Notes on the end of October

Wow! I can't belive that we've hit the last week of October, that the first quarter wrapped up on Friday, and we've been working on Concert Band music for almost a month now! I'm very pleased with the progress that we've been making as we work on music for our first concert. Chairplacements are wrapping up, hopefully I'll get everyone in this week who was out sick last week. I've heard some great chairplacements. Jazz Band started last week and it promises to be a good group this year. I'm looking forward to our next meeting on Wednesday after school.

Friday!

We made it to Friday! What a week it's been! Honor Band auditions were this week. We've been working hard on Concert Band music sixth period. I'm quite pleased with what we've accomplished already on the first two pieces that we've been working on. Should be getting a seasonal selection rounded up for next week.

Chairplacement music will be handed out today in class. Chairplacements will take place during regularly scheduled lessons the week of October 19-23. We will be warming up on these materials today and everyday next week. Students are encouraged to practice at home, during study halls, and before/after school. I will be available for questions on these materials before/after school, during study halls, and at lessons next week. GOOD LUCK!

Honor Band Audition Wrap Up

Last night Lizzy S., Shayla W., Matthew W., and Marissa H. auditioned for honor band in Indianola. This was a fun group to spend the afternoon and evening with and I am so proud of them. Here are a few items from last night:

- Townhouse Crackers!
- Penguins
- Fritos
- Cheese in a Can!!
- Fat Cats Go!
- It's okay to have a healthy fear of leaves.
- Is it crazily insane or insanely crazy?

A New Top 10 - Howar Marching Band Wrap Up

It was just brought to my attention by three "Scale Happy" young women that I needed to update my blog. How fitting, a week past our junior high marching season that I put together a "Top 10 Memories from the 2009 Howar Marching Season"

10. "Put your hands up in front of you. The one that makes an L is your left hand. Now look at your left foot!...say hello!"

9. "There's a dead squirrel out back of Howar. Don't step on it!"

8. Drummers marching beside the pep band float. Twirling themselves while playing.

7. "Whoa! Look at the size of Howar's band this year!" (Overheard at the Football Game)

6. Due to a shortage of dead bugs, this year's band pet was an acorn named "Bob."

5. Ummm...better watch your step, there's a block of concrete in the road!

4. Where's my shampoo?

3. Sunglasses are officially fashionable AND practical!

2. A.J.'s design of the NEW band mascot. Until the eyes were eaten, the nose was lost, the pencils jammed into the box. Poor little mascot!

1. Lizzy: "Ummm...I just tripped over a fork in the road!"... And there was a piece of silverware in the middle of the road!

Congratulations to the HJH Marching Band on a successful season!

Howar Junior High Marching Season

Congratulations to the Howar Junior High Marching Band and the Centerville High School Marching Band on an outstanding combined performance this past Friday night at the exciting Centerville vs. Pella game. I have heard many complements on our performance. I am pleased with how far we have come in the past two weeks.

We now have two weeks to prepare for the Pancake Day Parade. The weather report looks favorable for us to be outside hitting the streets every day this week.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school! Tonight is Back To School Night and Seventh Grade Orientation at Howar. Hopefully you'll take a moment to stop by the band room and say "hi!" Classes start up again on Wednesday. We'll start with one day on handbooks and expectations, questions, etc. and then work on music Thursday and Friday. Our first performance is coming up quickly on September 11 at the home football game with our combined performance with the CHS Marching Band, so we have a lot to accomplish in our short time! I'm really looking forward to this school year.

Excellent Summer

Congratulations to everyone involved in the summer program this year. Our final performances went very well, and I heard many positive comments yesterday and today from a variety of members of our community. I would like to thank everyone who played, helped load and unload, and was any kind of a part of yesterday's Children's Arts Festival. What a great day!

I guess we'll be back to school before we realize it. Until then, have a safe and wonderful summer!

Mr. Taylor's Socks

Many students have been looking at Mr. Taylor's feet this summer and commenting on his fashion sense. With his permission, this has become the topic of this week's poll.

Children's Arts Festival Performance Details

A sheet will be handed out at next week's rehearsals, but here are the details for July 11 performances at the Children's Arts Festival...

Schedule:
10:30 - Mr. Taylor's Small Ensembles
11:00 - Junior Band (Mr. Taylor)
11:30 - Youth Band (Ms. Philipsen)
12:00 - Summer Jazz (Ms. Philipsen)
12:30 - Ms. Philipsen's Small Ensembles

A few small ensembles may be sprinkled in around the larger group performances depending on how many choose to perform on July 11.

