September 29, 2024 Band Notes

Upcoming Events

Sunday, September 29

• Deadline to order Tour Shirt
• Deadline to schedule portrait appointment and order group photos

Monday, September 30

• Full Band: 3-6pm; MHS

Tuesday, October 1

• Individual portrait appointments: 3-5:30pm; MHS Staff Dining Room
• Full Band: 6-9pm; MHS

Wednesday, October 2

• Individual portrait appointments: 3-4pm; MHS choir room
• Symphonic Band Rehearsal:3:30-5:30pm
• Fall Concert (Symphonic Band & Wind Symphony: 7pm, MHS Auditorium

Thursday, October 3

• Full Band: 3-6pm; MHS

Friday, October 4

• Full Band: 3-6pm; MHS
• Rehearsal 3-4pm
• Panoramic and section photos 4:30-5:45pm
• Senior Dinner: 6-7pm; Small Commons
• Underclassmen Dinner: 6-7pm; Lage Commons
• Senior Night / Family Showcase: 8pm; Beacon Stadium
• Stadium opens at 7:15pm for audience seating

Saturday, October 5

• Full Band Rehearsal: 9am-3:30pm
• On-campus lunch break 12-1pm
• Dinner provided: 4:00-5:15pm 
• Springboro Invitational (see detailed schedule below):
• Buses depart: 5:30pm
• Mason performs: 8:15pm

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

Parent To Do Checklist For This Week

1. Order tour shirts HERE by Sunday, September 29.
2. Sign up to volunteer at the Mason Invitational.
3. Sign up for a time for individual portraits, and order prints, buttons, and other photo items, deadline is today, Sunday, September 29. (See today’s email that linked these band notes for details.)
4. Order panoramic and section photos, deadline is Sunday, September 29. (See today’s email that linked these band notes for details.)
5. Purchase car raffle tickets, and spread the word about this fundraiser.
6. Wind Symphony Parents - Payment #1 for National Concert Band Festival Trip is Due October 1st
7. Senior Parents-  Fill out this form by Friday, October 4 with a short note for your student. The message will appear along with your senior’s photo in the program for the Mason Invitational. (The note is free of charge; programs are available for purchase at the invitational.)

NEW INFORMATION

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.

9-23-2024 Booster Meeting Slides

SLIDO Questions & Answers Doc

Save the Dates!

Please mark your calendars for a couple key dates that were recently confirmed.

• Next Booster Meeting:  Monday, October 28 in the Large Commons
• Topics include MSBA Championships and BOA Grand Nationals
• Marching Band Awards Night: Tuesday, December 3 in the Auditorium and Large Commons

National Concert Band Festival Trip - Payment #1 Due

Congratulations to our Wind Symphony on being selected to perform in Music For All’s 2025 National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis!

The first payment for the National Concert Band Festival trip is due, OCTOBER 1. All payments can be paid electronically using this link: CLICK HERE 

The slides from the meeting are here: CLICK HERE 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Jackson. 

The trip Thursday, March 13 through Sunday, March 16, 2025.

Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony Fall Concert

PROGRAM: CLICK HERE

October 2nd Timeline

3:00 C13 doors open for students. 

3:30  Symphonic Band Dress Rehearsal

5:30 Dinner (Symphonic Band Only. Pizza Provided)

6:00 Warm Up for Wind Symphony in Band room

7:00 Symphonic Band Performs. 

7:30 Wind Symphony Performs

Mason Invitational - Student Schedule

Here is the student schedule for the Mason Invitational on October 12.

Mason Invitational - Volunteer Sign-Ups Now Live!

One of our biggest local events is quickly approaching. On Saturday, October 12th our marching band will be hosting the Mason Invitational. This is a fantastic event for both our students and other bands in the area to showcase and get feedback on their shows that they have been working so hard to put together. It truly takes a village to make this wonderful opportunity happen for our young musicians. We cannot pull off an event of this magnitude without the help of every single band family. As a gentle reminder, each family agreed at the beginning of the year to work at least one shift of the Invitational as outlined in the Marching Band Handbook.

