2022 Christmas Gala

 On Sunday afternoon at 4:00, Melayna was set to perform in the band for the 2022 Winter Gala.  This was an event hosted by the ARTS department and would feature performances from the band, choir, Dance, Orchestra and Theater departments.

It was held inside the Performing Arts Center of the high school.

They started off with a collaborative musical number and finished the same way with each group performing separately in the middle as well.

Unfortunately, we weren't sure how long the concert would take and we had youth group and prayer meeting in the evening beginning at 6:30 so I was the only one who attended the gala but I felt like it was a nice quiet way to enjoy the sounds of Christmas.  

Good job to the ARTS Department.

Winter Band Concert 2019

The girl had their 2019 winter concert this past Monday night.  

Melayna played first in the beginner's band.  They have really come a long way since the beginning of the year when they were playing songs like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Hot Cross Buns".  Now they are playing full Christmas songs with harmony and different tempos.  She loves playing the Clarinet and is really doing well.

After the beginning band was finished, Marissa came out to play with the Advanced Band.  She played the bassoon once again.  I apologize for the quality of the picture, but you can sort of make her out in the second row behind the flute players.  (When they went on the elementary tours a couple of weeks ago, several of the elementary students commented that they wanted to play the "stick instrument" like that one girl!) They haven't had a bassoon player in many years so the band director is excited about the publicity that it's giving to his band.  LOL

The advanced band did an excellent job.  Our band director does such a good job with middle school students and I really really enjoyed the concert this year.

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Marissa would also have the chance to play her saxophone at the "Breakfast with Santa" later in the week at one of the elementary schools.  She won't be playing band in high school so she's enjoying all of the fun moments while she can.

Monday Night // Band Concert // 2019

 Monday night was the girls' last band concert of the year.  (And probably Morgan's last band concert ever as unfortunately, she doesn't plan to play in the band at the high school level).

The concert started off with the beginning band playing three numbers.  They have really improved since the beginning of the year and I'm excited for Melayna to join the beginner's band at the beginning of the summer.  She was able to see the level where she could be after a year of practice.

Then Marissa came out with the jazz band and they played one song.  Unfortunately, due to several snow days and a lot of testing, the band wasn't able to meet as often as the director would have liked so they only had time to prepare the one full number.  Marissa plays the tenor saxophone in the jazz band and the one song that they played was really fun.

 Finishing out the evening was the advanced band.  Both Morgan and Marissa play in the advanced band - Morgan playing the flute and Marissa playing the alto saxophone this year.  The advanced band also played three songs.

You can see Morgan on the end of the front row in these pictures and if you look closely, you can barely make out Marissa near the back center.

At the end of the evening, the director gave out a few awards and Morgan and Marissa were both chosen to receive the "Director's Award".

It's always so hard to believe that yet another school year is quickly coming to a close.   The years just seem to pass by quicker and quicker with each passing year.

Band Camp Complete / Band Concert

For the past three weeks, the girls have been attending Band Camp for summer school with the Advanced Band Class at the high school.  They only met for one hour a day but after meeting for these three weeks, they performed a short concert this past Wednesday to show parents their progress.

(Both girls said that it was the "worst concert ever" but I didn't really think that it was too bad).

Monday Night Band Showcase

And just like that, the fun of the weekend was over and it was back to 'business as usual' bright and early Monday morning.  Noel went in to work for the day and all three girls went back to school.

Then, later on Monday night, Morgan had to return to her school for the middle school showcase where the school highlighted some of their electives for the community.  You can't see her because of the way they were positioned in the gym, but she's playing the flute in the front row.

For their last song "At the Hop", they were able to stand up and have a little fun with it.

And here's a short clip of that song:

A Tribute to Veteran's

Last night, Morgan took part in the annual Veteran's Day Tribute at an area middle school.  Her band was playing along with two choirs and a combined orchestra.  Each group performed two song with the band doing a third as they played the song of each branch of service and any veterans in attendance stood to be recognized.   They all did such a fine job and it was a great evening!

The picture quality isn't very good as I was zooming in on my phone, but you can see Morgan in the front row.  She is the third flute player from the left.

My favorite part of the evening was when Mr Marc Eckel painted a special painting while the band played.  This is how he started...

...and here is his final tribute to fallen soldiers.

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Now Morgan gets a day off before we travel north on Saturday morning so she can spend the day in rehearsals for the "All Region Band" that she was recently chosen for.  She will rehearse with students from 20 different schools on Saturday and then we will be able to watch the concert performance on Sunday afternoon.  'More on that to come...

Our Newest Band Member

Marissa joined "Beginner's Band" at the beginning of last summer and has been attending band class at the middle school since the beginning of the school year.  This past Monday night she had her first official band concert.

She might be a beginner, but she's off to a very good start!

Busy, Busy, Busy with Band

As soon as school ended for the school year, both girls began Band camp at the area high school.  Marissa had Beginner's band each morning at 8:00 a.m. and they learned how to put together their instrument and how to read music.  Since she already knew much of that, it was fine that she missed an entire week to go to camp.  She was still able to step back in the third and final week of camp and finish up quite nicely.    They ended their camp by putting on a concert last Wednesday at 10:00 in the morning.  

The band director likes to introduce them by individual sections to some fun upbeat music like they're playing in a sporting event and there were some fun slides playing in the background.  Then they took about 20 minutes playing scales and showing off a few of the songs that they learned as a group.    Marissa is looking forward to working through more of the book (and a few extras that I bought for her) over the summer and then she'll have band at the middle school three mornings a week this upcoming school year before her day begins.

Job well done!!

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Morgan just finished her first year of Beginner's Band at the middle school three mornings a week before our school day began.  This upcoming year she'll play every day in the middle school band.  She has done really well and continued to work on her skills the past three weeks by attending Advanced Band camp three mornings a week at 11:00.  Just like Marissa's group, Morgan's group also had a band concert for us last Wednesday.  

Since they are more advanced, they played the National Anthem to start off the show and then played a few more patriotic tunes and a few Disney songs.  It was really a good concert and it's so neat to see how far they've come since their Beginning Band concert last summer!!

Morgan also had the opportunity to play in a Flute Ensemble.  She said that it wasn't the best performance, but they did really well considering they only practiced together three times.

Morgan's "Rescheduled" Band Concert

Later Tuesday night, after all of the dentist appointments were complete and homework was finished up and put away, we ate dinner and then headed off to Morgan's band concert that had been postponed from the week before.  Grandma and Grandpa M stopped by while we were finishing up dinner and they followed us over so we could sit together.

Before Morgan left, she stopped to let me take this picture of her...

...and then Noel stopped so I could take this picture of him.  

(I think he felt left out 'cuz his look is saying, "What?  Don't you want pictures of me too?!"  LOL)

The concert was really good.  Morgan's beginner band is made up of sixth and seventh graders that are new to band.  They played three Christmas songs and then they took a seat in the auditorium and the eight grade band played four or five other songs.  

The quality of the pictures aren't the best, but the quality of the music was really good.  They did a really nice job and it's been fun to listen to Morgan practice and improve a little bit day to day.  She's really enjoying band and becoming a good little flute player!!