News
April 23, 2018
Here are links to the sign ups for the events happening in the next few weeks.
Super One Bagging - 5/5 @ 10-4 (Band kids 7-12 and parents are needed!)
Pancake Breakfast - 5/12 @ 7-12 (Band kids 9-12 and parents are needed! Band kids 6-8 are performing)
Farewell Pops Concert Potluck Reception - 5/17 @ 6-8 (all music kids 9-12 and parents are needed!)
We are super stoked about the music faculty from UW-Superior coming to visit us next week! See the front page of our site or our social media sites for the flyer. If you're interested in seeing the little performance they put on for the kids, you can sign in at the district office and come up to the band room. Performance is set to start the beginning of 8th hour (around 2:45pm).
Band students in grades 6-12 will be having a sewing lesson THIS Friday, 4/27 during their band times. They will be learning how to sew buttons onto their new band uniforms to secure the new shields. The uniforms will be premiered on Memorial Day for the services in town.
Band students in grade 5 will have their spring concert at the beginning of 6th grade orientation on Wed. May 16 @ 5:30pm. 5th graders can wear nice clothes that are springy (i.e. sun dresses, khakis and a polo, etc.) There is no color code, although bright colors are encouraged!
As always, if you have any questions please email me at kpomeroy@mellendiggers.org.
Krissy Pomeroy, director of bands and choirs
April 11, 2018
Spring Concert Day is here! This will include Middle & High School Bands & Choirs. Report time is 5:40pm tonight for ensemble yearbook photos and warm up. Concert begins at 6:00pm.
We have so many events coming up these next 7 weeks! Please see the Calendar page for all upcoming events. Here's a short list -
Wed, 4/18 @ 4-7pm Open House
Sat, 5/5 @ 10am-4pm Super One Bagging Fundraiser
Sat, 5/12 @ 7-11am Mother's Day Weekend Pancake Breakfast
Wed, 5/16 @ 5:30pm 6th Grade Orientation & ES Band Concert
Thu, 5/17 @ 6pm Farewell Pops Concert & Potluck Reception
Sat, 5/26 @ 2pm Graduation
Mon, 5/28 @ 8am Memorial Day Services
Wed, 7/4 July 4 Parade
Parents/Guardians - We are in need of your involvement in the Pancake Breakfast, Super One Fundraiser, and Potluck Reception for the Pops Concert. Please email me if you are able to volunteer your time.
Thank you for continuing to support the Mellen Music Department!
Krissy Pomeroy, director
March 14, 2018
Winter has been long and still feels like it may never leave. But our kids have been working hard through it all and will come out strong as we enter another concert season! I feel like our department is oozing greatness these days because there is so much going on. Here's just a few of those things...
FanCloth Sales - Our department is selling clothing through FanCloth again this year and they're better than ever! Now they offer products that are for all Mellen musicians besides band students, plus they are now taking orders ONLINE. Click here to access the store! Thank you in advance for your ongoing support!
Tri-M Music Honor Society - Our music department has chartered a new chapter of Tri-M. We are inducting 10 founding student musicians on Thursday, March 22 @ 6pm in the band room. It will be a beautiful ceremony and there will be dessert served afterwards. To learn more about the music honor society, click here.
Spring Concert Date Change - The Spring Concert date has been moved back to Wednesday, April 11 due to some schedule conflicts. However, this means our elementary band students will not be participating due to their Trees for Tomorrow trip. Those students will have a concert along with their 6th grade orientation. I will be in touch as soon as we know more regarding dates.
Farewell Pops Concert & Awards Night - The High School Band and Choir will be performing their annual farewell concert on Thursday, May 17 @ 6pm with a potluck dinner afterwards. Sign ups will be available after the spring concert. Awards will be given to students about halfway through the concert.
Spring Break Practicing - This is the first time in a few years that students get a full week of spring break. I will be doing my best to remind students before school ends but it also helps for families to remind them about practicing as well. With our concerts fast approaching, students need to keep fostering that musicality and skill while they're away without instruction. Encouraging students to practice in a quiet space for 10-15 minutes a day will make a huge difference!
Future Fundraisers - We will be having a few additional fundraisers before the end of the school year. Pending approval, we are shooting for another Super One Bagging fundraiser after the spring concert. Also pending approval, we are looking to do another Mother's Day Weekend Pancake Breakfast featuring elementary and middle school band students providing entertainment. Stay tuned for approvals and dates of these events.
If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to email me.
