Christmas Concert Time!

The SFMMS Band Christmas Concert is almost here! In an effort to help finalize the music for the concert, we are having sectionals this week on Wednesday December 6th for Woodwinds, and Thursday December 7th for Brass students. Both sectionals will run from 3:30–5:00pm in the band hall.

On Monday December 11th, all band students will have a full band rehearsal after school from 3:30-5:00pm in the gymnasium. Please make arrangements for your child to attend the appropriate sectionals. These are essential to allow the students to have a great concert on Tuesday.

Students will need to report to be seated in the gym ready to warm up with their instrument, band binder, blue band shirt, blue jeans, and nice shoes by 4:45pm on Tuesday. Following our warm-up, there will be a restroom break from 6:00pm to 6:45pm. During this time, you may bring a snack (not a complete meal) for your child. The concert will begin at 7:00pm and should conclude by 8:00pm.

We are planning on having a Christmas Party for the band students on Friday December 22nd. More details concerning that will follow after the concert. If you are interested in helping to set up or help to plan for that, please email Mr. Wagner to let me know of your interest. Thanks!

Thank You Parents

We want to first of all thank all of the parents for coming to our section concerts and supporting your children in their music education. This is also a special note of appreciation to the parents of the clarinet players who had to go out of their way to pick them up Wednesday afternoon. Thank you so much for your tremendous help in making the School Dedication and Memorial such a wonderful success. Many of the audience members have made it a point to let us know personally how much the music added to the experience. We are still getting emails and notes from community members expressing their appreciation for the event.

This Thursday will be our final section concert of the fall semester, featuring the low brass sections. All Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba students should report to the band hall after school, have a rehearsal until 4:00, have pizza, and then begin the concert at 5:00pm. This concert will be over by 5:30pm. We hope that you can come out and hear the results of the hard work that these young men and women have been putting into their instruments. Because of the number of students represented in the concert this week and because of limited spacing and seating availability, you are encouraged to be early if you would like to ensure that you can be inside the band hall for the concert.

All the rest of the students should be working diligently on their Christmas concert music as well as the warm up exercises that we are working on in class. Please continue encouraging them to fill out their practice planners and be sure that they are signed each week. The more you can encourage your children, the more successful they will be. Again thank you so much for everything that you do for your children. You have no idea how much the little things help to make the San Felipe Memorial Middle School Band great.

Week #13

This week is an action-packed week with the SFMMS Band. On Wednesday, our clarinet players will play for the school's ribbon-cutting ceremony and on Thursday, the trumpet and horn sections will have their first section concert.

We are still awaiting finalized details for Wednesday, but the ceremony is set to begin at 6:30pm at the old stadium. We will meet in the band hall after school, have some pizza as a snack, and then begin rehearsal around 4:45 or 5:00. We will work on the music together with the choir. and then move out to the field around 6:00. We will set up in the bleachers and be prepared to play some. We are assuming that the whole thing will be over by around 7:30, but have not gotten that information.

The trumpet and horn section concert will be the same schedule as previous section concerts. Students will report to the band hall after school, have a rehearsal until 4:00, have pizza, and then begin the concert at 5:00pm. This concert will be over by 5:30pm.

Students should wear their blue band shirt, blue jeans, and nice shoes for both events.

Week #12

This Friday will be our third in a series of section concerts. The Saxophone section will be performing at 5:00pm in the band hall after school, and the concert will finish by 5:30pm. We would love to have all parents of our saxophone players and any other interested audience members join us to hear the progress these young men and women have made.

This is the final week of the second six weeks grading period. All students should be keeping up with their homework every day. Please reiterate to them that failure to return even one homework assignment can have a catastrophic impact on their grades. If you have any concerns or if there is any way that we can help, please email us at joel.wagner@sfdr-cisd.org or daniel.white@sfdr-cisd.org and we will gladly do whatever we can.

Finally, there are a few events of note next week. We have previously announced a Trumpet and Horn section concert on Thursday November 9th. We have been presented with an opportunity to have members of the SFMMS Band perform for the school’s Ribbon-Cutting and Recognition of War Veterans ceremonies. The Ribbon-Cutting will be on Monday November 6th and the Recognition Ceremony will be on Wednesday November 8th. We are asking that all clarinet players be there to perform for these ceremonies. More details will come as soon as they are made available to us. All other band students who would like to come and help out with the ceremony are invited. All band students should wear their blue band shirts, blue jeans, and nice shoes unless they are otherwise involved in the ceremony (student council, etc.).

