Hey Band!

Hey Band!!!

I know that I speak for all of the directors in saying that we sincerely MISS ALL OF YOU. I hope that you are all staying safe and enjoying the time that you get to spend with your family. There are still many unknowns in all of this, and many questions that we may not be able to answer, but this email is to update you on some things in the world of the Jaguar Band.

There is A LOT of information in this email, but please read carefully and let me know if you have any questions! Know that your directors are committed to making sure that all of the traditions and great things that we do in April and May still happen in some form or fashion for students and families. It will take some creative thinking and a lot of camaraderie from us all, but if there is a band family that can do it, it is definitely the Jaguar Band!

Class Zoom Meetings - Wednesday, April 1st

Zoom is a digital meeting platform that most of the school district has been using to have virtual meetings. We would like to invite all of the band students to attend a virtual classroom setting at the times below on this Wednesday, April 1st. This will be a great opportunity to see many of your band friends, and to hear directly from your directors. This will also serve as a great time for the directors to answer any questions that you may have. You will access the meeting through the link below for your class. Parents, if you can please assist your student in setting up this platform the first time that they use it. You can join meetings with or without audio and video.

check your email for the links

Access to Smart Music for Free!

SmartMusic is an incredible software that is currently free of charge for music educators across the country. You are able to search for band music, solo music, or small ensemble music, and then play along with a high quality back track of all of the rest of the parts. There are pieces in the library for all three bands from our UIL programs!!! Please go to smartmusic.com and use the class code J3V7K-U6RVU to sign up. If you have any issues, please let us know and we can help troubleshoot! If you are looking for some motivation to practice, or new music to learn, this is a great resource!

Group Video Project for Incoming Students (And For Us!)

One of the biggest things that we would be doing right now, would be reaching out to incoming students and showing them what is so great about our band program, and why they want to be a part of it. We are asking FOR YOUR HELP in this!!! The drum majors and president/VP have put together a list of five questions that we are asking each student to answer in a short video that we will then edit together into a video that will show what our great band program is about! There is a document in the folder that gives instructions on how to make and submit your video, as well as sample videos from some of the leadership team. This is of course completely voluntary, but the more responses that we get, the better the video will be!!!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_ksAAXYYwNl_nmWg975KPslSd-Fiw-zA?usp=sharing

Incoming Student Recruitment Help!

To go with the video above, we are also asking that anyone who personally knows of incoming LASA band students please reach out to them and answer any questions about the band that they might have. We do not have access to any contact information for these students, so we are really counting on our students and families (especially current 9th graders) to reach out and help to make sure that incoming band students sign up for band at LBJ/LASA! This also includes any students that may be interested in colorguard!!! We are really counting on recruitment to be a TEAM EFFORT this year!

Band Placement Auditions

We are going to use what is currently posted for incoming students as the audition requirements for ALL current students as well. Please visit the LBJ Band website for more information on what you should be preparing for those auditions. We will send out more details about this at a later date.

https://lbjband.org/students/audition/

Leadership Applications

The 2020-2021 Leadership Application is attached to this email. Please read all of the instructions carefully and let us know if you have any questions. ANYONE who has at least one year of experience in the Jaguar Marching Band can apply for any leadership position. If you are interested in auditioning for Drum Major, please send Mr. Mayer an email by the end of day on Thursday. I will reply with more information about how that process will look like this year. If you need any help whatsoever in this process, please let the directors know and we are happy to work through any barriers that you may have!!! We encourage all students to apply for some sort of leadership position!

Private Lessons

If you were in lessons prior to break, please make sure that you are trying to continue those lessons virtually! For a lot of our teachers, teaching private lessons is a major part of their income, and this is an important time for our band family to help support them in these tough times if we are able to. Also, if you are having a tough time finding motivation to play your instrument on your own, private lessons are a great thing to give you some more direction! The link below is to all of the contact information for our lessons teachers. Now is a great time to start!!!

https://lbjband.org/students/lessons/

Cancelled Band Trip

The band trip is officially cancelled. We are working with the travel company to get more details about how the partial refund will be processed and will let all families know as soon as we have more information.

Thanks for making it all of the way to the end of the email! Obviously these are crazy times, but please reach out if there is any way that the band can help any of you! Let’s come together in these tough times and support each other always! Go Jags!

Mr. Mayer