Band Notes | Mason Bands

Upcoming Events

Monday, February 17

No School: President’s Day

Tuesday, February 18

Jazz 2 Rehearsal: 2:45-3:45pm; MHS Band Room
Jazz 1 Rehearsal: 4-5pm; MHS Band Room
Winter Percussion: 5:30-8:30pm; MHS Band Room
Competitive Winter Guard Rehearsal: 6-9pm; MECC Gym

Wednesday, February 19

Dine & Donate: 11am-10pm; Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in West Chester
Symphonic Band Full Ensemble Rehearsal: 2:45-4:45pm; MHS Band Room
Winter Guard Performance Ensemble: 7-9pm; MECC Gym

Thursday, February 20

Wind Symphony Full Ensemble Rehearsal: 2:45-4:45pm; MHS Band Room
Competitive Winter Guard Rehearsal: 6-9pm; MECC Gym

Friday, February 21

Competitive Winter Guard Flint Regional (see travel itinerary)

Saturday, February 22

Competitive Winter Guard Flint Regional (see travel itinerary)

Sunday, February 23

Competitive Winter Guard Flint Regional (see travel itinerary)
2025 Marching Band Commitment Form DUE

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

Parent To Do Checklist For This Week

Complete the 2025 Marching Band Commitment & Financial Agreement Form by Sunday, February 23.

Note: First payment due March 1.

Sign up to volunteer for the concert band festival being held on March 1.
Email secretary@masonbandboosters.com if interested in running for a board position in April elections.

NEW INFORMATION

Cincinnati Regional Concert Band Festival

This year’s Cincinnati Regional Concert Band Festival is on Saturday, March 1st.

This event is run in conjunction with Music For All as an affiliate regional festival, hosted at William Mason High School. Concert bands from all around the area will be performing. A clinic with one of the adjudicators from the stage will occur for each band following their performance. This is one of our biggest performances of the year, and is also a large event Mason hosts, including 35 band performances across 2 stages.

Performances for the event begin at 7:45am and conclude at 9:35pm, with performances in both the Auditorium and Small Commons throughout the day.

Click here for the full schedule, information about this year’s clinicians, and more on our Mason Bands website..

Mason Performances

Mason has six ensembles performing in this year’s festival.

Featured Stage - MHS Auditorium

7:45am-William Mason HS Concert Winds
1:35pm-Mason Middle School Symphonic Winds
4:40pm-William Mason HS Wind Symphony
9:10pm-William Mason HS Symphonic Band

Invited Stage - MHS Small Commons

12:00pm-William Mason HS Concert White
7:00pm-Mason Middle School Concert Band

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STUDENT ITINERARIES AND INFO

Depending on their schedule for the day, students may want to bring a snack or meal, or bring money or credit card for concessions (click here for concessions offerings).

Student Entrance and Homerooms

Students will NOT Be able to access the band room/storage room on March 1st, as this room will be used as a warmup room for the event. On Friday, February 28th, students will need to take their instrument home with them. Large instruments only (Tubas/Bari Saxes) can be stored in the woodwind room if needed, but will need to be accessed via the hallway near the small commons on Saturday.

Students will need to enter through the front Natatorium/Auditorium entrance on Saturday. The Mason Bands homerooms will be in the D200 classrooms (along the 2nd floor of the large commons). This will be where the ensembles will meet before warmup, and store cases/coats/bags etc.

Tickets for Audience Members

Because this is a Music For All affiliate festival, tickets will be required for this event. Admission is $12 for an all-day pass that permits you to all performances, children under 12 are admitted for free. Parking and more information about the other performances can be found on the Mason Band website: HERE.

Audience members must enter at the front of the building (not the music entrance).

STUDENT Volunteer Needs

As hosts of the festival, we ask all Mason Band students to volunteer in some capacity during the day. This date and volunteer requirement was included on the student dates contract provided in August. Students are welcome to work as many shifts as they would like, and these CAN count as service hours for Wind Symphony Honors Credit, NHS or any other organization that requires service hours. MMS students can count volunteering towards extra credit on SmartMusic assignments. Make sure your volunteer shift does not conflict with your performance time (included in the form for reference):

CLICK HERE: STUDENT VOLUNTEER SIGN UP

ADULT Volunteer Needs

As hosts of the festival, we ask all Mason Band families to volunteer in some capacity during the day. We will need adult volunteers for ticket sales, ushers, concessions, hospitality, and band check-in as well as donations for hospitality and bake sales. Tickets to attend the festival concerts are $12, however, each adult who volunteers will get in FREE! Please sign up to volunteer and/or make donations for our bake sale and hospitality room by clicking the links below.

