require it, the Southeastern High School Boosters, Inc. is a registered 503c and paperwork can be shared upon request.

As we experience another exciting year, raising money to support our growing program is an important part of the process. The money we raise from this event will help us supplement our budget, socials, celebrations, fees, music, supplies, guest artists, clinicians, sectional coaches and allow us to provide the best experience possible for the members in our orchestra program. We really appreciate your support and donation to our program. Don’t forget to help spread the word on social media about our fundraiser by sharing it with your friends. Remember, the more people we can contact the more successful our fundraiser will be. So, please get those contacts in! The fundraiser will come to an end on October 3rd so don't wait!

Use this link to donate and to share: https://www.fpfans.com/616c87#share

Our Fall Concert is fast approaching! We are excited to perform for our friends and family! Please join us on Thursday, October 10th in the Leonard Auditorium at 7:00PM!

Tickets will become available soon through Purple Pass! Keep checking the orchestra website at www.southeasternorchestras.org for updates and ticket purchase!

FALL PERFORMANCE ANNOUNCEMENT

On Monday, November 18th we will honor our Southeastern Orchestra diversity through the celebration of food! Please join us for our second annual Stringsgiving Celebration! All families are welcome to attend this event and will be asked to bring a dish that either represents their culture or that they frequently enjoy making for their family! More details to come in the November Update!

In an effort to create more opportunities for our orchestra students and families, the Southeastern Orchestra program has incorporated the Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters. This process has taken time and expertise and we have worked diligently to ensure that everything is set up correctly. We are grateful for the outstanding Southeastern Orchestra parents in our program who have been willing to help! This section of our Royal Update will be consistently used to update you with news and updates from our Boosters. Please take a moment to read through the important information below.

PURPOSE & ACTIVITY STATEMENT

The purpose of the Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters is to support and enhance the educational experience of the orchestra students through volunteerism, fundraising, and community engagement. Our goal is to provide resources and opportunities that foster musical growth, promote excellence in performance, and cultivate a strong sense of community among students, parents, and staff.

The Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters will engage in a variety of activities to achieve its mission. These include organizing fundraising events such as concerts, concession, sale of goods, and community dinners; coordinating volunteer efforts for orchestra events and activities; facilitating communication between the orchestra director, students, and parents; and organizing social events to build camaraderie among orchestra families. Additionally, the organization supports the purchase of musical instruments, uniforms, and other essential equipment, and works to raise awareness and appreciation for the orchestra within the broader community.

EXECUTIVE BOARD & BYLAWS

• We are in the process of finalizing our bylaws. Our bylaws will support our purpose and give guidance for how the SHSO Boosters, Inc. will function as an entity.
• Our Executive Board will consist of
• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• In addition to our Executive Board, there will be the opportunity for our parents/guardians to lead and participate on a variety of committees.

VOTING

• Parents/Guardians of any Southeastern Orchestra student are defined as members of our organization. As such, you will be asked to vote for our Executive Board.
• In the coming days or weeks as we finalize our bylaws, proposed board, and voting information, we will be sending out a separate email presenting you with a panel of candidates for these positions. You will also have an opportunity for nominations.

We truly appreciate your support with this organization. If you believe you have any of the following and are willing to help, please reach out to us!

Please take a moment to consider signing up with a private lesson teacher. Private lessons give all students an opportunity to grow at their pace. We teach students everything they need to know to play their instrument and become musicians. However, private lessons allow students to have one on one time with a teacher who is an expert in their instrument and will hone in on each students strengths and weaknesses giving them additional time and practice. Currently over 40 of the Southeastern Orchestra musicians take private lessons with an addition 40 students requesting a teacher!

Take a moment to view the 2024 Private Lesson Teacher google sheet for updated private lesson teacher recommendations!

As your student progresses over the next four years, you may start to find the instrument they currently have, less adequate for some of the more complicated techniques that will be required of them. If you are interested in upgrading your instrument or purchasing a new instrument, we strongly encourage you to allow us to assist you in this process. I have been teaching strings for a very long time and it is important to me that you find a quality instrument at a fair cost.

While I am happy to help you obtain an instrument from any reputable place, I also encourage you to reach out to Encore Orchestra Strings at Paige's Music. I have worked with them for many years and strongly support the way that they have worked with our families and students over the years. I am happy to meet you at the store and help you there as well. Please let us know if you are interested in upgrading or purchasing a new instrument and we will do everything we can to help you!

You can visit the Encore Orchestral Strings website by clicking on the Encore icon.

Thank you! To all families who joined us at the Back To School Night in August! If you didn't make it and still want information, please see the slides linked below.

BTSN SLIDES 24-25

Due to new HSE District rules, we will be deleting all Remind accounts prior to January 01, 2025. We will be using Parent Square for communication with families instead. We will let you know when we are making the transition from Remind to Parent Square.

If you already know your student's class placement, please sign up for the class Remind! This service allows us to send you and students important information and reminders directly to your phone! We ask students and parents/guardians to please add their name as it is listed in Skyward so that we can easily identify who message are going to and coming from. Students should sign up as "student". Parents/guardians should sign up as "parent".

CAMERATA

PHILHARMONIC

SERENATA

SYMPHONY

SSO SPRING *Symphony Orchestra students ONLY, sign up for BOTH Symphony and SSO Spring.