Thank you!
Krissy Pomeroy
December 18th, 2017
What a month it's been! Congratulations to our bands and choirs on an outstanding performance on 12/13! Next up: the Elementary Choruses and Recorder Ensemble! Elementary students will have music for special all week for rehearsals, then their performance on Wednesday. They will also be coming to music on Thursday and Friday to learn about Russian composer Pytor Tchaikovsky and his most famous work "The Nutcracker" as we get ready to set off for the holidays.
This week's Elementary Chorus portion of the Winter Concert Series will be LIVESTREAMED on the Mellen Music Facebook page! If you haven't already become a member of the group, add yourself before Wednesday so you're able to see the concert right on your screen! The link is available on the Social Media page on this website.
Ashland Parade - Our bands did a stellar job at the Ashland Christmas Parade on 12/5...so much that they won FIRST PLACE! We were awarded a $200 check for winning, which will go into our Band Booster fund.
Car Wash Card Update - This fundraiser was a huge success! The students who sold the most cards were Britta J. of the MS Band and Robert W. of the HS Band! Congratulations to those students! We do have quite a few extra cards to sell. If you're interested in purchasing more, please email Mrs. Pomeroy. They are $36 a piece and are good for 5 ultimate car washes. Great stocking stuffers!
What's next for our music department? For bands and choirs, the next formal performance will be the spring concert coming up on April. For high school band and some middle school band members, we will be kicking off Pep Band season on Tuesday, 1/16 for both girls and boys basketball games. If you're an alum who would like to jump in and play with the band, email Mrs. Pomeroy! Her email is located on the Contact page on this website. As for the elementary students, they will be performing at the Heart to Heart program in February, with each set of kids performing a few little songs. We're currently looking into a performance for music students during the month of March, as it is Music In Our Schools Month. Check back for further developments!
Tri-M Music Honor Society - The Mellen School District has officially been chartered as Chapter 7482 of Tri-M Music Honor Society! This will be for high school students only and applications will become available after the holidays. Visit the Tri-M website for further details at www.musichonors.com.
On bahalf of the staff, I'd like to wish all of our music students and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best Wishes, Krissy Pomeroy
November 17th, 2017
With the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, this is the moment where music teachers say to themselves, "Are all of our ducks in a row?" December is easily the busiest month for musicians and we want to make sure we've set our students up for success by preparing them for all their events.
The Ashland Christmas Parade will feature the full Mellen band program grades 5-12. If you are currently searching for your child's permission form, it's also available on the Forms page. It is required for all grades except 5th grade.
How can I help my child prepare? Make sure your child has their instrument and music with them over the Thanksgiving holiday. I will do my best to make sure they're sent home as well. While your child's home over break, give them a quiet space to practice. Encourage them to refer to their orange sheet where I had them write their current goals. If it's missing, have them find their music for "Deck the Halls!" and pick one spot to work on. Remind them that the entire song won't be done overnight. They can take it one step at a time. If they can play it, tell them the next step is to memorize it!
Right behind the parade is the Winter Concert Series, featuring just about every Mellen student! Here are the specifics:
- Wed, Dec 13 @ 6pm
- Elementary Band
- Middle School Choir
- Middle School Band
- High School Choir
- High School Band
- Finale (all bands)
- Wed, Dec 21 @ 2pm
- Lower Elementary Chorus (Grades PK, K, 1, 2)
- Upper Elementary Chorus (Grades 3, 4, 5)
- Finale (all elementary)
On the fundraising front, there are two different things happening right now. Two of our freshmen, Karly and Nathaniel, are having a Pancake Breakfast at the senior center in town THIS Sunday, 11/19 from 9-12. They're raising money for their trip to Europe with Wisconsin Music Ambassadors. Come out and support them!
The second fundraiser involves all the middle and high school band students - car wash cards! All band students in grades 6-12 are selling Kwik Trip car wash cards for $36 until 12/6. Find a band student and buy a card from them. Both the middle and high school band students that sell the most cards get a $10 gift card to Walmart so help them WIN! See the Forms page for more information.
Lastly, if you haven't already signed up for our Remind App notifications, make sure you do! Don't miss a single reminder! See our social media page.
Big rehearsals will start after the break! Can't wait to hit the stage!
Mrs. Pomeroy
October 19th, 2017
As we come close to the end of the first quarter, our music students have already shown that hard work leads to growth and success.