CLICK HERE: ADULT VOLUNTEER SIGN UP

(Hospitality and Bake Sale signups coming soon!)

2025 Drum Major Interest Form

The 2024 Drum Majors and directors are beginning the process of organizing clinics and auditions to train and select the 2025 Drum Majors for the marching band! If you are interested in getting communications about clinics, help sessions, and the audition process from the current drum majors, please fill out this form below. Filling out the form does NOT mean you have to audition, it just makes sure you will get all the info from them.

Click Here: Drum Major Interest Form (25)

MHS RECITAL NIGHT INFORMATION

Mason Bands Recital Night is coming up in April! This event is a Solo and Ensemble style event where students can either perform a solo on their instrument with a pianist, or perform in a small ensemble of students. Recital Night is required for Wind Symphony members as part of their honor credit criteria. Participation is strongly encouraged for all other band members, as it is a great way to improve individual musical skills.

All recital night information can be found in this INFORMATIONAL SHEET.
Registration form here: RECITAL NIGHT REGISTRATION FORM.

REGISTRATION IS DUE MONDAY, MARCH 3

Recital Night Performance Dates:
Woodwinds: Monday, April 7, 2025
Brass and Percussion: Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Booster Meeting Slides and Q&A

Thank you to everyone who attended the Booster Meeting on Monday! Below you will find slides from the meeting, along with answers to the Slido questions from the meeting.

2-10-2024 Booster Meeting Slides

Slido Questions & Answers Doc

At the meeting, membership in attendance voted on the proposed updates to the Bylaws. Members voted to approve the changes, with 32 total votes cast - 30 ‘Yes” and 2 ‘No’.

The updated Bylaws are available to view here. We are still in the process of gathering all the director and executive committee signatures. Once that is complete, the updated document will be added in BoosterHub under Files.

MEPA Mason Cancellation

Unfortunately, the MEPA Mason event was cancelled due to weather. We appreciate everyone who had signed up to volunteer and/or donate items. Thank you to the volunteers who did all the setup on Saturday, and especially those who braved the weather and road conditions on Sunday to tear down.

A huge shoutout to our Competitions co-chairs, Julie Chaney and Whitley Winstanley, for all the time and effort planning the event.

REMINDERS

2025 Marching Band - Commitment Form Due February 23rd

We are excited to officially launch the 2025 William Mason High School Marching Band season! Marching Band continues to be a place where students can push themselves to be the best they can be, not only from a performance standpoint, but from a character standpoint as well, all while spending time with their friends and creating lifelong friendships and memories. We look forward to building an amazing 2025 season!

Complete the form below by THIS Sunday, February 23!

2025 MARCHING BAND COMMITMENT & FINANCIAL AGREEMENT

Note that MB School Fee 1 for $400 is due on March 1.

Other Marching Band Documents:

New Member Meeting Slides 2025 & 2-10-2024 Booster Meeting Slides - includes full season calendar draft
New Member Meeting Handout 2025
Marching Band Summer Dates 2025 - One Pager
Marching Band Summer Dates 2025 - Packet

Fee Schedule:

Fee 1 Due MARCH 1: MCS MB SCHOOL FEE 1 $400 | via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Fee 2 Due APRIL 1: MCS MB SCHOOL FEE 2 $400 | via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Fee 3 Due MAY 1: MB CONSUMABLE FEE* | via Quickbooks email invoice or check to Mason Band Boosters
Fee 4 Due JUNE 1: MCS MB SCHOOL FEE 3 $400 | via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Fee 5 Due AUG 1: MB STUDENT EXPERIENCE FEE 1 $400 | via Quickbooks email invoice or check to Mason Band Boosters
Fee 6 Due SEP 1: MB STUDENT EXPERIENCE FEE 2 $400 | via Quickbooks email invoice or check to Mason Band Boosters
Fee 7 Due OCT 1: MB STUDENT EXPERIENCE FEE 3** $400 | via Quickbooks email invoice or check to Mason Band Boosters

IMPORTANT: For all payments by check - please include the student’s name and student ID and the fee you are paying on the memo line of the check. Example: “Jane Doe 987654 Band Fee 1”

*The amount due for Consumable Fee varies by student. Families are required to complete the Consumable Fee Jot Form to select/pay for their consumable items by May 1. This fee range is between $200-$550 depending on the items you need. New students will be on the high end. Veteran students (who already have these items) will be on the lower end.