Volunteer sign-ups are now live in BoosterHub! 

Below is a list of the areas where we will need volunteers and donations. You will see volunteer signups for each of these in BoosterHub, with job descriptions for each. Slots are first come first serve so the earlier you sign up, the greater the chances you have of finding the area that suits you best. Volunteers receive free admission to the Invitational!

Mason is scheduled to perform at the end of the night to allow parents the opportunity to watch their student perform. 

If you have any questions regarding the competition, please contact our competitions team at competitions@masonbandboosters.com. Please direct any questions regarding volunteer sign ups to secretary@masonbandboosters.com.

Thanks for your help in making the Mason Invitational a fun and successful event!

Note: In addition to volunteers for slots, there are several areas where we need 1-2 people to shadow our area lead, as we have several whose students are graduating after this season. Please email competitions@masonbandboosters.com.

• Bake Sale Donations (Does not count towards volunteer hours)
• Bake Sale Volunteers
• Band Guides and Band Check In
• Car Raffle Ticket Sales
• Concessions
• Extra Helpers
• Guest/VIP Parking - need a shadow for the area lead
• Hospitality
• Hospitality Food and Monetary Donations (Does not count towards volunteer hours)
• Spirit Booth - need a shadow for the area lead
• Ticket Sales
• Truck/Bus Parking
• Ushers
• Volunteer Check In
• Water Station
• Programs (the printed program sold at the event) - no volunteer slots, but need a shadow for the area lead

Trophies - no volunteer slots, but need a shadow for the area lead

Senior Night/Family Showcase - This Friday

Attention Seniors and Senior Families: The William Mason High School Marching Band senior night is one of the most looked forward to and special events we do throughout the year. We want to honor our seniors and their families for their dedication to our program. In the midst of our planning, we need to collect a little information from our seniors so they can be honored accordingly!

The 2024 Senior Night/Family Showcase will take place on Friday, October 4th. Below you will find the schedule for the night for your planning purposes.  Thanks so much for your help!

Volunteer Sign-Ups

Feed the Band shifts are still available for the Underclassmen Dinner.

Pano/Section Photos

We will be taking this year’s panoramic and section photos during the afternoon part of the time originally slated for rehearsal. We will now have a short rehearsal right after school, change into uniforms, and head to the stadium for pictures. Following pictures, students will partially change out of uniforms for dinner. 

The schedule for the evening has not changed - dinner, performances, and senior recognition remain at their original times.

Menus

Seniors

Our Senior dinner on Friday will be sponsored by Mason Band Boosters and provided by:

Carrabba’s Italian Grill - 5152 Merten Drive, Mason, OH 45040

The Menu will be as follows:

Bread, salad with Italian dressing, penne with Alfredo or Pomodoro sauce, grilled chicken, meatballs, chocolate chip cookies

Gluten Free past and cookies will be available.

Lemonade and water

Underclassmen 

Our Feed the Band dinner will be sponsored by Mason Band Boosters and provided by:

Jet’s Pizza- 7916 Mason Montgomery Rd, Mason, OH 45040

The Menu* will be as follows:

Regular/Nut/Egg Allergy  - Pepperoni or Cheese Pizza with multipack Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties, Gatorade.

Vegetarian/Halal/Onion Free - Cheese Pizza, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit snacks, Cuties Gatorade.

Vegan/Dairy Allergy- Jet’s Plain Breadsticks with marinara sauce, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties Gatorade.

Gluten Free - Gluten Free Cheese Pizza and/or Salad, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties Gatorade.

Note:  The special diet foods are ONLY for those who have declared a special dietary need as we only have a limited number of those meals.  Everyone else is expected to eat the Regular Diet meal.  Likewise, those that have declared a special diet are expected to eat their special diet offering. Thank you for your cooperation!

*If the above do not meet your dietary preferences or needs, you always have the option of having food dropped off or packing your own dinner!

