RCMS Orchestra News

March 2026

Our orchestras finished off a strong fall semester that featured our Wild West Fall Concert and our annual String Fling cluster concert at Guyer. We had numerous students selected for participation in the All-Region and All-District Orchestra Clinics and Concerts, and we enjoyed a fun fine arts officer field trip. At the start of the spring semester, our 7-8th grade orchestras competed at the UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest and came away with great results. Coming up this spring we have our annual Solo & Ensemble Contest, various contest field trips for each group, and our Spring Concert. It's hard to believe we are already 75% of the way through our 2025-2026 school year but we still have so much packed in to these last 9 weeks. Thank you for looking over our spring newsletter for more info about all of our upcoming events and celebrations of what we've accomplished so far. ~ Ms. Harvey

Upcoming Events

April 7-9 - Solo & Ensemble Recitals

April 11 - Solo & Ensemble Contest

May 2 - GHS Trip to Dallas Symphony

May 4 - Chamber and all 8th grade after school rehearsal

May 6 - Philharmonic after school rehearsal

May 7 - Prelude after school rehearsal

May 8 - Philharmonic and Chamber to NRH2O Contest

May 12 - SPRING CONCERT

May 15 - Prelude to Pride of Texas Contest

May 19 - End of year accent points reward party

Optional Dallas Symphony Trip - May 2 - $95

Respond by Tuesday, 3/17 to enroll in trip - Reservation Link

On Saturday, May 2, the Guyer Orchestra will be taking a group of students to the Dallas Symphony. As many remember hearing about this fall, we have a former RCMS/GHS student who is now a member of the Dallas Symphony and we are excited to organize our first outing to take students to see the orchestra since his appointment. The trip has a few remaining seats open and the offer had been extended to middle school students and family members to join but a response will be needed by Tuesday the 17th to enroll (payment can be made at a later time). The $95 cost includes transportation, dinner at the restraunt in the Meyerson Symphony Center, a pre-concert lecture, and the concert itself. More details at the link above. Students are welcome to attend without a parent as Ms. Harvey will be in attendance the whole trip.

Summer CTE Course Information

For rising 8th graders (current 7th graders) who have not yet completed the required College and Career Exploration course

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We would like to share an opportunity for students who are interested in continuing their participation in Fine Arts during the school year while still meeting the CTE requirement. An online CTE (Career and Technical Education) summer course will be offered that can count toward the required CTE credit for middle school. By completing this course during the summer, students may have more flexibility in their schedules during the school year.

If a student chooses to take the summer CTE course, they will be able to:

Enroll in two Fine Arts classes during the school year while also participating in Athletics, or
If they have already completed all PE requirements, they may choose to take up to three Fine Arts classes during the school year.

The course will be held online for 3 hours per day over the course of 8 days during the summer. Please note that there is a $150 fee associated with the course.

Registration will open later in the spring. More information and a registration link will be available on the Denton ISD Secondary Summer Learning website.

Bass Day - March 20

On Friday, March 20, all of our Crownover, Harpool and Guyer bass players will participate in our annual Bass Day event at Guyer. Students will travel to Guyer for technique workshops, master classes and participation in a bass choir piece with guest clinicians. Participants - make sure you have reviewed the field trip info sheet and have your permission form ready to turn in before the trip.

Solo & Ensemble Contest

Contest - Saturday, April 11 - Calhoun Middle School - Registration due March 19

Optional Recitals April 7, 8 and 9 - Crownover Orchestra Room - 6:00 PM

We are approaching one of our most rewarding events of the year - the annual Denton ISD Middle School Solo & Ensemble Contest. Students are already hard at work on their pieces and all students received entry information before spring break. Participation in the contest is expected for our Chamber Orchestra students and highly recommended, but optional, for our Prelude and Philharmonic students.

The Solo & Ensemble Info Letter describes more about the contest, recitals, judging, and awards. Students received this with their packet before spring break.

Recitals: All of our students have the option of performing on one of our on-campus recitals prior to the contest to prepare for the contest, and present their pieces in a performance setting for family and friends. Students will simply confirm with Ms. Harvey before the week of the recitals if they will be participating, and which night they'd like to perform on (make sure all members of ensembles confirm a date together).

Contest: Students who wish to participate in the contest should turn in their Entry Form and fee by March 19. Students will receive a time assignment for the contest day at a later time. The contest runs from roughly 9 am to 3:30 pm and each performer will be given a specific time assignment for their performance. Students who have a partial conflict on April 11 should notify Ms. Harvey of the details at the time they turn in their entry form. If we know about a conflict before the schedule is made, we may be able to work around the student's conflict to get them a time that works for them. Please only submit firm conflicts - things that cannot be moved - as it gets very complex for all of our directors to honor time conflicts if many requests come in.

Accompaniment: Students have the option of hiring a piano accompanist to perform with them on their solo. This is encouraged to try out at some point in middle school, as this is a requirement in high school. Ms. Harvey will arrange a campus accompanist to come out and rehearse with the students. Students may sign up to use our campus accompanist using the Accompaniment Registration form that was provided to the students.

Spring Field Trips

Prior to Spring Break, all students received info sheets and permission forms for upcoming spring field trips.