**The amount for MB Student Experience Fee 3 at $400 is currently tentative. This is our current best projection. This amount will be finalized as costs for our travel become finalized in the late spring and summer. A communication will be sent in the fall informing everyone of the finalized cost.

Fundraising with Freddy’s in February

Our next Dine and Donate is THIS Wednesday, February 19th, at Freddy's at 7615 Trailside Drive, West Chester, Ohio 45069 from 11:00 - 10:00 PM.

For in-person orders, just present this flyer or say "I'm here for the fundraiser" for us to get our 15% donation.

For online and mobile orders, use the code GIVEBACK for all online or mobile orders.

Booster Executive Committee Election

We will be voting to elect the next Booster Executive Committee in April. If you are interested in running for a position on the Executive Committee, please reach out to Laura Minniear by March 1st at secretary@masonbandboosters.com. We will be announcing the candidates shortly after the deadline. Anyone is welcome to run for any Executive Committee position. Please click here to see Executive Board positions and their descriptions along with details of the election process according to our current booster bylaws. This link contains our current Booster Executive Committee team structure for the current school year. This can be used as a reference to see what committees currently fall under each board position. Please note that the team structure is reviewed and adjusted each year by the Executive Committee to best suit the needs of the band program.

If you have any further questions about what any of the positions entail, please do not hesitate to contact any current board member. We would be happy to talk with you.

Thank you in advance for your consideration in serving in a leadership position of the band booster organization. It is a fun and rewarding way to support our incredible band program and more importantly the students.

Competitive Winter Guard (CWG)

Flint Trip Itinerary
- WGI Flint Regional Trip Itinerary
- Note: As with all itineraries for the season, this schedule is subject to change until the week of the event when the schedule is finalized. We look forward to a great regional weekend with the team!
Snack Donations: We will be providing snacks on competition days. If you would like to donate snacks, please sign up here!
Fee Schedule:
- Past Due:
  - Fee 1: $400.00 | via PaySchools or check to Mason City Schools
  - Fee 2: $600.00 | via PaySchools or check to Mason City Schools
  - Fee 3: $600.00 | via PaySchools or check to Mason City Schools
- Note: For all payments made by check - please include the student’s name, student ID, and purpose (e.g., CWG Fee 3) on the memo line
Parent Remind: Text @cwgpa to 81010
CWG Season Resources:

Winter Guard Performance Ensemble (WGPE)

Practice Flags: All members were sent home with a school-owned practice flag this week! Be sure to take care of the flag you were assigned. If it is returned damaged at the end of the season, you will be charged to replace all parts, so please keep inside and away from water or other elements.
Season Fee: See here for the Financial Info Document. The WGPE Fee of $250 is Past Due. You may turn in a check made out to Mason City Schools at rehearsal or pay electronically on PaySchools Central.
- If paying by check, please include your student’s name and student ID on the memo line of the check.
WGPE Member Remind: Students! Please join the Group Remind to receive important rehearsal updates if you have not already.
- Text @wgpe25 to 81010.
Mason Color Guard Spirit Wear: Available for purchase at Friday Threads
WGPE Season Calendar

MHS Winter Percussion Information

See the attached schedule from Mr. Scharf for more information: 2025 WINTER PERCUSSION SCHEDULE. These dates are also now on the Band Website calendar. Email Mr. Scharf with any questions: scharfj@masonohioschools.com

Jazz Band Information

CLICK HERE

The link above has all the information about Jazz Band for this year! Jazz band begins in January after break. Jazz I and Jazz II are both underway. See above for schedules and more!

Members of Our Band Family Need Us

Thank you to those that donated so far. Fuz and the Burton family have greatly appreciated your support. February meal dates have now been opened up on Meal Train if you would like to sign up or send a DoorDash gift card. You are appreciated!

You can also still donate to the GoFundMe.