Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to an INCREDIBLE fundraiser! We absolutely blew our fundraiser goal out of the water and we are so thankful to everyone who participated! Thank you for sharing your pages and going above and beyond to make our fundraiser successful. We had a super fun evening on Friday at our PAT party - there was lots of practicing going on, a game truck, laser tag, gaga ball, basketball, board/card games, tons of pizza and snacks, and the most supportive and helpful parents/chaperones we could ask for. A HUGE thank you to all of the parents who donated snacks and drinks and to all of those who gave up their time on Friday to chaperone the party - we couldn't have done it without you!

We have big plans for our funds, including replacing broken music stands, replacing long overdue drum heads, replacing some school-owned instrument cases, fixing our sound/metronome system in both the band hall and ensemble room, offsetting the cost of our spring trip, purchasing fun new music to play on our concerts this year, and bringing in clinicians to work with our students. We are excited to continue growing our band program and using these funds to make sure all of our students have the best experience possible! Thank you!!!

Our prize winners have been chosen - you can see who gets to choose a prize from this list. We will tell all students in class on Monday if they get to choose a prize. We will start letting these students choose their prize at 8:15am on Tuesday morning. We will go down the list in order the names were randomly drawn (using RandomPicker) and give each student 30 seconds to select a prize. If the student is not present on Tuesday morning to draw their prize, they will get to choose during class from the prizes that are left. Even if a student's name wasn't drawn to pick a prize, they will ALL GO HOME WITH A PRIZE ON TUESDAY!

The prizes they can choose from are:

24 Spinner toys

25 Raising Canes ruler packs

10 Assorted gift cards

17 Hudson Band drawstring bags with mystery prize inside

6 Hudson Band color changing cups

6 Small lava lamps

1 Rubber chicken

1 Football

1 Volleyball

1 Giant slinky

1 Tower tumble game

1 Kanoodle game

1 Small skateboard

1 Stuffed cat

1 Disco ball

8 Assorted packages of candy

4 Halloween buckets with mystery prizes

3 Bath and Bodyworks hand sanitizer packs

1 Fake spider

1 Fake mouse

2 Flarp packages

1 Bluetooth speaker

1 Constellation lamp

1 Glow in the dark football

With the weather not looking great for football on Monday, we will be making a call about whether or not we will be performing at the game by 10:00am on Monday. We will share the decision via email and in the Band app. If we cancel our game performance, students will need to go home after school using their regular pickup method. At this point, it doesn't look like we will be able to reschedule that game performance, but we will let you know if that changes.

We need parent help to organize our uniforms and get our Honors and Wind Symphony students fitted for their upcoming competitions. If you are available on November 8-10, please sign up in Charms to help us with this project.

If you are splitting the fee over 6 months, the next payment was due October 21. Please make sure to stay on top of these payments so we can continue providing the necessary items and experiences for your student.

Saturday, November 5 - Wind Symphony students audition for the GISD All-District Band at Lakeview Centennial HS. Exact times will be given out the week prior. There is no transportation for this audition.

Saturday, November 12 - Wind Symphony students audition for the TMEA Region 3 All-Region Band at Rockwall Heath HS. Exact times will be given out the week prior. There is no transportation for this audition.

Wednesday, December 7 - Beginner Band after school rehearsal to prepare for holiday concerts. 4:15-5:45pm.

Monday, December 12 - Beginner Band Holiday Concert at SHS auditorium. Students will stay after school, walk to the high school together, warm up, and perform. Concert begins at 6:00pm.

Tuesday, December 13 - Advanced Bands Holiday Concert at SHS auditorium. Students will arrive at SHS at 5:15pm for warm-up. Concert begins at 6:00pm.

All students should have received the Fall 50 Day Practice Challenge paper in class the day before Fall Break. If students practice for 50 out of the 63 days on the paper (beginning Sunday, October 9), they will be invited to the Pajama Elf Movie Dodgeball Extravaganza Party on December 14. Parents need to initial each box on the days the student practices and a practice session must be at least 20 minutes long.

Because our band has grown so big, we can no longer use Remind. We have reached the maximum participants in multiple classes and do not have space for more unless we upgrade our account (which costs more than we wish to spend). We will be switching messaging services to the BAND app (which the Sachse HS band also uses) to align our cluster. Please sign up for the appropriate class(es) for your student. We will NO LONGER be using Remind, so if you were just signed up for band, you will not need that app/number any longer. Thanks for understanding!

22-23 ALL HMS Band Students/Parents

Beginner Band

Symphonic Band

Honors Band

Wind Symphony

22-23 HMS BAND PARENTS ONLY

Because our school band budget is so small, we have to charge a band fee so that we can provide the best music education experience for all our band students. This band fee covers all instructional materials (band binder and all its contents), band shirt, contest entry fees, solo accompanist fees, performance music, music theory subscription, transportation, meals before performances, incentive days, and so much more. We set up our band fees to be collected up front (or split into payments), so that we are not constantly asking for $5 here, $7 there, etc.

This year, you can pay band fees through cash or check (made out to Hudson Band Boosters), Paypal through Charms (watch this video to walk you through the Charms system), and for the first time - credit card through the band website. Visit the band website and enter the password HawkBD2223 to enter the secure page and pay online. Please consider adding the optional donation to your cart to cover the credit card fees we incur using this convenient service.

If you have a financial hardship, please communicate with us so we can help you. We never want a student to be unable to participate due to finances and will do everything we can to work with your family and ensure your student is included.

Our private teachers are THE BEST and their schedules are starting to fill up. If you are going to sign up for private lessons, DON'T WAIT - TURN IN THE ENROLLMENT FORM ASAP.

The single biggest investment you can make in your student's musical advancement is signing them up for private lessons. Return the private lesson enrollment form to get your student started ASAP. Lessons are $20 each week and the fee is paid directly to the instructor.

Please take a moment this week to log in to Charms. www.charmsoffice.com

Log in as a parent/student/member

The school code is hudsonsoundmachine

The password for first time users is your student's GISD ID number (should be 6 digits)

For non-first time users, your password should be your student's ID with their capitalized initials in front (i.e. HB123456) unless you've changed it to something else.

Please update contact information (add adults as necessary), check your student's birthday ID, instrument, etc. and make changes as necessary. If you have questions or have difficulty logging in, please contact Mrs. Becker.

Heather Becker - Director

Dan Urban - Assistant Director

Email: hdbecker@garlandisd.net
Website: www.hudsonband.org
Phone: 972-675-3070
Facebook: facebook.com/hudsonmsband
Twitter: @hudsonhawkband