Band Notes Aug 21, 2022

Wind Symphony Woodwinds Rehearsal 2:45 pm-4pm; HS Band Room (During MB Sectionals)
Marching Band Brass and Woodwind Rehearsal 3-6pm
Percussion Rehearsal 6-9pm

Friday, August 26

Full Band Rehearsal 3-6pm
Date Contracts and Class Fee/Concert Attire forms due for concert classes

Saturday August 27

Full Band Rehearsal 1-9pm
- 1pm-4:30 pm Rehearsal
- 4:30-5:30 pm Dinner (bring your own or have food dropped off)
- 5:30-9:00 pm Rehearsal

Future planned events can be found on the updated band calendar: Mason Band Calendar

PARKING LOT SAFETY

We need your help to maintain the traffic flow and to ensure our student’s safety in the parking lot when dropping off or picking students up from rehearsals. Please follow the following guidelines.

Drop Off Instructions:

Pull up as far as possible between the Small Commons entrance and the Music Wing entrance to allow as many students as possible to safely unload at once.
Stay to the right for unloading, so that traffic can safely pass on your left.
Students should be ready to exit your vehicle. If your student still needs to tie shoes, get their instrument etc., please pull up and park in a space. Please do not park on striped non parking spaces or in the handicap spots.

Pick Up Instructions:

During pick-up, please park in a spot if possible. Spaces are available both in the band lot and the parking lot found to the west of the bus circle.
If there are absolutely no spots available, please pull up as far as possible to allow multiple cars to pick up at once.
Stay to the right for loading, so that traffic can safely pass on your left.

If dropping off food for your student during meal times, please find a parking spot while you wait for your student to come get their food or while you bring the food to the band aids.

Please remember the band parking lot travels in one direction!

The parking lot is full of young drivers and kids walking to vehicles. Please drive slowly, refrain from using your phone, and exercise additional care. Thank you for helping to keep our kids safe!

LAST CHANCE TO ORDER TOUR SHIRTS - ORDERS DUE TONIGHT

Please note that the 2022 TOUR SHIRTS are available for sale online. All orders are due TONIGHT. Orders can be placed HERE. All students receive one short sleeve tour shirt as part of their consumable fee, so you do not need to order a shirt for your student. The online form offers the design on dri fit, long sleeve and crewneck. You may also use this form to order extra shirts for your students, for yourself, friends, and family. This will be the ONLY opportunity to order the official 2022 William Mason High School Marching Band Tour Shirt, so please take a moment to order now before the deadline on August 21st. The shirts that you order online will ship out/be available for pick up in store the day or day after delivery to the students depending on when the students receive their shirts.

A special note to our new band families to let you know that the design on the order form is generic and does not represent how the shirts will truly look. The color shown will be the color of the shirt you receive; however, per tradition, the actual design is kept secret until the students receive their shirts. The staff does a great job designing these show theme shirts every year, so you won't be disappointed! This is a fun tradition for friends and family to show their love and pride for the Mason Marching Band throughout the season.

Additional band spirit wear is now available for purchase through Friday Threads as well. We have added some fun new items such as a Mason Band Customizable Unisex T and Ladies V-neck. You can check out those options and many more at the Friday Threads website found HERE.

The Spirit Committee could use your help! If you are interested in volunteering for Spirit, please email us at spirit@masonbandboosters.com

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE UNIFORM CREW

Attention Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores! It's time to bring in your black marching shoes. The green uniform bags will be in the hallway every day during rehearsal this week. Please bring in your shoes and put them in the back pocket of your bag. If your black shoes do not fit, contact Mrs. Gonzalez immediately at uniforms@masonbandboosters.com

CONGRATS MR. WOODIE AND ALL OF OUR ALUMNI IN THE DRUM CORP!

Congratulations to MMS Band Director Mr. Joe Woodie! Mr. Woodie was one of the Battery Coordinators this summer with the Percussion section of the Bluecoats , who were awarded the “Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion” this weekend at DCI (Drum Corp International) Finals.

Congratulations to all performers, instructors and designers this past weekend on their amazing DCI performances! We are incredibly proud of all of our alumni who participated in the competition.