Week #10

The San Felipe Memorial Middle School Band is continuing to improve with each passing day. In order to be constantly improving, all of the students should be practicing their instrument each day. Below are some keys to listen for in the practice time. But first, there are a couple of events to bring to your attention that are coming up next week.

On Wednesday October 25th, the truck will be arriving to deliver our fundraising order. Please ensure that arrangements are made to transport these items home after school on Wednesday. The other event next week is a Flute Section Concert on Friday October 27th. The concert will begin at 5:00pm and will be completed by 5:30. All flute students will stay after school and practice. There will be a break from 4:00 to 4:45. During that break, pizza and drinks will be provided.

Future Section Concert dates are Saxophones on Friday November 3rd, Trumpets and Horns on Thursday November 9th, and Trombones/Euphoniums/Tubas on Thursday November 16th. The schedule for those will be approximately the same with the concert beginning after school at 5:00 and ending around 5:30.

Practice Concerns

Some keys to listen and watch for during practice are:

· Steady Tempo – the speed of the music should not fluctuate, but should be constant; most students try to play faster than their brains and fingers work

· Good Tone – all woodwind and brass players should have very relaxed sounds; if the sound is stuffy, teeth or throat may be too tight or closed; the solution is to relax muscles more

· Right Notes – if the music sounds wrong, it probably is; brass players may be too high or too low, trombone slides may be in the wrong place, and all other woodwind and brass players may be pushing wrong buttons

· Extra Notes – these can happen when students move their valves, keys, or slides at a different time than they move their tongue; another cause might be changing fingerings while playing a note

· Percussion Concerns – all percussionists should be practicing both their bells and their practice pad; hands should remain relaxed while playing with elbow movement at a very minimum

Practice Planners should be filled out by students each day and signed by a parent each week. Additional copies may be printed from the SFMMS Band Website. The goal of practice should be to fix problems. When students play what they already know how to play, they are often not fixing problems and so most practice time should not necessarily sound good as students are focusing on those areas that they do not do well. If you don’t hear any wrong notes, encourage them to work on something that is more challenging for them. All woodwind and brass players should be able to play all of the notes up through Line 39. Flutes and clarinets have learned all of the notes necessary to play through Line 118.

As always, thank you so much for everything that you do for your children. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without your support and help!

Week#9 Update

Throughout the year, we will be having occasional informal section concerts to allow parents to come and hear the progress of our students. This Friday will be the first one, featuring the clarinet section. The clarinet players will come to the band hall after school, play a little bit, have some pizza, and then begin their performance at 5:00pm. The whole presentation should be over by 5:30pm. More details will be discussed during the 3^rd period class, and information will be sent home with clarinet players this week.

Also on Friday evening, the Del Rio High School Mighty Ram Band will be presenting a post-game performance of this year’s UIL Marching competition show. Any students or parents who are at the game on Friday are encouraged to stay and see the show.

People have been asking us when the fundraising items will be delivered. The delivery should come in by the end of this month. More details will follow as they are known.

Once again, thank you for everything that you do to support the education of your students. As always, if you have any questions, comments, complaints, or concerns, please do not hesitate to call or email us here at the school.

Week #6 Update

It is hard to believe that we are already through five weeks of school. The students in the San Felipe Memorial Middle School Band are hard at work learning how to play their instruments and the progress that they have made in less than a month of playing is incredible. Some of the woodwind sections have already begun to play a song. At the same time, the brass players are working on learning to control their muscles to play the different notes on their instruments. The percussionists are working on both their practice pads and bell kits and learning how to read music and play some of their rudiments.

Fundraising packets should have gone home with students last week. This will hopefully help us to go play in a contest in San Antonio in the spring, as well as providing many other instructional benefits to them, so please encourage them to sell at least a few items. Every dollar helps us provide the students with a great education and a wonderful beginning band experience. The money and order forms for this will be due back this week. For more information, check out the band web page.

Students should be practicing their instruments every day, or as often as possible. If you do not see instruments coming home, encourage them to practice. We also have practice planners to fill out. These help them to become more responsible and to set goals for their practice time. If you get a chance to do so, please sit down and work with them on these wonderful tools. You should sign the practice planners each week, so if you are not doing so, ask questions.

Once again, thank you for allowing your children to be a wonderful part of the SFMMS Band this year!

Week #4

We hope that every student has had an enjoyable first three weeks at San Felipe Memorial Middle School. They all seem to be working hard and having a good time in band so far.