Any questions can be directed to our Feed the Band Chair, Smita Ankola at smita.ankola@gmail.com.  We thank Smita for volunteering her time and taking on this large task for us this year!!!

Instrumentalist Uniforms Updates

BLACK SHOES must be brought in for Friday's performance if you have not already done so. Uniform Racks will be out during individual pictures on Tuesday & Wednesday. Please reach out to uniforms@masonbandboosters.com if you have any issues with bringing in your shoes.

Competition Uniform Fittings will happen the week of October 7. Look for sign ups at the end of this week. All instrumentalists MUST attend a fitting.

REMINDERS

Tour Shirts Available to Order - DEADLINE IS TONIGHT (SEPT. 29)

https://www.fridaythreads.com/store/mason-band-spirit-wear

The highly anticipated 2024 TOUR SHIRTS are now available for sale online! The order Site for the Tour shirts is open for a VERY LIMITED TIME. In order to get the Tour Shirts delivered to our students before their first competition in Indianapolis we must cut off the order collection at Sunday, September 29 at 11:59pm. 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 cotton, triblend, long sleeve, hoodie, 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 2024 William Mason High School Marching Band Tour Shirt, so please take a moment to order now before the deadline on September 25. 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.

Please email Gina at spirit@masonbandboosters.com if you have any questions. 

Last Day to sign up for Individual Portraits! - DEADLINE IS TONIGHT (SEPT. 29)

Don’t miss this! Sign up by Sunday, September 29!

Individual portraits for both instrumentalists and color guard will be:

• Tuesday, October 1 from 3pm to 5:30pm
• Wednesday, October 2, from 3pm to 4pm

Note: Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band have a concert on October 2, so students in those ensembles should sign up for portraits on October 1. 

You will need to be at the school 20 minutes before the appointment to get your uniform, change, and be photo ready in the assigned room down the hall.

For new families, this is when marchers can get their picture taken for the show-themed buttons that you see everywhere, especially on competition days!

See the email from BoosterHub for additional information and the form for scheduling and ordering portraits.

You only have a week to sign up for your appointment, so get it done now before you forget! 

Pano and Section Photos - DEADLINE IS TONIGHT (SEPT. 29)

The all-band panoramic photo and section photos will be taken October 4 between a short rehearsal and Senior Night / Family Showcase. 

Order these keepsakes on the same form as the individual portraits. See the email from BoosterHub for the order form.

Note: Do not schedule an appointment if you only want to order group portraits.

MSBA Springboro Competition and Saturday Rehearsal  

Our First Competition of the year, the MSBA Springboro Invitational, is SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2024. We are so excited for our students to debut their 2024 production in competition. See below for some important information for the students and parents/spectators.

Students will be wearing Classic Uniforms for this competition.

Student Itinerary

Springboro Invitational Information

Location:

Careflight Field at Watkins Stadium
1605 Main St.
Springboro, OH 45066

Tickets:

• Adults – $15  
• Seniors and Children over 5 year of age – $10
• Children under 5 and Springboro Band Students – Free
• Cash and Credit Card will be accepted at the gate.

Mason’s Performance time is 8:15pm!

For more information, visit the event website at:

MSBA Website

Springboro Website 

Feed the Band

Our Feed the Band dinner will be sponsored by Mason Band Boosters and provided by:

McAlister’s Deli - 5040 Deerfield Blvd, Mason, OH 45040

Regular meals (no onions) - Ham or Turkey sandwich, choice of side (baguette, chips, cookies) 

Vegetarian meals - Veggie Sandwich, chips, cookies 

Dairy free - Turkey sandwich with no cheese, chips, cookies 

Gluten Free- Grilled Chicken Salad no croutons 

Invitational Tickets For Those Who Donated $50 Or More For Tag Day

Invitational tickets for online Tag Day donors were sent via email on 9/20/2024. Anyone who donated $50 or more during Tag Day should have received an email at the email address they provided in the donation form, with their Invitational tickets attached. (Iit is two tickets per $50 donated.)