THE MARCHING BAND’S INVESTMENT IN MENTAL WELLNESS HIGHLIGHTED ON WCPO 9 NEWS

Check out the news story WCPO aired this week highlighting the band’s focus to help students with their mental wellness. The story talks about the recent training the marching band students received from 1N5 in honor of Jake Langbein, an alumni of the Mason Marching Band. The 1N5 link found above contains a wealth of information and resources regarding Mental Health. It also gives information on how to obtain help for you or your family and crisis hotline numbers should you ever need it. Additional prevention and wellness resources can be found on the Mason City School’s Website here.

PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR BEAUTIFUL FALL MUMS!

Our annual Mason Band fall Mum sale is underway! This Sale benefits students in all band classes in Grades 6-12 with music purchases, classroom items, guest clinicians to work with our students, and more! Please be sure to share the details with your friends and family! ORDER HERE! Ordering Window closes on 8/31/22, so don’t delay! Mum pick up will be Sat. Sept. 10th at the MMS auditorium entrance - just drive up and we will place them in your car!

Those that purchase items have two options for delivery:

Select a Band Family to deliver to them. Ask your friends and family that you wish to offer this option, to put your student’s name in the “which band family referred you?” question. You will then pick up these orders and deliver to anyone who selects this option.
Delivered DIRECTLY to the address provided on September 10th or 11th for a $15 service charge - Mason, Ohio area only.

We appreciate your support of our band program!

MASON BAND ACRONYM AND DEFINITION GUIDE

Are you a new Mason Band family or someone who does not always know what all of the band acronyms mean? Do you get lost in all of the band lingo? Fear no more! The following link contains a list of many of the band terms/acronyms to help you understand the language of band. BAND ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

SUPER REGIONAL TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Indianapolis Super Regional-Lucas Oil Stadium tickets are now available for purchase HERE.

IMPORTANT TRAVEL UPDATE!!!!

Mason’s tentative performance window for prelims is between 7:15 am - 9:15 am Saturday, October 22nd. We are optimistic that they will be performing for the finals on Saturday as well.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE: DUE TO THE EARLY PERFORMANCE TIME ON SATURDAY AND BUSING HOURS RESTRICTIONS, THE BAND WILL TRAVEL TO INDIANAPOLIS ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21st BY CHARTER BUS AND STAY OVERNIGHT IN DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS!! WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE CONFUSION AND ASK THAT YOU PLAN ACCORDINGLY AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR FLEXIBILITY!

This is a change from what was communicated at the Booster meeting on 8/4/22 and we will be holding a mandatory travel meeting to review all of the details in late September or Early October. The band’s departure time from Mason and hotel accommodations are TBD and will be communicated via email and Band Notes as soon as we get the assignment from the housing bureau. We have been able to rework our budget and are happy to report that no additional fees will be requested from the families to do this!

On Saturday, the band will wake up early, perform and will stay in Indianapolis for both the Finals and the Awards Ceremony. They will then arrive back in Mason around 2am on Saturday night/Sunday morning. This will make for a very long day. Families will have the option to check out their students in Indianapolis at a designated time, if their student prefers not to travel back to Mason with the band. If your student travels home with the band, please plan to pick them up at the High School. This is due to driving curfew restrictions found here and the fact they will be too exhausted to drive safely. It is not recommended that they walk or ride their bike home.

Grand Nationals Tickets will go on sale September 1st. We will share the direct link to purchase those tickets once they go on sale or you can go to the Bands of America’s Website directly on the 1st. https://marching.musicforall.org/schedule/

If you decide to stay overnight for either the Super Regionals or Grand Nationals, we highly recommend you book your hotel stay now. Hotels book up very quickly. The further away your hotel is from downtown Indianapolis the more economical the hotels will most likely be.

For Grand Nationals hotel planning purposes, you can use the tentative schedule below. The band is waiting on confirmation of a downtown hotel. We have been informed there is another convention in town that weekend and the JW Marriott is NOT available. Once our hotel has been confirmed, we will pass that information on to you.

