End of Fall Wrap Up

We are having an incredible year with the Haynes Band -- and we're only halfway through the year!  Here are some of our Fall semester highlights:

All State Honor Bands and Orchestra

Congratulations to several of our Haynes Band students who were selected by audition to the All State Honor Bands or Orchestra!

All State Jazz Ensemble:

Cooper Belletto, first chair Alto Saxophone

All State Concert Band:

Nischay Pothineni, first chair Clarinet

All State Orchestra:

Zoe Heim, first chair French Horn

David Russo, first chair Percussion

District VI Honor Bands

Congratulations to several of our Haynes Band students who were selected by audition to the District Six Honor Bands!

Elementary Honor Band:

Flute:

Georgia Berger (first chair!)

Alto Saxophone:

Samuel Henry

Percussion:

Blake Scalia

Junior High Honor Band:

Flutes:

Jasmine Henry

Alyvia Xie

Radhika Alapure

Radhika Roy

Oboe:

Valerie Gaffney

Clarinet:

Ben Shaya

Alto Sax:

Philit Jin (first chair!)

Vedant Ramesh

Tenor Sax:

Mason Wu (first chair!)

Trombone:

Bryce Davis

Baritone:

Gavin Reyes (first chair!)

Percussion:

Ella Cao

Senior High Honor Band:

Flute:

Angel Ma

Clarinet:

Sophie Yeon

Jack Giles

Alto Sax:

Cooper Belletto

Bari Sax:

Mason Bond

Trumpet:

Ian Anderson

Dan Nguyen

They will be joined by All State musicians Nischay Pothineni, Zoe Heim and David Russo in January for the District Six Honor Band clinic and concert at Tulane University!

A New Partnership with Sunrise Assisted Living

Holiday Performances at Sunrise

We had a great experience performing for our neighbors at Sunrise Assisted Living Facility!  All of our groups looked and sounded great, and our neighbors were very appreciative of us!  (The cookie cakes were good, too :). We are looking forward to returning to play for them in the Spring!  We extend a special THANK YOU to Mr. Martin for bringing his students to perform with us!  They also looked and sounded great, and we enjoyed sharing the spotlight with them!

Holiday Ornaments for Sunrise

To help share some joy and happiness with our new friends at Sunrise Assisted Living Facility, a few of our middle school students have decided to create some Christmas ornaments to add to the Sunrise Christmas tree.  We'll be collecting these ornaments in the front office through Thursday, and Mr. Phelan will walk them over immediately after dismissal.  We invite all students and grade levels to join us in this fun and festive endeavor!  And, we congratulate our wonderful young students (Ella and Valerie) for their compassion and generosity in coming up with this wonderful idea!

A Wide Variety of Fun Performances

Holiday Performance at Lakeside Mall

Congratulations to our High School Band for a fun performance at the Lakeside Mall!  We sounded really good, and everyone looked great, too!  Thanks also to everyone who came out to cheer us on!  We enjoyed sharing our music with you!  (P. S. It probably wasn't our fault that the lights went out ...)

All State Weekend

Congratulations to Zoe Heim and Cooper Belletto for their amazing performances at All State!  We are very proud of both of you!

Haynesarama 2023

Our Haynesarama performance was GREAT!!!  We appreciate everyone who came out to cheer us on.  A special THANK YOU goes out to our Jackettes Dance Team for again performing with us!  Congratulations to our new Drum Majors, Ian Anderson and Natalie Smith -- we can't wait to see you in action next Fall! 

Halloween Performances

Our Marching Band had solid performances at Metairie Academy and Airline Park, playing for two very excited groups of 4th and 5th graders!  We got to see some of our little brothers and sisters, and we definitely made some new friends along the way :). Please help us to thank Mrs. Tiffani Jackson and Mr. Eddie Rockvoan at Airline Park, and Mrs. Lisa Babin and Ms. Elizabeth Mott at Metairie Academy for allowing us to perform, and for adjusting their school routine to accommodate us!  (Just imagine trying to settle down 100+ elementary students after a 30 minute marching band performance :)

Halloween Concert

What a great show!  All of our students performed extremely well, and we especially enjoyed having Mr. Martin's Talented Music student join us!  Thank you to everyone who came out to cheer on our students!

Open House Performance

We had a great perfomance at this year's Open House!  We looked and sounded AMAZING!  We had a great location to play (literally in the center of campus :) and we enjoyed playing almost every song in our repertoire (some twice!)

Shared Performances at Football Games

We continued our tradition of teaming up with other Bands during football games this year.  We joined forces with the Bands from Sophie B. Wright, Patrick Taylor, Thomas Jefferson, and East Jefferson, and we had fun meeting each other and playing together.  We are looking forward to continuing this fun tradition next year!

Special Guests !!!