Prelude Orchestra - Pride of Texas Music Contest - May 15 (was previously listed as May 14 on our calendar but we were assigned the 15th instead)

Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras - NRH2O Music Contest - May 8

Thank you for taking a look at the information about these upcoming events and getting ready turn in the payment and permission forms at your earliest convenience. We have kept the cost of our spring trips as low as possible in light of the rising costs of our transportation for each field trip. Students have been advised to speak with Ms. Harvey if the cost of their field trip is a barrier to attendance so that we can work together on a solution. We do not want any student to miss their next contest due to cost.

Orchestra Placement Auditions

All students now have music packets for optional auditions for next year's orchestra placements.

Current 6th and 7th graders:

Begin working on the RCMS audition packet provided to you by Ms. Harvey if you would like to audition for Chamber Orchestra (varsity) for next year. There is not a firm date yet on when auditions will be taking place. Ms. Harvey will confirm this with students at a later time. Students who do not audition will be placed in Philharmonic Orchestra.

Current 8th Graders:

Begin working on the audition music provided to you during class. You can also look this up on the Guyer Orchestra Website. If you decide to audition for an upper level group, make sure you submit an audition request on the Audition Sign-Up Form. Auditions will take place April 13-16. Students who choose not to audition will be placed in the GHS Philharmonic Orchestra.

Summer Camps

Enrolling in a summer orchestra camp or private lessons is a great way to keep up with your skills over the summer. Visit our Summer Camps page for links to recommended camps (some links may not be updated yet for this year - Ms. Harvey is working on it). Students currently in private lessons are encouraged to visit with your teacher about the possibility of continuing lessons in the summer. For students not currently in lessons or not able to stay with the same teacher over the summer, please contact Ms. Harvey for recommendations if you would like to set up lessons with a new teacher.

UIL Results

In late February and early March, our Chamber and Philharmonic Orchestras both performed in the annual UIL Concert and Sightreading Evaluation.

What is UIL?

The UIL C&SR Evaluation is a standardized assessment for fine arts music classes. At the contest, the orchestra performs 3 prepared pieces for a panel of 3 judges and receives a score from each judge. Then, the orchestra completes a sightreading evaluation for a separate panel of 3 judges and receives a score from each judge. In the sightreading portion, the orchestra and director are given a brand new piece they have never seen before and they are given 7 minutes to study and learn the piece. After 7 minutes, they perform the piece for the judges. The sightreading portion is an evaluation of the students' music literacy - their ability to read music fluently enough to perform a basic piece with only a few minutes of study time. The orchestra receives a "concert" score based on the average of the scores from that panel, and they receive a "sightreading" score based on the average scores from

This year, BOTH of our orchestras received Sweepstakes Awards, which indicates a score of 1st division in BOTH parts of the contest. This is the highest score an orchestra can receive. Crownover was one of only 2 Denton ISD schools to earn a Sweepstakes Award with both a varsity and non-varsity classified orchestra. Thank you to our students for their hard work preparing for this event and for representing Crownover and our orchestra program with such musicality and professionalism.

Highlights from Judging Comments

Chamber Orchestra:

Your energy and artistry was fantastic. Great job orchestra - you and your director have obviously put in a lot of hard work and it shows.
Students have a rich colorful tone with resonance
This, while a challenging program, was very well suited to students of your talent.
Such a luscious and sweet string sound!
This is a great group of musicians. Well done with all aspects of a musical performance. Congrats!
This orchestra has such a wonderful tone and it just pulls the listener into the performance. You made this piece sound very musical. Lots of great technique is on display here - from great playing positions to nice, relaxed vibrato!
Students performed with great rhythmic stability and kept a steady tempo throughout performance. Intonation was strong. It is obvious that this group works on fundamentals regularly.
Students are very capable and have demonstrated a level of comprehension above their classification.

Philharmonic Orchestra

This orchestra performs with lovely musical phrasing and nice balance.
The orchestra has a nice blended sound. You did a nice job balancing to the melody throughout the performance. Fantastic job of being aware of when you are playing a supporting role and when you are the star.
All players are set up with great hand and body position. I really like the uniformity of your articulation and how you used it to play so exactly together. Great job with working on your parts, the music has a lot of challenges, and you did an excellent job preparing for this performance.
Confident and committed performance today. You have terrific fundamentals of musicianship and put them to good use. Because your foundation is so strong, you are able to really demonstrate your musicianship, truly playing with expression and meaning, that's what music is all about!
Overall, Bravo to you all on a very well prepared program - you all are doing some really fantastic work on your campus and it is so nice to see and hear. Congratulations to you and your director!

Student Recognitions

Congratulations to RCMS Orchestra member Dorothy for placing 1st in the Denton ISD district spelling bee!

All-State Success

In the fall, we announced the placement of former student (current GHS 10th grader) Mark Eads in the All-State Orchestra. As we approached the TMEA Convention in February, students were re-evaluated for chair placements and Mark ranked #2 in the entire state of Texas on bass! All-State students travel to San Antonio every year to rehearse and perform at the annual Texas Music Educators Association Convention, which is attended by over 30,000 music educators, performers and exhibitors, making it one of the largest music education events in the nation. The GHS cluster directors all attended the convention, where we participated in numerous professional development clinics, product exhibits, and observations of the all-state rehearsals, before supporting Mark in his All-State Symphony performance, which attracts thousands of attendees and closes out the entire convention.

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