AppleFest back on 10/8 gave our high school and middle school band students the opportunity to play with other musicians in Mass Band, march in our almost-complete new band uniforms, and perform in front of a LARGE crowd! It was very fun for our students and we thank all the parents for allowing your child to be a part of something great!
High school band students have the opportunity to be a part of the Tri-State Honor Band Festival at University of Wisconsin-Superior by being nominated and selected by the staff of the festival. This year 6 of our students were chosen - 1 senior, 1 junior, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshmen! They've been in rehearsals all day today and are almost done. Tonight at 7:15 they will perform their hard work for their families in a concert on the big stage. Congratulations to our students participating and good luck tonight! You've made our school proud!
For band lessons, students have been doing an average of about B work this quarter. How can we make that better? To start, students need to continue making sure they come to their weekly lessons, especially in elementary and middle school. High school students are responsible for 6 lessons per quarter, while everyone else is required to come to 8 since they are newer players and need the weekly guidance. This is a part of everyone's grade! Next, students can make their practice sessions at home more worth while by slowing their music down and isolating the problem areas in their music to fix them before playing through an entire piece start to finish. This will ensure faster growth and end with a much better and more disciplined musician. If you have any questions about how to practice, ask Mrs. Pomeroy in your lesson!
I wish everyone a great remainder of the first quarter!
Krissy Pomeroy
September 25th, 2017
The 2017-2018 school year is off to a fabulous start! With multiple fundraisers and an unforgettable Homecoming already under our belt, our students are well into a great year in Mellen Music!
This will be our last Music Update because we now have a music department website! Bookmark this page to stay updated!
https://sites.google.com/mellendiggers.org/music/home
If you are looking for the emails as a reminder when things get closer, we are now on the Remind App! Remind is a safe communication tool that helps teachers reach students and parents where they are. The teacher will send out a reminder for things as they quickly approach on the calendar. This includes concert attire, report times for parades, fundraising opportunities, and much more. It also gives parents and students the opportunity to message the teacher individually with questions. We’d like as many students and parents as possible on the app so please consider joining!
https://www.remind.com/join/kpomer
What are we fundraising for?
Uniforms - Last school year the students were fundraising to finish up our new uniforms and to purchase new instruments for our growing music program. We were able to purchase new pants and jackets last year and used the old white overlays for the front. This year, their hard work paid off and we are going to be able to complete the uniform. We are adding cords to the shoulders, a shield for the front of the jackets, and capes for the back.
Instruments - Mellen is fortunate to have a very healthy instrument inventory, with plenty of clarinets and trumpets to go around. However, there are certain instruments that we completely lack in providing for new band students to explore, including saxophones and anything in the low brass family (trombones, baritones, euphoniums, tubas). Once the uniforms are completed, our next mission is to make our instrument inventory more diverse.
Upcoming Fundraisers -
Fri, Oct 6 @ 4pm - Football Concessions (need volunteers!)
Nov 2017 - Super One Bagging Fundraiser (actual date TBA)
If you have any questions regarding fundraising and how you can help, please contact Krissy Pomeroy, band director.
Bayfield Apple Festival Parade 2017
Mellen’s middle and high school bands are BOTH going to be attending AppleFest on Sunday, October 8th! Students are asked to be at the school to get their uniform on and equipment ready by 10:30AM. The parade begins at 2:00PM and we are 17th in line. Our students will also be participating in the Mass Band at the end of the parade. We give them time after the parade to explore the festival before heading back to the school. We encourage parents to stay in contact with their child via cell phone or a close friend’s cell phone for an exact pick-up time. A form with more information was sent home with students on their first day of band rehearsal (bright orange paper).
Just a reminder that this performance is required for middle and high school bands this year, which is cited in the grading section of both band handbooks. Handbooks can be viewed in the Forms page. If you have further questions, please contact Krissy Pomeroy.
Band Officers
Mellen High School Band is proud to announce their new band officers! Elected by their peers, these positions give students leadership opportunities in the music department and are beneficial for our program. Here are the 2017-2018 officers -
President - Kelton Couperus (‘21)
Librarian - Hailey Lutz (‘19)
Uniform Manager - Kirsten Klaas (‘21)
Concerts
Wed, Dec 13 @ 6pm - Winter Concert Series: Choirs & Bands
Wed, Dec 20 @ 2pm -Winter Concert Series: Elementary Choruses
Wed, Apr 11 @ 6pm - Spring Concert
Wed, May 16 @ 6pm - Farewell Pops Concert