Mr. Matthew Wright

As part of the LPO Academy, we have been privileged to have Mr. Matt Wright visiting campus weekly to work with our brass students!  Mr. Matt has been invaluable as he works with, inspires and guides our young musicians, and we appreciate everything he and the LPO Academy have done for our students!

Dr. Jason Ladd

Dr. Jason Ladd from Nicholls State University visited our High School Band class on Oct. 24, and he had many positive things to say about our students (He really loved our energy and our focus!).  He offered several useful tips to help us further refine our playing, and we hope to have him with us again soon.

Dr. Robert Schwartz

On Nov. 6 we had another visit from Dr. Robert Schwartz at Southeastern La. University.  He had some great things to say about our students, and he offered another round of helpful tips and tricks to further refine our sound.

Mr. Michael Genevay

Mr. Genevay, although happily retired, is still an integral part of the Haynes Band program.  He continues to lead our award-winning Jazz Band, and we appreciate his ongoing efforts as he steers us toward yet another outstanding product!

Band Camp 2023

We were privileged to hold our 2023 Band Camp at Joe Yenni Stadium (on the East Jefferson campus), and in the EJ Auditorium.  The field was quite warm, and the auditorium was equally cold (nah, it was actually FREEZING ! ! ! !), but our students pushed themselves and we had a very productive week.  Thanks again to Mr. Daniel Lauten and Mr. Jonathan Martin for volunteering their time and expertise to help our students!  Thanks also to everyone who helped to make this new routine a success!

Middle School Band

7th and 8th Grade Winds

We have improved so much this fall, and we really sound great!  Our students have established good fundamental sounds, and we read very well.  We are eager to jump into some more challenging music in January!

7th and 8th Grade Percussion

We also have improved a great deal this semester.  We have established some solid technique on snare and on melidoc percussion, with a sprinkling of tympani and accessories for fun.  Mr. Phelan is strongly considering entering this class into one of the Band Festivals -- we sound great!

Beginning Band

Our Beginners are off to a great start!  We have developed a solid foundation, and are eager to progress.  From the first days of school, to a fun Halloween concert, and in a few months we'll be performing for Band Festival!  This class is doing extremely well!

Beginning Percussion

Beginning Percussion is doing a great job!  We have a few students who have played before, and a few that are completely new, but everyone continues to improve with each class.  We.have come a long way since August!

Haynes Band Media Folder

If you have any pictures or video from any of our performances or activities, please share them to the folder linked here.  Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/139ORTm-6tqc_vL1GdumZ90XxyRvkqVlY?usp=sharing

Coming Up ...

Taste and Tunes

We're already working on this year's Taste and Tunes performance, and WE NEED YOU to help make it the best one yet!  Learn more on our Taste and Tunes web page, and check back often as this page will be continually updated.

Taste and Tunes web page 

Band Fee

The Haynes Academy Band charges a $30 annual fee, which covers the purchase of music, transportation, etc.  This fee has been posted to student accounts.  Please contact Mr. Phelan with questions or concerns.

Band Camp 2024

That's not a typo -- we're already looking ahead to Band Camp next July!  In order to help everyone plan their summer vacations (and to hopefully increase our Band Camp participation!) we have tentatively scheduled Band Camp 2024:

July 22-23 (Monday and Tuesday) = Percussion Camp

July 24 (Wednesday) = Drum Corps at USM in Hattiesburg

July 25-26 (Thursday and Friday) and July 29-31 (Monday-Wednesday) = Full Band Camp

We have no other details yet, including location or times, but we ask that you make every effort to have your students at Band Camp on all of those days.  Thanks in advance for your cooperation!

Marching Band Pictures

Our Marching Band pictures should be delivered any day now -- we'll send them home as soon as they arrive!

Band T-shirts and Sweatshirts

Haynes Band T-shirts and Sweatshirts have arrived!  We'll pass them out Monday and Tuesday during our classes.  Please send payment ASAP so we can send yours home.  We did order a few extras, so contact Mr. Phelan to get your student the most stylish shirts on campus!

High School Band

After school practices (Tuesday and Thursday)

We will resume after school practices on Tuesday Jan. 9.  Spring practice will run until 5:30, so we may be prepared for parades and festivals.  We will shortly be releasing a bona fide Attendance Policy, to further encourage our students to organize their time efficiently.  Thanks to our parents for helping to get our students to all scheduled practices and performances!

Jazz Band

Our Jazz Band will resume practice Wednesday Jan. 10 until 5:00 pm, as we begin to prepare for the Bill Evans Jazz Festival at SLU in Hammond.  Vocalists will practice on Mondays, beginning Jan. 8 until 5:00 pm.

Closing

THANK YOU to our parents and supporters, our teachers, staff and adminstration, and most importantly to our students, for a wonderful Fall Semester!  We can't wait to see you in the Spring!

Mr. Phelan