Donors will need to print their tickets and bring the printed copies with them. 

Reminder - Invitational volunteers receive free admission. If you got tickets for a Tag Day donation and are volunteering, your tickets can be used by a family member or friend. 

Car Raffle Is Here!!!!

We are so excited to announce the launch of our 2024 Mason Bands Car Raffle! Mason Band Boosters is partnering with Audi Cincinnati East to raffle off a 2024 Audi Q5 or a cash prize. This fundraiser is a very important one for our organization as it helps provide some much needed funds to help with the expenses of our program as well as allows us to reach outside of our band family and community to help raise funds!  

We Need Each And Every Family To Help Reach Our Goal Of Selling 5,500 Tickets And To Give Away This Fabulous Vehicle Or A Cash Prize!  

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW

Raffle Period - Raffle runs NOW until November 8th at 5 pm OR until 5,500 tickets are sold...whichever comes first!

Drawing - Saturday, November 9th, 2024 at the MSBA AAAAA Championships, hosted at Mason. Need not be present to win!

Prizes - 

• Grand Prize -  2024 Audi Q5 or a cash prize!
• 2nd Place Prize - $1000 cash  
• 3rd Place Prize - $500 Cash

Car Raffle Rules And Regulations - Please Click Here for complete Car Raffle rules and regulations. Must be 18 years of age or older and a Resident of Ohio to purchase or be named on the ticket.

Ticket Prices - 1 ticket-$25 or 5 for $100 (to same individual)

• Note: If purchasing a bundle, all tickets in the bundle must have the same name, address and phone number with them.      

Ticket Purchases - Tickets can be purchased two ways:

1. Online via the 2024 Car Raffle Ticket Order Form
2. In person at home football games and the Mason Invitational

Band Family Sales - We are NOT distributing paper tickets to band families this year, but we are still asking each family to sell (or buy) at least 10 tickets to help make this a successful fundraiser.

• Please share the link and QR code with family and friends. Feel free to share it via social media as well.

Information regarding the Car Raffle can be found on our website Here. 

Questions? - Please direct those to carraffle@masonbandboosters.com.

HILENSKI'S HOPE MODULES 

Thanks to a generous donation from the Jake Langbein Foundation, all marching band students have access to six mental health modules to be completed in small groups during the month of October during Mental Health Awareness Month. The student leadership for each section can determine a time to work on these modules with their squads as they have time this month. Students are also welcome to sign up for the "Open Practice Time" Connect Session  in the band room, where we will complete a module a week together at the beginning of Connect (beginning the week of Sept 23). 

The instructions for logging into the modules were provided during band camp, but if students were not able to access them during band camp here are the instructions: 

1) Go to https://preventionstrategies.brainier.com/

2) Your username is your school email in all lowercase

3) Your password is your last name in all lowercase. You can change your password when you first log in.

Senior Ads for the Mason Invitational Program

One of the Senior traditions each year is to print headshots in the Mason Invitational program and have parents/guardians write a short note to their student. There is no fee to have your student's picture and message in the program.

Please complete and submit this form for your student by Friday, October 4, for inclusion in the program. We ask that only one parent respond per senior.

Office Hours with Mr. Jackson

As another avenue for connecting with parents and addressing our needs, Mr. Jackson will host weekly office hours. CLICK HERE to sign up for a time. These will be open to all parents with a student enrolled in a Mason Bands program class.

Big Dog’s Pizza Dine and Donate

Our October Dine and Donate will be Tuesday, October 8th at Big Dog’s Pizza in Downtown Mason, on 322 Reading Road, from 3pm-9pm. No flyer is needed, just mention the Mason Band Fundraiser when ordering.

The band will receive 15% of sales from the event!

Marching Band Secret Buddy Reminders

We are glad so many students chose to participate in Secret Buddy this year! Here are the dates for the rest of the season to bring secret buddy items: 

Football Games

• Oct 25

Note: There is no Secret Buddy for the home game on Oct 11 due to having Secret Buddy for the Invitational the next day.