This update is simply to inform you that there are still a handful of students who have not yet gotten their instruments. All of our classes should be playing by the end of the week so anyone who does not have an instrument yet is going to be getting further and further behind with each day they are not prepared. Please help us out with this matter as soon as possible! Anyone playing school instruments should be getting them this week as well, if they have paid their $20 instrument usage fee.

Another point of concern is that there are quite a few students who have not yet paid for their band t-shirts. This is an essential part of the band uniform, so we ask that anyone who has not paid please bring $8.00 to school as soon as possible. This way, when the band shirts arrive this month, every student will be able to get them.

We have a lot of great things in store for the SFMMS Band this year. As always, please let us know if you have any concerns or questions.

We Begin Playing Monday

This is a final reminder.

We will have music stores in the cafeteria this Thursday, August 24th. Parents should attend this evening any time between 6:00pm and 9:00pm to talk to the various stores about arrangements to get an approved instrument, mouthpiece, cleaning supplies, metronome, Essential Elements Band Book. We will begin playing on Monday the 28th. Keep in mind that students who play school-owned instruments (Horn, Euphonium, and Tuba) should also attend this evening to buy their Essential Elements Book, mouthpiece, cleaning supplies, and metronome.

If you are unable to make it that evening, please go to http://www.sfdr-cisd.org/, click on San Felipe Memorial Middle School (6^th Grade), and click on the SFMMS Band web page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and download a copy of the SFMMS Recommended Instrument List. You should use that list as a reference when you make outside arrangements for the instrument and mouthpieces.

We hope to see you there!

Band Instrument Night

On August 24th, we will have some music stores setting up at SFMMS. They will be available to discuss renting or purchasing a district-approved instrument and accessories. All beginning band students should attend this evening any time from 6:00 until 9:00pm. The location of the event is tentatively scheduled for the SFMMS Gymnasium. Finalized information will be announced in class next week.

We ask that all students make every possible effort to come by sometime during this three-hour event. Even if they have an instruments, students should make arrangements to get proper supplies (reeds, valve oil, slide grease, drum sticks, metronomes, etc.) as well as the proper Essential Elements 2000 Beginning Band Method Book. Students who are unable to attend this evening should make arrangements with one of the music stores to rent or purchase an instrument. As previously mentioned, all students are expected to get instruments that are on the SFDRCISD Approved Instrument List.

What To Bring To School

I know that as the school year begins, many parents rush out to buy a new instrument for their students. We would recommend not doing that if you can at all avoid it. The San Felipe Del Rio CISD has a recommended instrument list that we have thoroughly researched and include an assortment of instruments that are made by reputable manufacturers that are known for high quality workmanship.

Often, when students come to band with instruments that are not on the recommended instrument list, they have problems with valves, slides, keys, pads, or screws. These problems can sometimes be easily solved, but there are many cases where we have seen these problems compound and parts are unavailable for the repairs, so the students often end up being unable to play their instrument for weeks at a time. As a result, we highly recommend buying an instrument (specific manufacturer and model number) that is on the list.

That will be made available at the beginning of the school year, and may also be obtained by emailing joel.wagner@sfdr-cisd.org and asking for it. We will not be playing instruments in the first couple of weeks of school, and so an students do not even need to bring instruments until they are instructed to do so in class.

On August 24th, we will have some music stores setting up at SFMMS. They will be available to discuss renting or purchasing a district-approved instrument and accessories. All beginning band students should attend this evening any time from 6:00 until 9:00pm. Location will be determined at a later date.

The only thing that students will need for band during the first week of school will be a 1" 3 ring binder.

Summer Ending

As the summer comes to an end, I am sure that some of the students are getting anxious to begin the school year. For the students going into seventh and eighth grade, summer band practices begin on Wednesday July 26th. This is an important time for them as they get to meet the other students in their bands and also learn how to march.

There is no summer band for sixth grade. Students do not even need instruments until after the school year begins. We recommend waiting to purchase instruments until after school has begun so that students are certain they will be in band and be playing the instrument that they have chosen. The first few weeks of the school year will be spent getting to know one another and learning some music-reading basics and other vital fundamentals. We look forward to beginning an exciting school year.

As the 2005-2006 school year comes to a close, we also prepare to close a chapter of history in Del Rio. Marion Russell Middle School will hold its last day of classes on May 26th, 2006. San Felipe Middle School will open for sixth grade students in August. Many exciting things are in store for the 2006-2007 San Felipe Middle School band students as we transition to this newly redesigned campus. Exciting things are coming this summer. If you are interested in keeping up with the developments and/or getting news updates throughout the school year, please subscribe in the box on the right.