The Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble performed at the Warner Pacific Band Festival on Friday, March 8th.  Both groups performed very well, receiving Superior ratings.  The Wind Ensemble by receiving Superior ratings, qualified for the State Band Championships in May.  The performances by both groups were outstanding, especially for how early we are in the festival season.

Wind Ensemble auditions are going to be coming due soon. Students are encouraged to begin the recording process now.  Do not wait until the last minute, as that will only add more anxiety and pressure. A good plan is for students to begin recording run-throughs as they practice.  They may just get a good take.

The Wind Ensemble submission form is available on CANVAS and on the band website (resources page).
This form will be closed on Saturday, March 23 in the morning. 

For the first two weeks in April, your band student has the opportunity to play on some advanced instruments provided to us by Beacock Music.

As an educator I am excited about this because it will give your student a chance to see and hear what it is like to play on a better instrument.  Our students work hard to make good music and to bring a sense of pride and accomplishment to themselves and our band program.  At this point in time the beginning level instrument your child is playing could be limiting their progress.

Here is a letter that will go out to parents when the instruments arrive.

Sometimes an instrument upgrade may be out of the budget.  Another way to assist your student musician in their progress is to upgrade their mouthpiece.

Here is a letter about mouthpiece upgrades.

It’s not too early to start thinking about your student attending a music summer camp.  We maintain a list of recommended camps over on the resources page.  Keep in mind that the FOCB may be able to provide some assistance with registration cost.

https://www.clevelandbandspdx.com/resources/

Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will be performing at the Warner Pacific Band Festival on Friday, March 8.  Performances are open to the public.  Wind Ensemble performs at 10:15am.  Symphonic Band performs at 2:15pm.  Both performances are in McGuire Auditorium on the Warner Pacific campus.

You can review the full itinerary here.

We could use 3 chaperones for the event from 8am until no later than 4pm.  Email Mr. Riler to volunteer.

• Champions – automatic qualifiers for STATE
• Alternates – will be notified in late March about their participation at the STATE level
  • Solo students
    • 1st alternates should be prepared just in case you are selected
    • 2nd alternates have less of a chance, but it has been known to happen on rare occasions
  • Chamber ensembles
    • 1st alternates should plan on being selected
    • 2nd alternates have a reasonable chance of being selected in some categories

The Band Festival Concert will be on Tuesday, March 12th at 7:00 pm in the auditorium, and the Bake Sale will be back! We need lots of volunteers to donate delicious goodies, and we need several to help serve on the front lines. The sale will take place BEFORE and AFTER the concert, so don’t worry, you won’t have to miss out on anything! Click here to sign up!

This Thursday (2/22) we will be featuring many of our chamber music groups that will be performing the pieces that they have prepared for this weekend’s Solo & Ensemble Contest.  The concert will begin at 7pm, with refreshments afterwards.  This is a required performance for all of our percussion ensembles.

On Saturday, February 24th Cleveland HS will host the District 1 Solo & Ensemble Festival/Contest.  To accomplish this task, we rely on parent and student volunteers to help make the event run smoothly and efficiently.  The goal is to provide a rewarding experience for the adjudicators, participants and their families.

In order to accomplish this we will need to have a set up crew on Friday, February 23 from 3:30pm until 5:30pm.  We will need parent assistants throughout the day on Saturday, February 24 to supervise the students and assist in putting classrooms back the way we found them.

Please help us make this a memorable event for all who participate!

The Wind Ensemble had a great Saturday working with section clinicians and our visiting conductor, Dan Judd.   It was a fantastic way to make some important strides in preparing our music for state qualifying festivals in March.  Thank you to Friends of Cleveland Bands for supplying the morning goodies for our clinicians and the pizza for our students.