All performances will take place at the band shell in the center of the Centerville Square (in front of the Court House). Please plan on being on the lawn near the shell 15 minutes before your first performance.

Dress for this performance will be casual, please wear school-appropriate summer clothing.

These performances will conclude our summer program.

To contemplate as you work on your scales...

What do you get if you run over an army officer with a steamroller?
A flat major (Ab Major!)

What do you say to the army officer right before you run him over?
Be flat major (Bb Major!)

What do you say after you run over the army officer?
See flat major (Cb Major!)

Halfway through the Summer Band Program

Good morning HJH Band Blog Followers! Yesterday at noon we hit the mid-point of the Summer Band Program, and what a summer it's been so far. I've been having a blast working with the incoming seventh graders and continuing working with those of you who are now eighth graders. I'm looking forward to our performances at the conclusion of the 5-week program. We'll be performing at the band shell on the square on Saturday, July 11 as part of the Children's Arts Festival. A schedule will be posted and handed out next week, I need to confirm our performance times. Let's hope that the weather will be cooler than it was this week for those performances!

You Know You've Been At Summer Band Lessons at Howar When...

5. You have enjoyed the air conditioning of the HJH Band Room...
4. You don't think it's odd to see four bass amps, three trap sets, and two pianos set up for jazz band...
3. You got a Lifesaver for participating in the 10 minute silent portion of band rehearsal...
2. You know what a tpt, hn, tbn, and tba are...
1. You haven't been bored for your WHOLE summer...

Photo from the last day of school...

On the last day of school Lynsey W. took a picture with me.... Here it is! Any other band member pictures out there??!? Email them in!

HJH Summer Program Starts off with a BANG!

It's great to have the summer program off to a start! Jazz Band yesterday was excellent, I think we have some winning charts! I think today's Youth Band went fairly well, an especially good job of sight reading, and a couple of pieces that we'll play and I'm going to bring a few new ones next week...

Several eighth grade students are starting to work on honor band audition music and I wish them luck as they start preparing those etudes and scales. It's been great getting to know the incoming seventh grade band students better this summer, too. Seems like we've got a great group in the making!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have made it to the end of another school year! Don't forget that summer lessons will start up next week (Tuesday June 9)...

2009 Howar Jr. High Drum Majors Announced

Drum Majors for the Howar Junior High Marching Band Fall 2009:
Maddie Lange
Shayla Wolver

Congratulations to these fine young ladies! Thank you to everyone who tried out, there were some tough choices that Mr. Taylor and I had to make this afternoon. The whole band did a grand job of supporting all of the candidates.

(Thanks to Mr. Taylor for serving as our guest judge today.)

Lakeview Concert - A Success!

Congratulations, Howar Band, on a very successful afternoon concert today. You did a great job.

What an adventure today, loading a tight bus as it started to rain (AGAIN), performing in a very hot, humid gym, and then re-loading... Of course, it rained on me as I came back to HJH. You work well under adverse conditions.

Jazz Banders - after about a month of not meeting, you did a fine job of playing Grooved Pavement. Soloists did an outstanding job, and be sure to thank our very own microphone stand, Mr. D! I'm so proud of all of the hard work you have done this year!

Concert Band - a great variety well played. Tubas, trombones, and baritones nice work in your features. Thank you, too, to the eighth graders who voulenteered to speak this afternoon. You did a fine job.

Now looking to the end of the year... tomorrow we will unload the truck and start working on marching music for next fall. Thursday and Friday we will continue working on that music as well as consider seventh graders for drum major. Monday we'll watch our movie. Then it'll be time to start thinking about summer lessons, crazy, huh?

CHS Color Guard/Flag Team

CHS Color Guard/Flag Team
2009 Marching Season

Seniors
Taylor Armington (captain)
Rachel Eddy (captain)

Juniors
Bethany Jackson
Shaniel Smith
Molly Thomas

Sophomores
Hope Hancox
Shelby Kanselaar
Megan Mobley

Freshmen
Patience Clark
Lei Alena Dagat
Ally Logsdon


Thank you to everyone who auditioned!

· Uniforms will be fitted before the end of the year.
· T-shirt/hoodie orders will be organized in June.
· Be sure to fill out an information sheet next week (contact info, etc.). August practice schedule will be available next week, too.

