12/8-12/12 Week 4 of T2

Concert week!!!!! Check the schedule below for everything you need to know!

Dress Rehearsal Night - No 3:30 rehearsal for JH Band

5th Grade rehearses 6:30pm-7pm in the Central Catholic HS Auditorium. Please arrive a little before 6:30 to allow time to get instruments set up. If your student has a sibling in the junior high band, they can stay and sit in the seats for the rehearsal (I recommend have them bring something to do to keep them occupied for the hour).

Junior High rehearses 7pm-8pm in the Auditorium. Please arrive no later than 6:45 to allow some time to get instruments together and take care of anything you need before we start at 7pm. Both groups may wear comfy clothes since the rehearsal is getting them used to playing in a new location with more people in the ensemble. If students are going to be late, please make sure you email me ahead of time, but please do try to make sure your student is present.

Concert Night - No 3:30 rehearsal for JH Band

Dress code for ALL students is nice clothes (think khaki pants, dress pants, skirts, dresses, etc.). Students are also allowed to have some festive Christmas attire if they wish. Ladies, do keep in mind about skirt/dress length since you will be on a stage. If you wear heels, make sure you can walk in them. All students need to be in the CCHS Band Room by 5:30pm. JH will do a quick sound check first, then 5th Grade. The concert will begin at 6:30pm and should conclude around 7pm. The high school portion will begin at 7:30 if students wish to stay for that portion.

Remainder of the Week

Junior High Band will have the rest of the week off and do not need to bring their instruments to school Thursday or Friday, in addition to the following week (the week of December 15th). 5th Grade does not need to bring instruments on Friday or the following week. This is so I can take care of some final exam play tests over at the high school. With this extra time off from rehearsals, this would be a great time to send in your instruments into the shop for a general check up (checking pads, springs, valves, rods, etc.) before the second half of the school year.

Enjoy the extra time with your families and thank you so much for supporting our band programs! The kids have worked really hard so far for this first half of the school year and I'm so impressed with the talent.

Stocking Stuffer Ideas!

If you're looking for some music-related stocking stuffers, here's what I would recommend!

Tuner/metronome combo (Korg is a pretty reliable brand)

Alfred's Pocket Dictionary of Music (music terms, composers, and theory)

Play-Along books from various movies, tv shows, video games, etc.

Reed cases (for saxophones and clarinets)

11/24-11/25

Shortened week before Thanksgiving Break!!!!!!

Junior High Band

Kings: 33-End, full run

Adeste: 28-End, full run

Night: 29-End, full run

5th Grade Band

Music theory

Essential Elements: #17 Hot Cross Buns, #14 Rolling Along, #31 Mozart Melody, #24 Listen to Our Sections, #25 Lightly Row #38 Jingle Bells

11/17-11/21 Week 2 of T2

Here's the plan for the week! Make sure to email Mrs. Baxter ahead of time for planned absences. If you have questions about anything, do not hesitate to reach out!

Junior High

Kings: 57-End, end of week we'll run 33-57.

Adeste: 40-End, end of week we'll run 28-End

Night: 56-End, end of week we'll run 29-End.

5th Grade Band

Music Theory (2 exercises)

Essential Elements #31, 33, and 34. Label notes BEFORE lessons/Full Band, not during class, if you need to.

11/3-11/7 Last week of t1

Here's the plan for the week!

Junior High Band

Foundations Quizzes are due on Tuesday evening on Google Classroom! Make sure you get those recordings done and submitted!

Ab Major Scale (pg 26-27)

Kings of Swing: 33-49

Adeste Fidelis: 28-40

And to All a Good Night: 11-29

5th Grade Band

Essential Elements: #25, 27 (a new note!), and 28. Also make sure you have your theory assignment completed!

10/13-10/17 Week 10 of t1

Here's the plan for the week!

Junior High Band

No rehearsal after school on Wednesday October 15th. I have an event at Central Catholic that I need to be at.

This week we'll be looking at Holiday, My Sharona, and Smoke on the Water for some pep band tunes! I will pass them out in class!

**Update on the Foundations Quiz** My eyes were bigger than my stomach when I looked at the workload with the Foundations Quiz and I do apologize for that. I will cut down the assignment in half so that students only need to do Concert Bb and Concert F Major for the quiz.

5th Grade Band

Review #18, 20, and 21 in the Essential Elements book! Make sure you get your music theory done!

10/6-10/10 Week 9 of T1

Happy Homecoming!

