MS Band Festival
-Friday March 13th, St. Johns HS, 4pm performing
-We will be leaving school at about 2:30, so students will need to bring their clothes for the performance to change.
-We would love to have an audience, I would have preferred to play in the auditorium in Bay City that was also open, but wanted to make it easier for everyone to come out and listen!
-At 4pm we play three pieces in the auditorium for judges
-After that we can all move with the audience to the band room where we are judged on our ability to read and play new music.
-Students needing to leave with family should be done performing by about 4:35, it does help a lot if you can let me know before the day of if you are taking your student from SJ.
-Students riding the bus, we will stop at McDonalds for my annual Shamrock Shake/Filet o' Fish and should be back at school between 7 and 7:30.
-We could very much use 1-2 parents to ride along, let me know, just need the volunteer form filled out by the middle of next week. Wouldn't need anyone at the HS before 2:15.
-Not a "1st, 2nd, 3rd place" but we are given a grade. An overall "1" is an "A" and a 5 would be an "E." That said, I've never seen a 5 and maybe one or two 4s statewide in any given year.
Community Band
-Still working on a name, but we've had two great rehearsals so far for our new adult community band based here at PW!
-We are getting close to 30 members, ages I think range from early twenties to sixties. A lot of people that haven't played in decades.
-Next practice is Wed. March 4th then the 18th 7-8:30 in our band room
-Add your contact info RIGHT Here if you are interested and would like to be added to the email list.
-HERE is a great article about adults learning to play again. Some people golf, some bowl, some play instruments!
Camp/NYC 2027 Trip meeting
-Thursday March 19th, 6:30pm in the band room, of most interest to our 8th grade parents to get a lot of info about HS band in person. Sort of a "meet the coach" night for HS Band.
-Might not have the exact cost yet, but we should very much have enough planning finished to go over the process/timeline of signing up, payments, and what to expect for NYC
-Camp details should be final.
-Not required, but for sure suggested especially if you've never had a student on one of our band trips or in HS Band.
Honors Band
-Saturday April 18th, all day
-Names came out today, remember at this point it is somewhat random, but congrats to... Maci K, Kate F, Lyla P, Tyler H, and Anderson C for being selected to play in the actual band.
-Times and music should be out pretty soon.
-Remember that after the nomination it is a bit of a lotto. This crew gets to go play in a full 70 or so piece concert band with students from all over mid Michigan.
May/June
-Spring Concert May 13th
-MI Adventure Trip, June 5th, more snow days might bump this to the following Monday.
2026-27 HS Band Info
Band Camp 2026
-July 12-17, we need students here every year. About 50 hours of instruction, so almost an entire school quarters worth of work.
NYC 2027
-Not final, but it will land between March 17th and 23rd, dead spot in the schedule a week before spring break.
-I see Palm Sunday, we've worked around that before
-If we leave on the 17th, we will NOT see the St. Patty's day Shenanigans, last trip it was all over and cleaned up by the time we got there on the 18th.
-I always check here with our office staff, but this is the time to bring any conflicts up
-We've also seen that it is over Palm Sunday, we traveled and returned around lunch time on Palm Sunday 2018, and it worked well for the kids to get to night services as needed.