Lakeview Concert Announcement

Our annual Lakeview Recruitment Concert is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26. We will begin around 2:20 p.m. The HJH schedule that day will be slightly altered allowing our students to be in attendance at all academic classes before performing the concert. We will bus to the concert and dismiss for the day from Lakeview. Students needing to ride a bus home will board the bus at Lakeview. Students getting a ride or walking should plan on leaving from Lakeview. If a student needs to walk from Howar or return to Howar for some reason, please ride an afterschool bus from Lakeview to Howar.

Congratulations to our Award Winners

Congratulations to everyone from Howar who received an award at last night's awards assembly. I was proud to see so many of the band students get acknowledged for their outstanding achievements in so many different areas.

I would just like to highlight a few of our 2008/2009 school year band awards...

Most Improved Musician - Concert Band
Lewis B., Alexis J., Chyenne L., Corina M., Shayla W., Neal C., Charlie P., Hannah R., and Lynsey W.

Outstanding Band Member
7th Grade - Maddison L.
8th Grade - Hannah R.

Most Improved Musician - Jazz Band
Marissa H., Maddison L., Eli S., Matthew W., Patience C., Shelby R., Jeremy S., and Jesse S.

Outstanding Jazz Band Member
7th Grade - Eli S. and Marissa H.
8th Grade - Shelby R.

First Point Award (150+ points earned while participating in Howar Band)
Lewis B., Dillon C., Kolton G., Marissa H., Brentyn J., Alexis J., Maddison L., Melanie M., Tiffany M., Corina M., Hunter M., Nikki M., Katie M., Jake O., Erin P., Nicole S., Eli S., Elizabeth S., Kelsey W., Katie W., Matthew W., Shayla W., Jin W., Zach B., Neal C., Lauren C., Jessica D., Alesha D., Brandon J., Charlie P., Makenzie R., and Jessica S.

Second Point Award (300+ points earned while participating in Howar Band)
Megan A., Shawn B., Patience C., Jeff C., Mallory C., Lei Alena D,. Alesha D., Ally L., Hannah R., Shelby R., Jeremy S., Jesse S,. and Annie W.

Third Point Award (450+ points earned while participating in Howar Band)
Lei Alena D., Hannah R., Shelby R., Jeremy S., Jesse S.

Congratulations to everyone involved, it's been a great year!!

Another Scale Star!

Congratulations to MARISSA H. who has just recently completed her first and second levels in her quest! Way to go!

Saving the Best for Last

Bravo for a job well done Howar Concert Band! I think you saved the best performance for last night's concert on our three contest selections, PLUS had some fun (and sounded good) on Mamma Mia! Last night was such a wonderful experience thanks to your hard work and dedication!

Now we'll wrap up the year working on some music for our Lakeview Concert and starting next year's marching tune...

A Cold, Wet, Fun Adventureland Experience

After Saturday's trip to Adventureland, I must say how proud I am of the Howar Junior High Band students. It was an outstanding day. Not only did they perform well, but they showed that they are a well behaved group of students. To the adults who grump about "kids these days," obviously you've never met MY kids!

This year's band students have been the BEST junior high group to travel with. Last weekend and this weekend there are minimal issues on the buses, and we've even been complemented on our bus etiquette! I know some adults dread getting on a bus full of pre-teen and teens, but I look forward to traveling more with this fine group when opportunities arise!

The weather was cold and wet for our trip, rather disappointing as Friday and Sunday were both warmer and not so drippy. That being the case, I was excited to see that we didn't let a little bit of rain dampen our spirits. In fact, I think we got quite a deal as every ride was a water ride! Just think of that when you go back in July and it's 101 in the shade! You likely wouldn't have found out that the Iowa Cafe sold hot cocoa and cappuccino if it had been warmer, would you?

A special thanks to our chaperons, Kym Caylor, Marty Braster, and Shelia Palmer. You three are amazing and without you this trip would have been tough! I hope you had as much fun as I did! It was also great to see so many family and friends hanging out for the day, too!

I was glad, too, to have been able to ride the rides with some of the coolest kids in Centerville! I'll be practicing up on my bumper car skills so that I can get all of you seventh graders back sometime!

Now looking to the end of the school year, we have our concert tomorrow evening, playing for the home crowd our three contest selections PLUS Mamma Mia! We'll start working on next year's marching tune, hold HJH drum major auditions (current seventh graders who are interested), CHS flag team auditions (current eighth graders plus 9-11 who are interested), throw some new tunes together for the Lakeview concert, and have some fun through the end of the year. I can't believe that May starts up this week already!!! The summer letters will be in the mail by the end of the week, yikes!