The junior high band did a fantastic job today at our Homecoming Assembly for the high schoolers! We debuted a new pep band tune that I brought over the from the high school and they NAILED IT!!!! Ate and left no crumbs, as the kids say.

Football Game Tonight

Football game is tonight! Students participating need to be at Central Catholic between 5:30-5:40pm. We will have LOTS of people there, which is super exciting! Be sure to bring money for snacks and make sure to eat dinner prior to coming to the game. Please be on your best behavior as you are representing our school and our program. If a student from another gives you trouble, make sure to tell me or any of the other partner schools band teachers. We will finish around 9pm, but I will send updates through Remind 101 to keep you posted. If students have their phones, they can also text you when we are finished.

Junior High Band

Next week I'll work on pulling some more easy and maybe a challenging tune from the high school that we can look at. I will also make sure to start copying music for our Christmas concert in December (eeeeek!!!!!!). Make sure you start working on your play quizzes! They are due on Google Classroom on November 4th. Do not put it off at the last minute!!!!!

5th Grade Band

Monday I will have Mrs. Jorstad covering for me during lessons since I will be at an appointment. All students need to work on their music theory exercise (I've had a few so far not complete a few), label notes BEFORE lessons, not during, and practice #18, 20, and 21 in the Essential Elements method books. All students need to make sure that they're taking instruments home. I've been having too many get left behind and we are now in the month of October. Starting now, any instrument that gets left behind over the weekend I will start docking points from the daily grade because students are expected to take them home and practice.

Extra Credit Calendar

If you need/want extra credit, check out our Extra Credit Calendar on the front page of the Band website! There are lots of events here and around town! Directors for extra credit are posted next to the calendar.

9/30-10/3 - Week 8 of T1

Here's the plan for the week! Got some Homecoming Week craziness going on! Please make sure to email any absences to Mrs. Baxter at rbaxter@corpuschristisaints.org.

Junior High Band

Keep working through Fight Song, Cheer Pack, Uprising, and Holiday! I'm working on adding some more easy pep band tunes to play throughout the year.

Homecoming Game is on Friday! We will NOT have rehearsal after school due to the call time at the HS if you are coming. Call time to be in the high school band room is 5:30pm. Eat dinner before you arrive and you may bring money for snacks! Wear Saints or Corpus Christi attire! We should finish around 9pm.

5th Grade Band

Make sure you have Example #5 on page 1 of the music theory packet done for lessons on Monday/Tuesday! We will review #15, 16, and 17. If we have time, we'll look at #18. If you need to label your notes, do it at home while you practice! Labeling note names does take a bit of time and I want to make sure you have as much playing time as possible. Do remember to take your instruments home after your lesson day and Full Band on Fridays.

Spiritwear Store

Spiritwear items should be ready by October 9th! I will get an email from Select Screen Prints when the order is ready. Items will be distributed during class.

Extra Credit Calendar

9/22-9/25 - wEEK 7 OF t1

Here's the plan for this week! Due to Track-a-Thon on Friday, there will be no 5th Grade Band or Junior High Band. Junior High Band will need instruments for the pep rally for Track-a-Thon

Junior High Band

Review CCHS Fight Song, Cheer Pack, Holiday, and Uprising.

**Pep Rally on Thursday afternoon for Boys Baseball going to State

Track-a-Thon performance on Friday morning at 8:20am

5th Grade Band

#15, 16, and 17 in Essential Elements Books

Examples 3 and 4 in the theory packet are due during lessons!

9/15-9/19 - Week 6 of T1

Here's the plan for next week! Monday is the deadline to get spiritwear orders in!

JH Band

Warm-Ups: Concert F exercises

Continue working on Holiday (great progress so far for a high school pep band tune!)

Run through Fight Song and Cheer Pack

5th Grade Band

Rhythm Packet: Example 1 and 2 are due during lessons. Example 3 and 4 are due the following week.

Essential Elements: #11, 12, and 14

Remind 101

We have group chats for both ensembles if I need to send out quick announcements to parents. Unfortunately the only way to receive messages is if you download the Remind 101 app. The Junior High Band code is @cccsjhband and the 5th Grade Band is @cccs5band.

Extra Credit

The Extra Credit Calendar is up and running! I have dates loaded in until about the end of October for some live performances in the area! I will continue to add more performances you can attend to if you want to boost your grade. Students can do two extra credit assignments during the trimester. They will need to attend a concert, then write a two-paged essay that is typed and double spaced in 12 point font Times New Roman or Arial with their thoughts about the concert. The calendar can be located on the home page and you will need to scroll a bit down.