Thurs, 11/10 - Tentative Prelim Performance 6pm

Rehearse at Wall 2 Wall Soccer in AM.
Travel to Indy in PM - 6pm Prelim Performance
Return to Mason Thursday evening

Fri, 11/11 - No Performances; Overnight stay

Rehearse at Wall 2 Wall Soccer in AM
Travel to Indy in PM - Check into Hotel (TBD)
Watch Semi-Finals announcement at Lucas Oil Stadium Friday Evening

Sat, 11/12 - Potentially Two Performances; Overnight stay

Semi-Finals - Time TBD - Will find out Friday Night
Finals - Pending results of Semis
Awards conclude around 11:30PM-12AM

Sun 11/13 - No performances; Head home

Breakfast
Check out of hotel
Usually Noon arrival in Mason

UNIFORM UNDERGARMENTS FOR MARCHING BAND INSTRUMENTALISTS

This year, the Mason Marching Band will be using two sets of formal uniforms: Classic Black and Competition White. You will need to make sure your student has two sets of undergarments:

Black Uniforms - Tight Fitting/Compression style Black top (can be sleeveless or long sleeve) and black compression style shorts or pants.

White Uniforms - VERY IMPORTANT! MUST BE ALL WHITE WITH ALL WHITE UNDERWEAR AND CONTAIN NO PRINT OR LOGOS! All undergarments must be tight fitting and PANTS MUST GO ALL OF THE WAY TO THE ANKLE! We highly recommend a synthetic material vs. cotton as synthetics handle sweat and moisture much better than cotton. CLICK HERE for more information and links to suggested items to buy. You do not have to buy these, these are just examples of what you can buy. You can purchase the undergarments anywhere you wish as long as they meet the requirements. Any uniform related questions should be directed to Micki Gonzalez at uniforms@masonbandboosters.com.

Socks will be provided by the Uniform committee for both sets of uniforms so you do not need to buy socks!

For information on Color Guard uniform undergarments, please see Erica’s weekly update email for more information on what to purchase for this year’s color guard uniforms.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all of you who supported the Mason Band’s service project to benefit the Comet Cupboard/Comet Closet. We are happy to report that we were able to collect a large number of items for our neighbors in need. If you would still like to help, monetary donations are being collected via EZ Pay where school extracurricular fees are collected. We hope that our efforts will make a difference to our fellow Comets. Thanks again for your help!

TAG DAY- IT’S NOT TOO LATE!

Do you know someone who would still like to make a donation for Tag Day? It is not too late to donate! Our friends and family campaign runs through the month of August. Here is a sample letter students can use to reach out to family members. Donations can be made HERE. Our final fundraising numbers by team can be viewed here.

Invitational Tickets (for band families and friends and family who named students in their donation) will be passed out at Tuesday evening practices later this month (more details to follow). For donations that did not include a student name - tickets will be mailed by the end of the month.

WIND SYMPHONY CHICAGO TRIP INFORMATION

The Wind Symphony is already sounding great after a day of sectionals and their first full ensemble rehearsal in preparation for the 2022 Midwest Clinic.

For all the latest information on the Wind Symphony’s trip to Chicago please click here.

Additional trip information can be found by clicking on this link. Midwest clinic information can be found here. Please refer to all communication from the directors in regards to the rehearsal schedule for the trip, information on summer assignments, and other important information.

If you have not yet done so, please be sure to order your concert attire here.

Needed for September 10th (Date has been extended)
Tux Jackets Will Be Provided
We have several dresses available that have not been used, students are welcome to try them on and purchase through the school (you will not have to wait) {limited supply see Mr. Protzman if interested}

Upcoming Dates To Remember

Please see Mr. Protzman’s email for complete schedule.

Wind Symphony Brass Sectional

August 24; 2:45-4:15

Wind Symphony Woodwind Sectional (During MB Sectionals)

August 25; 2:45-4:00

Wind Symphony Woodwind Sectional

August 31; 2:45-4:15

First Trip Payment Due

September 16 - $250 (Info on where and how to remit payment coming soon!)
Payment #2 Due-10/16/22 - $250
Payment #3 Due-11/16/22 - $150-$200 (pending final cost of trip)

Total Cost will be $650-$700

MARCHING BAND REGISTRATION NEXT STEPS

Important Upcoming Dates for Marching Band Registration:

Past Due: 2nd $350 Experience Fee payment of $350 due. Pay HERE
Due Sept 1: 3rd $250 school fee payment due EZ Pay

NEXT UP

$250 School Fee # 3 due September 1st

Student Experience Fee #2 is past due! It can be placed in the drop box located in the music wing if you select not to pay by credit card via the link above. All fees to date (School Fee # & #2, Consumable Fee and Experience Fees #1 & #2) must be paid or it may affect your child’s participation in the program until all fees are current!

QUESTIONS?