Competitions

• Oct 5 Springboro Invitational 
• Oct 12 Mason Band Invitational 
• Oct 18/19 Super Regional (TBD which day) 
• Nov 9 MSBA Champs
• Nov 14-16 Grand Nats (TBD which day)

BOA Housing and Room Assignments

We are happy to report we have secured housing for our students, directors, staff and chaperones for the upcoming Bands of America trips in Indianapolis. The entire band will stay at the following hotel in downtown Indianapolis for both the BOA Super Regional (1 Night-Oct 19-20) and BOA Grand Nationals (2 Nights-November 15-17):

JW Marriott Indianapolis
10 S West St
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(Note: This is NOT the Marriott Downtown we stayed at last year)

Room Assignments

Room assignments have been finalized. Thank you to the students for being prepared to make rooming sign ups a success.  We are looking forward to a great travel experience in Indy! 

A few reminders on rooms:

• There are 4 students in each room.
• Each room will have two Queen beds. (no King rooms this year)
• We will be using the same room lists for BOTH TRIPS  this season!

Fees

There are LOTS of Student Experience fees still outstanding. You should have received two invoices from Quickbooks, both of which are now PAST DUE:

1.  $400 - Due 4/1/24 sent from quickbooks@notification.intuit.com
2.  $400 - Due 8/1/24 sent from quickbooks@notification.intuit.com

If you have not yet paid either of those invoices, please pay them TODAY as it will greatly help us reduce the amount of work for our volunteers who work so hard on these experiences for our students! If you aren’t sure whether you have paid or not, you should have received a payment confirmation email from Quickbooks or if you find the original invoice emailed to you, click on “Review and Pay” and it will tell you your balance is $0.00. If you did not receive any invoices, please email treasurer@masonbandboosters.com. 

We are working to send each family a statement via email as we did prior to Mini-Camp. This statement will include any past due fees.

The next upcoming Fees/Payments are Experience Fee #3 ($300) and School Payment #3 ($400).  Our next fee due is School Payment #3 - $400 on October 1.

Please note that Experience Fee #3 has been moved to November 1, as we had been waiting for final costs from our hotel.  We have been able to confirm these final costs with the hotel and Experience Fee #3 will be $300 and due November 1.  

2024 Marching Band Next Steps

Marching Band Registration Next Steps

• 2024 Registration Guide
• Past Due
  • Experience Fee 2 - $400
    • Invoice sent on 7/10/24 via email from: quickbooks@notification.intuit.com
• Due October 1
  • Marching Band School Fee #3 - $400
    • Payment can be made in Payschools or via check made out to Mason City Schools.
    • Payschools is the system that replaced EZPay earlier this year district-wide. It is the same system used for paying your student’s school fees. Click here to view the district’s guide to Payschools.
• Due November 1 - UPDATED
  • Experience Fee #3 - $300
    • Invoice will be sent via Quickbooks
• Your student must have an ACTIVE physical on file in order to participate throughout the season
  • Examination must have been performed within the past 13 months
  • Medical Eligibility Form must be completed in its entirety signed and dated by the healthcare provider
• Dispensing Medication at School (DMS) forms may be submitted any time throughout the season via masonbands.com >> How To Submit Forms
  • All medications that a student will be taking while at Band Camp require a form (OTC and Prescription)
  • Must be signed by a parent/guardian
  • Must be signed by a healthcare provider
  • Only valid for up to one full season
  • Marching Band DMS forms are separate from any other DMS forms submitted through Mason City Schools administration or nursing staff
  • Medication Drop-Off: Please review the medication check-in process in the 2024 Marching Band Registration Guide for more details. Email medicalsecretary@masonbandboosters.com to schedule a drop-off time.
  • Medication Drop-Off Event: October 3rd 6:00-7:00pm in the staff dining lounge. Please see BoosterHub to sign up for a drop-off timeslot if needed.
• Parents/guardians should electronically sign the necessary documents in FINAL FORMS.