Spiritwear Store

Our Band spiritwear store is open until September 15th! Get your orders in now! Junior High Band students will need the solid navy blue Corpus Christi Bands shirt. Everything else is completely optional! Share it with your friends and family and we thank you for your continued support of our band program. https://selectspiritwear.com/collections/corpus-christi-bands

Absences

We have so many students involved in sports and activities at our school! Please make sure that if your student is going to be missing rehearsal, that either the guardian or student emails Mrs. Baxter at rbaxter@corpuschristisaints.org

9/8-9/12 - Week 5 of T1

Here's the plan for next week! Make sure that instruments go home on Fridays. They do not live at the school on the weekends!

Junior High Band

Cheer Pack is coming along great and so is the Fight Song! Our next big performance is the Track-a-Thon on the 26th. I will work on finding some full-length pep band tunes to learn that we can play throughout the year. This will take me a bit, and I may have to write some parts. It'll be an interesting process for sure! Make sure you are working on the Concert Bb exercises (Major Scale, mini-scale, Scale Patterns 1 and 2, thirds, interval study, Chord Study 1 and 2). I do plan on having this being an assignment that will be submitted via Google Classroom as a video.

5th Grade Band

I will be passing out a rhythm packet during lessons on Monday and Tuesday. Students will need to keep these in their folders. They will need to write in the counts for Examples 1 and 2 and then bring it the following week for lessons. We will also be looking at #7-10 in the Essential Elements Method Books. Please make sure that students are practicing at home. I know for the first few months that squeaks and squawks can be very uncomfortable to hear, but it's temporary! Instruments NEED to go home. Some have been here since last Friday and that is not acceptable.

Remind 101

Extra Credit

Spiritwear Store

Absences

9/2-9/5 - Week 4 of T1

We continue to plug away at our music and I'm thrilled at our progress we're making! Instruments do need to go home this weekend!

Junior High Band

Continue working on the Central Cheer Pack and Fight Song. Grandparents Day is on Friday, September 5th and we will do a performance of the Fight Song and items from the Cheer Pack as grandparents check in. Students will need to be here between 7:50am and 8:00am (doors open at 7:45). They will drop their items off in their homeroom and check in with their teachers. Then they will come down to the cafeteria with their music and instrument to warm up, then get ready to play at 8:05-8:45. Dress code for the performance is school uniforms (not everyone has a Corpus Christi Bands shirt). Due to several students leaving with their grandparents at the conclusion of Grandparents Day, we will not be meeting after school.

5th Grade Beginning Band

Continue reviewing #1-6 in your Essential Elements books! Only brass and percussion will be meeting next week on Tuesday since we have no school on Monday. With the craziness of Grandparents Day on September 5th, students do not need to bring their instruments.

Remind 101

Extra Credit

Spiritwear Store

Absences

8/25-8/29 - Week 3 of T1

Off to a great start! Make sure to get your spiritwear orders in by September 15th! Here's the plan for the week! As always, if you have questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me. If you are going to be gone, please make sure you email me. Do not rely on telling a friend. I need to have it in written form. Syllabus forms are due this week. I still have quite a few missing from students.

Junior High Band

Continue working through learning Cheer Pack tunes

Work on the Central Catholic Fight Song (Notre Dame Victory March) - reference recording is on the home page.

5th Grade Band

Exercises 1-6 in the Essential Elements Book!

8/18-8/22 -Week 2 of T1

Welcome back to School! I hope everyone had a great summer break! I am very excited to get started on another year of making music! Please read below the announcements for the plan for the week. If you have any questions, please email me at rbaxter@corpuschristisaints.org. Our spiritwear store is open August 18th-September 15th. Junior High Band will need the Solid Navy Blue shirt for performances. 5th Grade is not required, but may purchase if they want. All other items in the store are completely optional to purchase. Spread the word to your families about the store! https://selectspiritwear.com/collections/corpus-christi-bands

Junior High Band

This week we are looking at the CCHS Fight song and the Cheer Pack. We will be look at the Foundations for Superior Performance as well. Turn in your Syllabus slips by August 25th. The CCHS Fight Song recording is posted on the main page as a reference recording.

5th Grade Band

This week we are focusing on learning how to put our instruments together, how to hold our instruments, and get a few notes out. Turn in your Syllabus slips by August 25th.