"Common Times" Weekly Newsletter 8/23-8/27
Greetings Wildcat Band Family!
It was an BAND-TASTIC first week back! The students are kind, hardworking, talented and just all around awesome to work with. 7th grade classes have had their equipment checked to help ensure it is in good working condition. It is incredibly important for students to have proper materials to maintain their instruments to reduce stress on the student due to their instrument not working correctly. Students should have:
Flutes - swab and polishing cloth
Oboe - swab and at least 2 working reeds
Clarinets - cork grease, swab and at least 4 working reeds (Vandoren or D'adaddrio)
Saxophones - cork grease, swab and at least 4 working reeds (Vandoren or Hemke)
Trumpets, Euphoniums and Tubas - Piston valve oil, polishing cloth, mouthpiece brush and slide grease
French Horns - Rotary oil, polishing cloth, mouthpiece brush, and slide grease
Trombones - Small spray bottle, tuning slide grease, slide grease, polishing cloth and mouthpiece brush
We have also been doing review and fundamental exercises to build up our playing muscles to build up our endurance. Students are moving quickly, responding quickly and improving in large leaps in only 2 days of playing. It is going to be a GREAT year!
8th Grade band is off to a wonderful start! We have learned most of our pep music already and are sounding AWESOME. I can't wait to show them off to you at the Arkansas Natural's Game on September 14th. Additionally, our all-region sectionals are off to a wonderful start with students doing an amazing job.
Tuesday, August 24th is Meet The Teacher Night/Open House at WJHS.
Mr. Jones will be available after 4:40pm to meet and greet in the band room.
Mr. Fernandez and Mr. Shewmaker will be unavailable due to their responsibilities with the Nationally Recognized and Award Winning Bentonville High School Pride Marching Band rehearsal. If you would like to meet them, please send them an email to establish a meeting.
Join us at Slim Chickens on Promenade Blvd. on Wednesday, September 1st for our VERY first Dine Out night! Funds raised will help support our Wildcats Jazz Band to purchase a bass guitar. Plus, no need to plan for dinner that night! :)
The 8th grade band will be performing pre-game of the Arkansas Natural's Game on Tuesday, September 14th. We will order pizza for a small snack after school and will bus students to and from the performance. Additionally, we will be selling tickets for family and friends to be able to join us at the game for our first performance of the year.
Naturals Fundraising Sheet, 9.14.21.xlsx - Sheet1
.pdf
Download PDF • 190KB
Tickets are $9 each and a portion of ticket sales will be given back to the band as a thank you for performing at the game. Do not include your band student on the ticket sheet as the band will cover their ticket for their performance. Additionally, each student will receive a Natural's Baseball Cap at the end of our performance. 7th grade students who joined us for the August band sectional and rehearsal are welcome to perform with the 8th grade band at the game. Please let Mr. Jones know ASAP if your 7th grade student intends to perform with us.
Students should bring $10-15 if they wish to purchase refreshments while at the ballpark. Parents are welcome to pick up their student post performance from the ballpark but must check them out with Mr. Jones or our chaperone Mrs. Streck prior to leaving. Please note that the ballpark has a clear bag policy when entering the park.
Please help remind your student to FULLY charge their chromebook every night as it will be used in most classes, including band. Many of our fundamental and supplemental exercises will be provided as a digital copies in google classroom.
All-Region Sectionals
Continue this week. These are required for 8th grade band students and optional for 7th grade band. We do have a couple of modifications due to the school schedule the first 2 weeks as well as a scheduling conflict with marching band. Saxophones and Euphoniums will have flipped sectionals the first 2 weeks of school because students won't be traveling during priority time. A flipped sectional is a brief recorded lesson students need to complete by the following week. These videos will be posted by the end of the day of the scheduled sectional. Percussion and trombones will alternate flipped sectionals until the end of the Bentonville Pride's Marching Band Season. This week, trombones will be flipped and percussion will be in person.
This week - Saxophones, Trombones and Euphoniums will have a video/flipped sectional posted the day of their scheduled sectional. Last week's assignment will also be due by that time. Percussion will meet IN PERSON on Wednesday until 4:30p.
Our fall apparel store is now open until September 3rd. After the 3rd I CANNOT reopen the store.
There are NO required items for students here. The required band t-shirt for 8th grade band/pep band was ordered at the end of August rehearsals and will be in the second week of school.
To order, click the image to the left.
If you missed the band parent meeting video, it can be viewed by clicking here.
To stay in the know be sure to follow us on your social media platform of choice: Facebook, Instagram or Twitter - @wjhswildcatband.
Also, our website is full of band-tastic resources for parents and students alike. You can find individual class calendars under each class page. These calendars will auto update with any assignment assigned in google classroom. Find us at www.wjhswildcatband.com
If the first week is any indication, this will be THE BEST year yet at WJHS!!
If you have any questions or concerns, please never hesitate to reach out. We are partners in your student's growth and need to work together for them to be as successful as possible.
Have a terrific first week everyone!
Musically Yours,