CONCERT DATE UPDATE

Due to the track meet scheduled on Tuesday, April 21, the Howar Spring Concert (Band AND Vocal) has been moved to Tuesday, April 28. Any questions about this change can be directed to the Howar Office.

Large Group Contest - Dallas Center-Grimes

Congratulations to the Howar Jazz Band and the Howar Concert Band on this year's excellent showing at SCIBA's Large Group Contest on Saturday. The Jazz Band received a I rating and the Concert Band received a I+ rating. In addition to to being recognized for musical excellence, I thought there were many positive things happening on Saturday. I was happy with the audience of junior high students during the Jazz Band's performance, they encouraged the soloists and applauded in the correct places. Your behavior between performances was exceptional, I loved seeing all of the card games and the hokey pokey during lunch. The concert band did a great job of pulling together, and a special thanks goes out to three true team players, Marissa H., Eli S., and Patience C. Thanks you three for your up and above on Saturday! I was impressed with your attention to the clinic (which was a great clinic) following our performance. That was also one of the smoothest bus trips I have had with a group of junior high students yet! What a day!

I can't wait for Adventureland this weekend - let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather is good! I'm anxious to get to play our music again (after five rehearsals to perfect it further), and then go ride many rides at the park! I keep checking the weather (www.noaa.gov) to find out the latest forecast... I'm hoping 70s and sunny!

Jazz Fest 2009

Great job on Saturday, jazz band! I was extremely proud of your performance. Thanks for making the day such a wonderful experience! You even wait around like pros!

Congratulations to the CHS Jazz I on another 1st place finish this season!

Scales, Arpeggios, and Rudiments, OH MY!

At the Howar Junior High Band Room we've started a spring challenge...one to find all scale, arpeggio, and rudiment stars! There could be up to ten levels to pass, starting out with basic scales, leading up to crazy, fast scales!

Level one is playing all 12 major scales PLUS your chromatic (percussionists on mallets). So far EIGHT student have passed level one and earned their yellow star: Lei Alenda D., Alesha D., Maddie L., Kendra L., Makenzie R., Eli S., Jeremy S., and Lynsey W.! Congrats!

Level two is playing all 12 major arpeggios (broken chords) for winds OR a set of rudiments for percussionists. THREE of the individuals who passed level one have already passed level two and earned their lime green star: Lei Alena D., Alesha D., and Jeremy S.! Way to go!

Level three (orange star) will be playing all 12 melodic minor scales (a bit more difficult, as it's different on the way up than on the way down), but I think they're up for the challenge...are you?

Let's see everyone earn their yellow star! Good luck working on those scales!

Our Outstanding Performers

Congrats to Jazz I!!

Congratulations to Centerville Jazz I as they placed FIRST in the Tall Corn Jazz Contest held in Cedar Falls this weekend! Way to go!

Congratulations

Congratulations to all Centerville students at Solo/Ensemble Contest this past weekend. What a great showing!

In particular, I must say how proud I am of my Howar students. You all worked so hard since we came back after Christmas and worked very well on your own as well as with the adults who were here to help you. We were able to play some very difficult literature for junior high students.

Special mention to our FOUR outstanding performers selected for the day from Howar... Shelby R., saxophone solo; Lei Alena D., clarinet solo; Saxophone Quartet (Shelby R., Annie W., Jessica D., and Patience C.); and Seventh Grade Trumpet Trio (Kolton G., Brentyn J., and Michael S.). Way to go!

COLD Temps, but HOT Jazz!

Wow! I just dropped the ball with my blog! It's been ALMOST a month...guess things have been CRAZY!

The BIGGEST event of January for the junior high band program is coming up at the very end of the month...the BIG BAND DANCE on January 31st. Jazz students just got their tickets today to start selling, a very reasonable $5 per ticked in advance for an evening of jazz music provided by the CHS Jazz I, CHS Jazz II, and our very own HJH Jazz Band PLUS FOOD - deserts, snacks, etc.! What a terriffic deal AND you get to support the Band Booster Orginization while you're at it. You can dance if you choose (in fact, dance lessons are offered before hand) or simply sit and enjoy the music if you perfer. Hope to have a record crowd in attendance!

I should have another update later this week, if my fingers ever thaw...